Excavation

Date 22 August 2010 - 18 September 2010

Event ID 880472

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/880472

NJ 210 585 The final season of large-scale excavations undertaken 22 August–18 September 2010 at the later prehistoric settlement Birnie (DES 2009, 122 with further references) completed the excavation of the burnt-down roundhouse (trench D). There were few features in the central area apart from a substantial two-phase cooking pit; this NE area of the building had not seen the same extensive secondary activity prior to destruction as the adjacent area to the S. Further examination of the trench AL roundhouse (DES 2009, 122) clarified the sequence. Two houses were present. The earlier (c14m in diameter) had no ring ditch, with its wall defined by a ring-groove round the N half of the building only; clear terminals show this was its original extent, not the result of later damage. The later building (c15.6m diameter) lacked evidence of a wall, but was

associated with a ring ditch. It had a double-leaf door; a slot across the northern half suggests this was normally closed, perhaps with a wicket gate set into it. Further excavation of the ring ditch showed that the turf wall had collapsed inwards, presumably from dereliction, before the building was burnt down; additional well preserved structural components, probably from the roof, were excavated. The post-abandonment deposits preserved in the house hollow included a large amount of Iron Age pottery. This building complex cut a smaller, earlier post-ring (6m diameter) to its NW. A clay-filled pit in this area was probably a store of raw material.

Trench AH (DES 2008, 123) was partly reopened to clarify aspects of the roundhouse sequence. Further excavation of the ring ditch showed that the house had clearly burnt down, with in situ structural charcoal. Post-house activity included a layer of cobbling deposited in the N terminal; a pit cut through the destruction deposits produced a steatite spindle whorl. This activity probably relates to the Pictish building immediately to the S. The trench was expanded to the W. This proved relatively sterile, but a shallow oval scoop (c9.0 x 3.3m) is interpreted as the eroded floor of a building. It overlay a shallow gully, perhaps an earlier structural element

of the building. Finds were sparse, although a single Guido class 13 bead provides a Late Iron Age terminus post quem for its infill. It cut a massive multi-phase sand-filled pit of uncertain date and function. Two similar buildings defined by erosion scoops were identified; such structures have been found in previous years, and interpreted as Pictish or medieval. Trench AW, a long N–S trench designed to test a previously unexamined

area between trenches D and M, located a very shallow charcoal-rich oval scoop 7.0 x 2.5m. This had no earthfast structural elements; surviving charcoal suggests a plankbuilt component. The known scoop in trench V (DES 2003, 96) was fully exposed and excavated. This proved to be a rather

deeper oval scoop, probably associated with a curving line of small posts on its S side. Heavy wear of the floor led to material being dumped to build up the surface, and cobbling being laid at the W end. This was probably the

entrance, as a shallow erosion hollow defined a path to another feature, unfortunately it was inaccessible as it lay under an electricity pole. The only find from the scoop was a crucible fragment. Trench AT was placed on the NW edge of the site, to examine enigmatic remains noted on the margins of previous trenches. It produced an extensive irregular cobbled spread, interpreted as levelling of an uneven area; no structural elements were found, but it overlay some of the features in the area. Few of these formed coherent patterns, and they clearly represent some time depth; some produced sherds of Early Neolithic pottery, another had a saddle quern and rubber buried in the base. In the NW corner, two previously

unknown overlapping post-ring roundhouses were located, the post-rings 5.5 and 9.2m in diameter. Two further trenches were excavated. Trench AV, to the SE of the known concentration of material, confirmed the main

activity did not spread along a low ridge in this area. Trench AU lay immediately N of the Late Bronze Age metalworking area examined previously (DES 2005, 94); there was no sign that this extended further to the N. Finds from excavation and metal detecting included two further stray denarii from the first hoard; the first Roman bronze coin from the site (a Flavian as); two sherds of Roman coarse ware (study of the 2009 pottery revealed a sherd of samian ware as well); a wide range of Iron Age pottery; several crucible fragments; a range of glass beads and, more unusually, an amber bead. Earlier prehistoric activity was uncharacteristically common; most striking was a polished stone axe found in an isolated pit in trench AH. Reports: Can be accessed by typing ‘birnie’ into the search

engine at http://repository.nms.ac.uk/

Funder: National Museums Scotland, Historic Scotland, Moray

Field Club and University of Cardiff