Dunnet, Marymas Green

ND27SW 46 centred 219 708

(Location cited as ND 219 708 and ND 218 708),. Examinations of rabbit scrapes in a number of prominent raised features in an old dune system, now rough pasture, yielded burnt stone, animal and fish bone, shell and charcoal. Grass-tempered potsherds were recovered from four different features, one of these also yielding slag.

A more detailed examination of the area is in progress and has identified the remains of walling within six of the features. It is tentatively concluded that the remains identified to date represent ten Norse structures. It is likely that the site is related to an adjacent Norse site that was the subject of a limited excavation carried out by T Pollard (ND27SW 35) (Pollard 1995, 38; NMRS MS 275/113).

A test pit dug in the writer's garden (adjacent to the site) to establish a soil profile identified an occupation level 1200mm below the modern surface and underlying 800mm of blown sand. The layer consisted of dense blue clay containing small fragments of a carbonaceous material (not charcoal). Fragments of bone and two small potsherds were also found in the clay. It is not clear if the level relates to the Norse site or is pre-Norse.

P D Humphreys 1996.

(Location cited as centred 219 708). Limited excavation of archaeological features, including a shell midden deposit, first observed eroding from an exposed sand dune section took place at Marymas Green, Dunnet Bay , Caithness. The excavated area is situated W of the road heading N into Marymas Green, immediately before the bend in the road. Exacavations revealed a series of stone walls, some of which appear to represent buildings, and buried soil horizons, which prior to being covered by blown sand may have supported arable agriculture. On purely typological grounds the presence of a decorated bone pin and antler comb may suggest activity on the site ranging from the pre-Viking (8th century AD) to the late Norse periods (12th-14th century AD). A fragment of a shale bracelet was also found, examples of which run from the Bronze Age through to the Dark Age. The recovery of grass-tempered pottery to the east of the site may indicate further activity extending across the road beyond the confines of the excavated area.

T Pollard 1996; NMRS MS 725/113.