Geophysical Survey

Date 2012

Event ID 993024

Category Recording

Type Geophysical Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993024

NN 7720 2100 Resistance and magnetic surveys were conducted in a pony paddock on the fort's NE corner, which had previously been known only faintly from the air. A clear image of the rampart and double ditched defences of the inner fort was obtained. The single ditch of the outer enclosure also showed well, with signs of what is probably the start of the turn into its NE corner. Inside the inner fort defences, a series of small circular features, which probably represent rampart ovens, was detected, along with a linear feature that may be a ring drain. No signs of internal buildings or other structures were found in the outer enclosure, however, and decades of aerial survey have also failed to find such structures. The fact that the inner fort shows normal internal buildings from the air might suggest that this absence is real, and not just an artefact of the data.

Outside the fort, faint signs of a narrower linear feature have been seen from the air, roughly parallel to the outer enclosure ditch, and which might have been seen as a second fort ditch. The survey confirmed the existence of this feature, but proved it to follow a more divergent course than had been thought, and a resistance pseudo-section suggested that it is extremely shallow and so probably not Roman in origin.

Archive: The Roman Gask Project

Funder: The Roman Gask Project

DJ Woolliscroft, The Roman Gask Project

2012