Geophysical Survey
Date 2007
Event ID 615660
Category Recording
Type Geophysical Survey
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/615660
NM 0444 4921 Vaul A low flat-topped mound, 12m in diameter, is situated at the landward approach to Dún Beag at Vaul (NM04NW 4), adjacent to the NE side of the ditched enclosure NM04NW 11 (not to be confused with much smaller mound NM04NW 10). The mound was surveyed with magnetometry, resistivity and GPR. Magnetic survey covered the widest area of three 30 x 30m grid squares arranged in L-shaped grid with the central grid square over the mound. Resistivity and GPR covered a 20 x 20m area centred over the mound. The three techniques produced complementary results, revealing a complex set of structural
remains, which probably represent multi-period settlement and perhaps also burial activity. Magnetometry and
resistivity were able to detect structures nearer the surface of the mound, while the GPR also revealed the much deeper buried remains of a sub-rectangular building, c13 x 7m, on a NNW–SSE orientation. It is not clear if this building was free-standing or partly subterranean, but the GPR results suggest that the masonry survives up to 0.5m in height. It is highly probable that this structure, which is c1.3m from the
surface, is prehistoric in date.
