Excavation

Date November 2011

Event ID 964778

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/964778

HY 428 493 A rescue excavation was undertaken at Links of Noltland during May–November 2011. The work focused on the excavation of settlement and cultivation remains and a cemetery, radiocarbon dated to the mid-second millennium BC, all of which are severely threatened by sand erosion. A pair of stone walled structures thought to represent a house and ancillary building, were excavated and a third building was examined in detail. While the remains were found to have been truncated by erosion and further damaged by rabbit burrowing, sufficient survived to provide a comprehensive insight into the development of the settlement and the life of its inhabitants. Finds included steatite vessel sherds and a substantial number of stone tools, over 70 of which were recovered from the lining of a large pit. Excavation of the cemetery uncovered further cremation and inhumation burials, several of which had been truncated by erosion. Cultivation remains included areas of ard marks and field boundaries.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Historic Scotland

EASE Archaeology, 2011