Excavation

Date 8 May 2011 - 22 May 2011

Event ID 964505

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/964505

NJ 210 585 Small-scale excavation was undertaken at the later prehistoric settlement of Birnie (DES 2010, 108–9 with further references) to clarify loose ends from the long-running excavations; a rather larger scale evaluation exercise took place to the S of the main site in advance of renewed agricultural work. This work was carried out between 17–28 April and 8–22 May 2011.

Further work in parts of the trench AL roundhouse (DES 2010, 109) clarified the nature of late activity within the abandoned house, with the discovery of a hearth full of hammerscale from blacksmithing; an intact iron fire-shovel was found in an adjacent pit. The interior of the trench AH roundhouse (DES 2010, 109) was re-examined to clarify its construction; the structural post-ring was successfully identified, along with evidence of earlier and later activity on this stance.

An area immediately to the S of the known site was examined in advance of intensified agricultural activity (trench AX). The results showed that ancient activity had stretched beyond the higher parts of the sandy terrace into this area. A thin scatter of features was revealed and the majority sampled. Key features included a small post-ring roundhouse (the post-ring 6.0m in diameter), another blacksmith’s pit full of hammerscale, an unlined corn-drying kiln with a stone baffle wall between bowl and flue, and a segmented shallow ditch. This ran beyond the trench edge, but was overlain in one area by a large stone, 1.6m long. Immediately S of this lay a stone-packed hole, probably for the recumbent stone, and indicating it was once a standing stone – an unexpected find in an area which has seen such extensive agricultural improvement.

Reports: Can be accessed by typing ‘birnie’ into the search engine at http://repository.nms.ac.uk/

Funder: National Museums Scotland

National Museums Scotland, 2011