Excavation

Date 25 July 2011 - 20 November 2012

Event ID 966502

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/966502

NG 64133 23915 (centred on) A programme of archaeological work was undertaken, 25 July–20 August 2011, in advance of development works for a new medical centre at High Road, Broadford. The site was considered sensitive as important historic and archaeological remains have previously been recorded in the surrounding area, including the Neolithic chambered tomb of Liveras, which is located to the SE. The discovery of significant archaeological remains and deposits during the watching brief led to the complete excavation of the features.

The major features excavated were located on a gravel ridge to the NW of the Liveras chambered cairn at c22m above OD. A large spread of medium to large-sized water-worn cobbles were identified at the highest point of the ridge, but displayed no particular shape or form. However, underlying the cairn-like material a stone-lined channel was located running NW–SE and was capped by flat stone slabs up to 0.8m long. The channel below the slabs measured up to 0.35m wide and 0.2m high and appeared to represent a drain, although the function of such a feature on the crest of a well drained gravel ridge remains open to interpretation. A series of small stone-lined postholes were revealed below the cairn material, which had been cut through an underlying surface that displayed evidence of burning (possible woodland clearance and burning). The only small find recovered from this feature was a single lithic.

Three large pits were excavated to the S and SE of the possible denuded cairn, which had been cut into the underlying gravel deposits. The pits were circular in plan (up to 1.4m in diameter) and up to 1.3m deep. In the base of the pits we found organic residues and burnt plant remains including barley, along with orange ash deposits. The pits had been backfilled in prehistory with fire-cracked stone and larger boulders, while one of the pits had subsequently been used to house a grain drying kiln. The kiln displayed at least three different phases of use and we recovered large samples of burnt barley from the associated contexts. The archaeological deposits sealing the kiln produced Iron Age ceramics and two sherds of incised Beaker.

One of the pits had been truncated by the cut for a stone-lined souterrain, which was aligned NW–SE and measured around 10.5m long. An entrance ramp at the NW provided access to the souterrain, the slightly curved shape terminating in an oval-shaped stone-built cell. The terminal cell was constructed as a modification to the souterrain, which also increased the overall length of the feature. The lintels or roof for the structure had already been removed and the entire feature backfilled with stone and sediments, but the stone-built walls were complete and measured up to 1.4m high. Floor deposits were exposed and sampled in the base of the souterrain, above which we excavated primary backfill deposits containing what appears to be Middle Iron Age ceramics. Above the backfill a second archaeological horizon was identified, possibly indicating a secondary use of the feature. The remains of a large ceramic pot consisting of a globular-shaped vessel with a flat base and flaring high rim was also recovered from this horizon. Two cordons had been applied to the outside of the pot, one at the widest part of the vessel, the other in the narrowing of the neck. Using typological comparisons, the pot dates to between the 4th and 7th centuries AD. Finally, the souterrain had been backfilled to the wall-heads with a mixture of mainly sterile sediments and large boulders.

Located around 10m to the SE of the souterrain terminal chamber the capstone for a stone-lined grave (cist) was revealed. Lifting of the capstone revealed a sterile gravel and silt fill, below which two flat stones were uncovered. These stones may have been associated with the original capping of the cist, as we found directly below them the broken and crushed remains of two Beaker pots. Unfortunately, it appears that if there had originally been a body in the cist, this had degraded away. A dark stain was present in the base of the cist, possibly representing the remains of the body and any organics it may have once contained. These deposits were sampled extensively for post-excavation analysis.

Several isolated pits were also investigated, which contained charcoal-rich deposits and stone fills, while one of the pits also contained a cobble tool. Additional amorphous-shaped pits containing a black ashy deposit were also excavated and sampled across the extent of the site, and it is possible that these features are also associated with forest/scrub clearance and burning during prehistory. A programme of post-excavation analysis is now in progress on the samples, finds and data recovered from the site.

Archive: Highland HER, RCAHMS and WCAS (intended)

Funder: NHS Highland

West Coast Archaeological Services, 2011

NG 64133 23915 An evaluation, including a watching brief and excavation, was carried out at the site of a new medical centre 25 July – 20 August 2011 (DES 2011, 117). The evaluation recorded a wide range of features including a possible cairn, a stone-lined grave/cist, grain storage pits, a grain-drying kiln and a souterrain. Additional prehistoric features included pits and postholes and potential evidence for early forest clearance, while stone-filled field drains and a dry stone wall bordering the High Road relate to later agricultural improvements and the formal layout of the road leading to the MacKinnon Memorial Hospital.

The excavation of the prehistoric features, which ended in November 2012, produced organic residues, sediment samples and small finds including ceramics and stone tools that have been subject to specialist analysis. The post-excavation analysis of these materials is ongoing and these results will be included in a final publication.

Stone-lined grave/cist (Feature 24) The stone-lined grave was aligned NE–SW and consisted of a series of interlocking slabs and chocking stones. The slabs forming the capping to the grave had subsided and collapsed into the chamber, allowing a sterile gravel deposit to fill the resulting voids.

