Trial Trench

Date November 1991

Event ID 710668

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/710668

NT08SW 31 Centred NT 02800 80590

See also NT08SW 7.00.

NT028 807 Limited excavations were undertaken in November 1991 within the field system believed to be the location of a vicus, to the E of Carriden Roman fort (NT08SW 7.00). A complex field system is clearly visible on oblique aerial photographs. This system respects the alignment of a road issuing from the eastern side of the fort.

Six 2m by 2m trenches were excavated at standard intervals of 80m from NW (Trench 1) to SE (Trench 6), in advance of the replacement of an overhead power line. Only stratified ploughsoil survived above the level of the subsoil in each trench. A single definite Roman potsherd was recovered from the buried ploughsoil in Trench 3. Ditches cut into the subsoil were located in three of the trenches examined (1, 3, 4). Each of these can be equated with reasonable certainty to features visible on aerial photographs. Two of these appear to be components of the field system (3, 4), whereas the third appears to be an intrusive secondary feature (1). Heavily truncated remains of stakeholes were found in trench 2. No archaeological features were encountered in trenches 5 and 6, which lie outside the area of the field system as defined by aerial photography.

The excavations neither confirm nor deny a Roman origin for the field system. No artefacts were recovered in association with the stratified features.

CFA 1992.

The field system is located to the east of Carriden Fort. The field has been recently ploughed and nothing is visible on the ground.

Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 19th February 1996.