Excavation
Date March 2012 - October 2012
Event ID 993831
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993831
Heritage Lottery and Highland Council funding of a community project sponsored by Lochbroom Field Club allowed the targeted excavation of six prehistoric roundhouse sites, March–October 2012, by volunteers from local communities in Achiltibuie, Lochbroom and Gairloch. Post-excavation
analysis is ongoing. The primary aim of the project was to gather sufficient information and samples to allow six lines of investigation to be fulfilled.
(1) A detailed pre-excavation plan of the site leading to a site typology. (2) The creation of a coherent wall typology. (3) A suggestion of function in relation to wall typology. (4) Dates for the occupation or use of the structures. (5) Reconstruction of the surrounding floral landscape. (6) Factors which governed the choice of site for each structure.
Each of the aims was designed to clarify future work on similar sites located across the W coast’s varied landscapes. Charcoal samples were taken for radiocarbon dating and soil samples for environmental analysis at each of the sites.
NC 0213 1188 Loch Raa Hut Circle, Achiltibuie (Wedig 1) This hut circle lies close to the E shore of the loch, immediately by the E side of the road. The remains consist of a rather chaotic, bracken covered, circle of boulders and stones, c12m in overall diameter. A possible entrance faces cSE. The site lies on a gently sloping hillside which falls away to the loch c30m to the W. An upslope ditch carried water around the roundhouse. A second, less well defined hut circle is c40m upslope to the E. There are fragments of enclosure boundaries around the site. Three trenches were excavated, two in the hut circle and one close by.
Trench 1, which was placed just off the centre of the structure, contained a sequence of three hearths with associated ash and charcoal deposits. The earliest hearth, a shallow pit cut into the natural with a flat slab at its base, also had an associated stone lined tank (a small, well preserved feature) by its N side.
Trench 2 was placed across a well preserved section of enclosure in the SW arc of the roundhouse. A well built 2m wide stone wall was recorded. It was constructed with inner and outer faces consisting of well laid coursed stonework retaining an earth and rubble core A single posthole complete with packing stones was located 1.2m in from the inside face of the wall. Small finds included nice examples of fragmented pot-boilers, a possible flaked quartz tool and two small rim fragments, one from a soapstone bowl and one from a steatite rich pottery vessel. A number of water worn beach pebbles were also recovered.
Trench 3 was positioned c6m N of the roundhouse. A well defined sequence of soil horizons was recorded.
Website www.wedigs.co.uk (accessed October 2014).
Archive: Inverness archive (intended)
Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund and Highland Council
Anna Welti, Lochbroom Field Club, 2013
(Source: DES)