However, it also appeared that a capstone had been reset over the grave, overlying this infill material. The collapsed capstones had crushed two beakers (the only grave goods found in the feature), both of which had most likely been placed upright in the grave. An AOC Beaker with a pedestalled base was found at the NE end of the grave, in a roughly central position; while a second, much degraded S-shaped beaker was located at the WNW edge of the grave. The combination of the two beakers, the style of beakers, and the morphology of the cist, suggested to Alison Sheridan that this grave would be amongst the earliest of its kind in Scotland, falling between 2400–2200BC.

Radiocarbon dated samples from the grave have provided dates falling between 2496 and 2281calBC. It is possible that other Early Bronze Age burials had been disturbed at the Broadford site by later prehistoric activity, as individual beaker sherds and a few fragments of cremated human bone were recovered from later Iron Age features on the site.

Stone-lined souterrain (Feature 25) The stone-lined souterrain, which measured 10.5m long and was aligned NW–SE, had been backfilled/closed during prehistory. The upper deposits in the structure may relate to when the lintels were robbed and removed, possibly during agricultural improvements, while the backfill deposits in general varied significantly over the length and depth of the souterrain. Several coarse pebble tools and isolated fragments of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the fill of the souterrain while a more concentrated assemblage of Iron Age ceramics was recovered from a blocking fill at the scooped entrance to the

structure.

A general spread of cereal grain and other plant remains, weed seeds and nutshells was recovered from several deposits within the souterrain including possible floor levels and backfill deposits. There is no direct evidence for in situ burning within the souterrain itself and the charred debris is probably material that had either been brought into the structure via trampling during its day-to-day use, washed in, or represents low level inclusions in the backfill material dumped into the structure post-abandonment. This distribution pattern is similar to other excavated souterrains, for example at Shanzie and Ardownie, where the burnt remains do not relate to the function of the souterrain nor to any activities taking place in their interiors, but instead are probably burnt domestic debris originating from nearby features.

The primary floor deposits in the souterrain have been dated to between 374 and 162calBC, while the almost complete remains of a ceramic vessel recovered from a later floor horizon possibly dates to between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.

Grain-drying kiln and storage pit Samples taken from deposits associated with at least three phases of a grain-drying kiln excavated at the site contained large concentrations of charred cereal grains and some weed seeds and chaff. The grain was, as with the rest of the site, dominated by hulled barley, and there does not appear to be any significant difference in

the cereal assemblages recovered from the different phases of the kiln.

Of the storage pits uncovered on the site, four (Features 26, 35, 39 and 41) were found to contain extremely large concentrations of cereal grains and other carbonised plant remains. During excavation two of these, Features 26 and 35, were observed to contain a thick compacted layer of burnt

grain at the base of each pit and have been interpreted as the remains of grain storage pits. Grain storage pits are commonly discovered on Iron Age settlement sites of southern Britain and northern France, yet are very rarely uncovered on Scottish sites.

The storage pits at the Broadford site contained large quantities of hulled barley with lesser quantities of wheat and oat. Only a small proportion of the plant assemblage consisted of weed seeds or chaff remains and it is likely that the grain had been fully cleaned. Cereal grains were found throughout the fills of the pits, the bulk of the charred grain from Feature 35

was recovered from the basal fills of the structure and possibly relates specifically to the use of the pit for grain storage, while the majority of grain present in Feature 26 was recovered from the upper fills and may have been dumped into the pit once it passed out of use. A thin layer of burnt grain and other burnt organic material was, however, identified at the base of this pit and this may be the remnants of the outer layer of corn-seed that had been fired to sterilise the pit.

Two other pits excavated stand out due to the concentration of cereal grain recovered from their fills. Feature 39, a shallow pit, contained thousands of carbonised cereal grains and the largest proportion of cereal chaff recovered from anywhere on the site. Given the proportion of chaff recovered it is possible that the grain was still on the ear when it was burnt. The large quantity of grain recovered from the pit suggests that it is

probably the result of one incident, possibly the debris from the destruction of a storage context or processing facility by fire, and the ruined grain had been discarded into the pit. It may be the remains of corn that has been stored in sheaves ready for further processing, such as threshing, and destined either for the corn-drying kiln or for one of the storage pits.

Feature 41, a shallow pit, contained a high concentration of barley grain, along with some oat grain. The function of this pit is unknown, yet the material in the pit is similar in composition to that recovered from the kiln complex and, although the exact origin of the material cannot be confirmed, it is possible that the assemblage may be the dumped remains of burnt grain, possibly from a conflagration event, from the corn-drying

kiln. The use of the grain-drying kiln complex and the storage pits have been radiocarbon dated to between 260calBC and 40calBC.

The features discovered at this site, some of which are unique to the Scottish archaeological record, have allowed us a rare glimpse of prehistoric life and death on the island of Skye, enhancing our wider understanding of funerary, ritual and agricultural practices through time. A full report of the excavations and post-excavation analysis relating to the site will be published in 2013.

Archive: Highland HER, RCAHMS and WCAS (intended)

Funder: NHS Highland

Information from Steven Birch, Mary Peteranna and Lynn Fraser (West Coast Archaeological Services / Ross and Cromarty Archaeological Services) March 2012. OASIS ID: westcoas1-121332