Watching Brief

Date 2 June 2008 - 2 December 2009

Event ID 607656

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/607656

NH 49157 41797 Work was undertaken 15 December 2008 – August 2009 prior to the construction of a new building. Although this building will stand mainly on the footprint of the existing one, the site was considered sensitive, as the drive to the house passes between a Bronze Age burial cairn and an associated outer stone ring (Culburnie ring cairn – SAM 2425).

A desk-based assessment of the area revealed six notable features. Three are cairn composite features dated to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages (4000–700 BC): Bruaich ring cairn (NH44SE 3), Home Farm kerb cairn (NH44SE 16) and Culburnie ring cairn (NH44SE 9). The Old Statistical Account for the parish of Kiltarlity mentions the identification of six ‘druidical temples’, all ring and kerb cairns, and notes the associated placenames Bal na Carrachan (place of the circle) and Ard–druighnich (high place of the druids).

Two trenches were excavated, revealing a primary stratum made up of a mid-grey brown silty loam, gravel, stone and boulder mix. This was interpreted as redeposited fill associated with the construction and subsequent alterations to the original croft house. Significant subsoil disturbance, indicating previous intrusions, was confirmed in Trench 2 by the discovery of, at 0.05m, a clay drain pipe, running NW–SE away from the house. Both trenches came down onto natural sand, with occasional cobble and small boulder inclusions, overlaying bedrock. A single grinding stone was found but no other archaeological remains or features were identified.

Archive: RCAHMS. Report: HHER and Library Service (intended)

Funder: Alasdair and Lucie Rothe

Cait McCullagh – Highland Archaeology Services Ltd

OASIS ID: highland4-87338