Archaeology Notes

Event ID 643991

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/643991

HY22NW 22.00 Centred on 2427 2834

HY22NW 22.01 Centred on HY 2428 2835 Stones

A small shell midden on the natural deposit, and overlain by grey sandy loam with some flat stones, and turf. Clearing of the exposed area in 1978 (cutting 6) revealed structural remains in association with the midden material dating to the Bronze Age, with later structures above, probably boat-nausts (HY22NW 45). Close by, to the W of Cutting 6, there was further evidence of midden, with later deposits of stone perhaps representing structural phases up to recent times. These deposits were examined in 1978 as Cutting 5. Despite a stone wall revetment built in 1978/9, erosion has continued with considerable amounts of rubble or a collapsed wall very evident by 1982.

C D Morris 1979f; 1979h; 1979i; 1980a; 1983; 1989

Radiocarbon dates of 3260 +/- 180bp (GU-1222) and 3260 +/- 90 (GU-1556) were obtained from samples of carbonised grain and mammal bone from cuttings 5 and 6. Small finds are in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall; biological material in RMS, Edinburgh.