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Ground Survey

Date 12 September 2011 - 16 September 2011

Event ID 966098

Category Recording

Type Ground Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/966098

NF 9753 9123 A small-scale coastal erosion survey was undertaken 12–16 September 2011 of the Mesolithic buried land surface at Northton. Previous fieldwork at the site in 2001 had revealed the first radiocarbon dated Mesolithic deposits in the Western Isles eroding at the base of machair beneath the later Neolithic and Beaker settlement. A subsequent small-scale excavation undertaken in 2010 revealed a concentration of Mesolithic artefacts and ecofacts mixed within an old ground surface (DES 2010, 178).

In order to assess the spatial extent of the Mesolithic archaeology within the exposed old ground surface, a series of samples was taken at 3m intervals around the coastal edge. At each sampling location the old ground surface was surveyed, photographed, drawn and bulk samples were taken. In addition, a relic peat section c100m from the 2010 excavations was sampled to provide a palaeoenvironmental context for the archaeological remains.

The excavated sections through the old ground surface contained varying concentrations of environmental remains and artefactual material, but no archaeological features were detected. On the NE side of the headland, the buried land surface was present in all sampling locations (up to c25m from the 2010 excavation). The absence of the old ground surface in sections over 18m to the NW of the area excavated in 2010 suggests that the Mesolithic deposits at this site are spatially restricted to an area c45–50m around the coast.

Archive: To be decided

Funders: National Science Foundation of America, Historic Scotland and Durham University

Durham University, 2011

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