Oban, Glenshellach

NM82NW 168 8485 2835

NM 8485 2835 In 2004 an evaluation was undertaken in advance of the construction of several new houses in a field some 500m E of Glenshellach Farm (DES 2004, 31). The only feature of significance uncovered was a small hearth lying directly on the glacial till. Carbonised seeds of Corylus avellana retrieved from the hearth were identified by Tim Holden of Headland Archaeology Ltd. They have been dated to 2835±35 BP (GU-14982) at the 1-sigma level of confidence which calibrates to the range 1120-900 BC at the 2-sigma level of confidence, placing the hearth in the late Bronze Age.

In 2007 what were thought to be the remains of a building standing on a low rock outcrop were investigated before the rock was quarried for further development. Excavation proved that it was not a building although a 12m-long stretch of dry stone wall that was revealed is interpreted as a remnant of a field boundary predating a nearby dyke which probably dates to the 19th century. It is thought possible that the earlier wall was contemporary with a pre-Improvement building (NM82NW 61), located on a high rock outcrop 60m further NW.

Archive deposited with RCAHMS.

Funder: Mr Iain Clark.

John Lewis, 2007.

NM 8485 2835 (centred on) Excavation of 'structure 3'. Prior to excavation, there seemed a strong possibility that a building, or perhaps a small enclosure, stood on the summit, stood on the summit of this low outcrop of bedrock and that a large enclosure extended northwards from it. This was clearly not the case, however, most of the putative features being ridges of bedrock and deposits of field boulders, the only exception being the possible early boundary wall.

John Lewis and Robin Murdoch (Scotia Archaeology), 2007.