Archaeology Notes
Event ID 712227
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/712227
NT24SW 46.00 2057 4029.
NT24SW 46.01 2049 4037 cists; Cinerary Urns
Centered NT 2057 4029. Late Neolithic Enclosure, Meldon Bridge: This site was discovered from the air by J K St Joseph, and published as a pit alignment by the RCAHMS, only a small part of the enclosure appearing as crop marks on pre-1967 photographs. However, though not all of the perimeter is visible on air photographs, its overall course can be indicated with reasonable certainty.
Excavations were carried out in 1974-7 at the site; it was shown that a massive timber barrier some 500m long had cut off a promontory of some 20 acres between the Meldon Burn and Lyne Water. It was possible to deduce from the condition of the excavated remains that this timber barrier stood and decayed within the space of a century, and was not replaced. Radio-carbon dates of 2330 BC +/- 80, 2150 BC +/- 130, and 1791 BC +/- 70 were obtained from samples taken from posts and packing. (See reconstruction drawings).
The interior of the site is covered with pits of varying sizes and functions, but as yet only one possible building has been identified. The domestic pits are generally shallow and bowl-shaped, though originally must have been much deeper. Many burnt hazelnuts were found in them, also pottery, of the local Peterborough style. Radiocarbon dates obtained from samples were 2336 BC +/- 50, 2290 BC +/- 55, 2132
BC +/- 80, 2726 BC +/- 180, and 2736 BC +/- 90. Other pits held posts, and some of these, at least, contained cremations; in one instance the cremations were in two urns. Only a little flint has been found, and one polished stone axe.
C Burgess 1974; 1976; 1977; RCAHMS 1967, visited 1964
When visited in 1974, all that could be seen was the extent of Burgess's 1974 excavations.
Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (BS) 26 September 1974.
This enclosure is plotted as a large ritual enclosure on a distribution map of Neolithic monuments covering southern Scotland.
Information from RCAHMS (ARG), 3 April 1998.
RCAHMS 1997.
