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Ground Survey
Date 19 September 2011 - 21 September 2011
Event ID 966131
Category Recording
Type Ground Survey
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/966131
NA 9911 2407 The project aimed to sample the archaeological deposits within the scheduled area at Mealasta. The work undertaken, 19–21 September 2011, recovered dating material and assessed the nature of occupation. Recent research on the Lewis Chessmen (Caldwell et al 2009 and 2010) suggested that the pieces belonged to an important person living on Lewis, for instance a prince of the Kingdom of the Isles, a bishop or a clan chief. The souterrain recorded (NA92SE 2) from Mealasta is described in some sources as the findspot for the Lewis Chessmen. The project cleaned the eroding section of machair at Mol Tiacanais, recording an enhanced soil horizon below the turf, several shallow pit or ditch features and the potential eroding corner of a dry stone walled building. Samples were recovered from each of these features and the eroding edge backfilled; the samples will be analysed at Durham University. A series of boreholes were cored with a bucket augur behind the eroding edge to test the potential for further deeper soil or midden horizons within the scheduled area. These indicated that below the visibly eroding horizon, machair sand extended to the base, up to 3m deep in places.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: Hunter Trust
National Museums Scotland, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and University of Durham, 2011
