Archaeology of Inchmarnock Research Project - Survey 2000
Date May 2000
Event ID 583237
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/583237
NS 020 600 (island centre) Evaluation of the large cairn (Site 1) at the north end of the island revealed a stone kerb, reinforcing its interpretation as a funerary monument. It may, however, have been augmented with field clearance stones at a later date. The cup-and-ring marked stone (Site 3), near Northpark, was found to be a discrete slab, rather than part of a rock outcrop. Meanwhile, a series of upright stones (Site 7), in the woodland south of Southpark, may represent the lines of old field dykes, long since robbed of their stone.
A detailed survey of St Marnock’s chapel and its immediate environs was undertaken. Excavations in the field to the west of the chapel failed to find any evidence of the cemetery mentioned in the documentary records. A ditch, however, was located. It may represent the line of an old enclosure around the site.
Medieval corn-drying may be indicated by the robbed structures at Site 8. These, together with the two clearance cairns and old dyke at Site 11, may represent outlying elements of the small medieval or later settlement at Site 5, surveyed here for the first time. Meanwhile, evidence from the caves at the south end of the island (Sites 16A & 16B) suggests they were resorted to on a temporary basis in the medieval period.
Finally, one site (Site 9), previously identified as a possible structure, was found to be a natural feature.
Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith
Headland Archaeology, Stuart Halliday and Christopher Lowe, 2000
