Archaeology Notes

Event ID 707287

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/707287

NS88SE 23.02 866 807

NS 866 807 Excavation in June 1998 at the site of the Dorrator Ironworks ahead of redevelopment located two V-shaped ditches of the 1st century AD. They followed the line of an E-W escarpment overlooking the floodplain of the River Carron, and were of a military character. They can be attributed to the Flavian annexe to the fort at Camelon. A slot parallel with the upper ditch may represent part of the associated rampart. The ditches had completely silted up by the time a large drainage ditch was cut across them at right-angles. This drain was filled with a large quantity of rubbish in the 2nd century. The material includes pottery, shoes, wattle and daub, bone, beads and harness fittings. Having completely impeded the flow of water, the rubbish was dug through by a V-shaped ditch of much smaller dimensions. On the flatter ground to the S, a number of smaller ditches probably represented a field system of the immediate post-Roman period.

Sponsors: FM Enterprises, Falkirk Museum.

G Bailey 1999