Geophysical Survey

Date 11 September 2013 - 13 September 2013

Event ID 993888

Category Recording

Type Geophysical Survey

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993888

NH 8555 7471 and NH 8556 7473 A resistance survey was undertaken, 11–13 September 2013, in the field around the Shandwick stone – a Pictish cross slab dating to the 7th or 8th century AD. The survey aimed to contextualise the landscape location of the stone as part of the Northern Picts: Archaeology of Fortriu project. The survey was focused on the area to the S and E of the Shandwick stone (an area to the NW has previously been surveyed by the University of York). A total of nine 20 x 20m grids were surveyed using a TR/CIA resistance meter. The area was walked in 1m transect lines and measurements were taken every 0.5m.

The survey recorded a number of anomalies, including regular rows of small sub-rectangular anomalies to the E and S of the stone. The anomalies to the E may relate to a known burial ground, which was used until the 1830s before being ploughed out in the 1880s by the tenant farmer (NH87SE 3). The anomalies to the S of the stone included suggestions of stone-built structures and further grave-like anomalies. One of these was sampled and human remains were identified under the ploughsoil. Dating of a loose fragment of bone has identified the burial as being of 18th-century date (SUERC-49032 182±30), indicating that the area around the Shandwick stone has been extensively used for burial in recent centuries.

Archive: University of Aberdeen

Funder: University of Aberdeen, Development Trust, University of Aberdeen and Tarbat Discovery Centre

Gordon Noble and Oskar G Sveinbjarnarson, University of Aberdeen, 2013

(Source: DES)