Excavation

Date 1 February 1993 - 28 February 1993

Event ID 633516

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/633516

Excavation of two trenches with a total area of 717 sq m was undertaken in February 1993 within the scheduled area of the civilian settlement and field systems to the E of Inveresk fort (NT37SW 8.00). The work was conducted in advance of the construction of a house and garage 100m NE of Eskgrove House in the field NW of Lewisvale Public Park.

Aerial photography and limited excavation (supra) had previously revealed a series of linear features in this field, of which one was interpreted as an aqueduct for the nearby Roman bathhouse and another as a Roman enclosure.

Removal of topsoil and a buried ploughsoil revealed a number of features cut into the gravel subsoil. The main feature was a linear ditch which ran unbroken through the trench ENE to WSW, and which may be a length of the putative Roman enclosure referred to above. It had a variable profile and was 1.4m to 1.6m wide and 0.5m to 0.6m deep. Other features included two large pits, a scatter of smaller pits, and two shallow linear gullies, for all of which no indication of function was evident. These features had no structural associations and did not form any recognisable pattern. No artefacts were recovered from any of the features.

Sponsor: Mr D Teague of Teague Homes (Scotland) Ltd.

CFA 1993.