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Field Visit

Date 1999

Event ID 882181

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/882181

A substantial mound lies adjacent to the coast and has already been truncated by sea erosion. The current erosion face is cut through the highest point of the mound, exposing up to 5m of archaeological deposits in a 150m long section. The surviving portion of the mound slopes inland from the section face and is visible for some 60m. The exposed deposits are a well-stratified mix of organic soils with frequent inclusions of shell (limpet, cockle, winkle), bone, peatash and charcoal. In the section, a fragment of masonry, 1.2m long by 0.3m high, has the appearance of an outer wall face belonging to a structure only now beginning to erode. Of note, is the survival of fibrous organic material, which occurs in discrete lenses, and which appears to be a mixture of straw and dung; probably byre waste. In the scale and appearance of the mound and in the nature of the exposed deposits, this mound appears to be fairly typical of the Sanday farm mounds, but there are some indications that it may have early origins. Fragments of straight sided pottery, possibly of Bronze Age date, were recovered from deposits towards the base of the section. The remains are known to have been eroding since at least 1928; they are very vulnerable to further coastal erosion and the section is inherently unstable, being based on soft sand deposits. Ref.: RCAHMS (1946), #174; RCAHMS (1980), #81.

Moore & Wilson 1999.

Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1999

People and Organisations

References