Archaeology Notes

Event ID 796475

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/796475

NT27SE 4334 2674 7361

For 'Dynamic Earth' visitor centre (NT 2675 7366), see NT27SE 3880.

NT 2674 7361 Two intersecting earthworks were identified and surveyed prior to machine-excavation of four trial trenches, in advance of road construction in 1998. One trench was found to contain a substantial Victorian culvert, responsible for one of the earthworks. The other three revealed stratigraphy relating to the early post-glacial lake which is known to have existed in the area, followed by a transition into marsh. The first man-made deposits encountered related to 19th-century reclamation and landscaping.

The remaining earthwork was found to be formed from a combination of modern services.

Sponsor: TEAM.

S Stronach 1999.

NT 2674 7361 A watching brief was maintained during the excavation of trenches to link the drainage of the Dynamic Earth building to the main sewer. A power cable was also installed along a section of Queen's Drive. Four trenches were excavated between March and May 1999, running along the E and S sides of the Dynamic Earth Building, and running S down the slope to link with the main E-W sewer. The marl of the post-glacial lake (see Collard 1993) was encountered at a level of 34.22m OD, with its northern boundary 7m S of the Dynamic Earth building. This was overlain by peat, fading into a sticky clay. These natural deposits were cut by an undated E-W ditch, which may be a continuation of the southern of the two ditches seen 15m to the E in a watching brief in 1993. The whole area of the site to the N of Queen's Drive was then landscaped with a substantial (up to 0.8m thick) layer of silty sandy clay, containing rubble and 18th/19th-century material, which was cut in turn by a broad foundation trench for the southern wall of the Younger's Brewery building (now Dynamic Earth). The trench was backfilled with mixed beachsand deposits as a landscaping/levelling layer, with its southern limit 8m S of the wall, up to 1.4m thick and extending over 87m E-W. These deposits were cut in turn by drainage plant associated with the Younger's Brewery building.

Sponsor: TEAM.

D Henderson 1999.