Excavation

Date July 1972 - August 1973

Event ID 570315

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/570315

A research excavation on the site of the castle was begun in July 1972 and continued in August 1973. Also in 1972 a full survey of the site was undertaken. It was intended that these two seasons would represent the start of a fairly large-scale operation, carried out over several years, but the proposed work was not undertaken. The initial aims were to establish the outer limits of the castle, to ascertain whether the hill was natural or artificially raised and to determine the earliest occupation of the site.

Excavations showed that the outer defences on the N side comprised a stone-based earthen rampart with a timber revetment or palisade on its outer face. At the southern or upslope end of Trench C1 there may have been another rampart line with a stone revetment. Between the two ramparts was a line of postholes and an undefined stone structure. A considerable number of iron nails were found in association with the palisade trench and it is likely that this defensive element relates to the earliest (timber?) phase of the castle, although it is reported that there was no associated dating evidence.

No evidence was found within the excavated areas that the mound had been raised or enhanced by importing quantities of redeposited soil, though it does appear that the outer defensive lines were partly achieved by scarping or terracing the natural hillslope.

No positive evidence of Dark Age or earlier occupation was recorded.

Sponsor: Dept of Extramural Studies of Aberdeen University

Hall and MacDonald 1998.