Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Upcoming Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates:
Thursday, 9 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 23 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday, 30 January: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
During these times, some functionality such as image purchasing may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Easter Croftintygan
Ring Ditch House(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name Easter Croftintygan
Classification Ring Ditch House(S) (Prehistoric)
Canmore ID 173707
Site Number NN63NE 99
NGR NN 67244 39175
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/173707
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Kenmore (Perth And Kinross)
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NN63NE 99 67244 39175
These two ring-ditch houses lie 20m apart on a low ridge at the SE edge of a pasture field, and about 400m NW of Easter Croftintygan steading. The ridge is separated from the rest of the field by low-lying boggy ground, which appears to have protected the houses from the effects of agricultural improvements; indeed, the area is depicted as uncultivated grassland on John Farquharson's 1769 Survey of the North Side of Loch Tay (National Archives of Scotland, RHP 973/1, Plan 12), and as rough pasture on both the 1st and 2nd editions of the OS 6-inch map (Perthshire 1867, sheet lxix; Perthshire 1900, sheet lxix NE). However, both houses are scarred by small hollows (possibly caused by the uprooting of trees) and other superficial disturbance.
The better-preserved house is that to the NE (BL00 546; at NN 67244 39175), which measures 16.7m in diameter over a spread stony bank up to 0.5m in height. The entrance, on the E, opens into the bottom of the ditch, which measures up to 3.8m wide and 0.4m in depth and surrounds a central platform 6.9m in diameter. Little remains of the other house (BL00 1700, at NN 67226 39150) apart from a central platform measuring 5.6m in diameter surrounded by a ditch that is only well defined on the SW, where it is 0.5m deep. Slight traces of the enclosing bank suggest a structure measuring about 14m in overall diameter.
The NE house was planned at a scale of 1:100.
(BL00 546, 1700)
Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH) 18 July 2000 and 28 November 2000.
Measured Survey (28 November 2000)
RCAHMS surveyed the ring ditch house at Easter Crofintygan on 28 November 2000 with plane-table and alidade at a scale of 1:100. The plan was later used as the basis of an illustration produced in vector graphics software.
Project (23 September 2018 - 26 September 2018)
NN 67244 39175 A programme of work was undertaken, 23–26 September 2018, as part of the project: At the Water’s Edge: Early Iron Age Settlement Patterns, Loch Tay, which seeks to test the distribution of Early Iron Age settlement evidence around Loch Tay through geophysical survey and excavation.
Easter Croftintygan ring ditch houses are located c400m NW of Easter Croftintygan Farm at 230m OD. Preservation of the two ring ditch houses is dramatically different, with one very well preserved (House 1) with obvious ditch and bank features and the other remains very slight with only
its central flat platform and a portion of ditch surviving (House 2). House 1 was surveyed in 2000 by RCAHMS.
A magnetic gradiometer and RTK-GPS surveys were undertaken over both houses. Two trial trenches were excavated in House 1 to characterise the surviving
deposits and collect material for radiocarbon dating. The gradiometer survey was conducted in two adjoined 20 x 20m grids. Trenches were hand excavated, drawn and photogrammetrically recorded. The magnetic gradiometer survey largely confirmed the position and extent of House 1, but also identified a high
magnetic return, c1m in diameter, near the centre of the central platform of the house. Interpreted as a possible hearth feature, this was targeted with Trench 1 of the two trial trenches. Magnetic gradiometer survey over House 2 more clearly defined the extent of its ditch and high returns within the central platform of the structure suggest internal features are present. Trench 1 (2 x 1m) was located over the high return in the central platform and established that it was probably associated with a shallow cut feature. The feature was filled by a deposit with occasional charcoal fragments and rare,
very small (
Trench 2 (4 x 1m) which cut through the external bank and ditch only saw the removal of turf and topsoil before being recorded. The trench revealed the very stony fill of the uppermost portion of the ditch, probably representing tumble from the bank or internal house features. The stones were set in a very wet, charcoal-rich fill, suggesting that good preservation is likely within the ditch fills.
Archive: ADS and NRHE (both intended)
Funder: Royal Archaeological Institute
Michael J Stratigos – Scottish Universities Environmental
Research Centre (SUERC)
Magnetometry (23 September 2018 - 26 September 2018)
NN 67244 39175 Magnetometry survey.
Archive: ADS and NRHE (both intended)
Funder: Royal Archaeological Institute
Michael J Stratigos – Scottish Universities Environmental
Research Centre (SUERC)
Excavation (June 2019)
NN 67244 39175 This work formed part of the second season of the At the Water’s Edge: Early Iron Age Settlement Patterns, Loch Tay, Central Scotland project. This research project seeks to test the distribution of Early Iron Age settlement evidence around Loch Tay through geophysical survey and excavation.
Easter Croftintygan ring ditch houses (Canmore ID: 173707) are located c.400m NW of Easter Croftintygan Farm at 230m OD. Work in June 2019 opened a 3 x 3m trench over the internal area of the better preserved of the two houses recorded. A 1 x 6m extension off of the main trench extended across the ditch and bank of the site. This evaluative excavation aimed to characterise the surviving deposits and sample material for radiocarbon dating. The trench was excavated by hand, drawn, photographed photogrammetrically recorded and surveyed by RTK-GPS. All negative features were sampled.
In the main 3 x 3m trench area, seven postholes were identified along with two spreads of charcoal filling shallow cuts. The larger of the two spreads, 1.2m diameter at its greatest extent, has been interpreted as a hearth feature. The hearth feature cut also contained a heavily degraded stone setting, and sat in almost the exact centre of the ring-ditch.
The 1 x 6m extension laid out over the ditch revealed it has a maximum depth of 0.5m from the central area of the house. The ditch was filled with abundant charcoal. A slight and shallow secondary cut was apparent in the ditch nearer the central area of the house. In the centre of this shallow secondary cut of the ditch, a putative stake hole was identified. The encircling bank was found to have a near vertical section abutting the ditch cut. The bank itself was composed of up cast natural material that was overlain by an orange sediment up to 0.1m thick, tentatively interpreted as burnt turves. Palaeoenvironmental analysis and radiocarbon dating of samples is ongoing.
Archive: NRHE (intended)
Funder: Royal Archaeological Institute
Michael J Stratigos ̶ Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
(Source: DES Vol 20)
