Navidale

ND01NW 40 0483 1734

See also ND01NE 4.

Hut circle at ND 049 173 on E side of main road beside a track.

Visited by OS (A A), 24 April 1972.

ND 0483 1734. This hut circle is 10.5m in diameter within a bank of 2.2m average spread. The entrance is in the SE. The bank has been destroyed in the N probably during the construction of the later track.

There are no traces of contemporary cultivation in the immediate vicinity, but a few clearance heaps are visible a few hundred metres to the east around ND01NE 4.

Surveyed at 1:10 560.

Visited by OS (J B), 28 June 1976.

ND 048 173 An evaluation was completed in September and October 2002 ahead of an upgrade of a section of the A9 between Helmsdale and the Ord of Caithness. No archaeological features were uncovered within the evaluation trenches.

An area approximately 680m² was stripped of gorse and bracken in an attempt to locate a recorded hut circle (ND01NW 40). A platform with stone revetment was found and a hand-dug evaluation slot was excavated. The trench extended across the revetment onto the platform. No artefacts were retrieved. Further excavation is planned before the road improvements are made. (AOC 3854)

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: HS for Scottish Roads & Transport Authority.

L Dunbar 2002

ND 0483 1734 and ND 051 173 An evaluation was completed ahead of an upgrade of a section of the A9 between Helmsdale and the Ord of Caithness. A total of 728m² of evaluation trenches were opened within the road corridor, but no archaeological features were uncovered. Additionally, an area of c 680m² was stripped of gorse and bracken in an attempt to locate a previously recorded hut circle. A hut circle platform with stone revetment was found and an evaluation slot was hand-excavated. A full excavation was subsequently undertaken.

The possible hut platform was found to be an upstanding stone-walled roundhouse that had been revetted into the hillside. The excavation comprised a single area, c 12 x 16m. The stone wall of the roundhouse survived up to five courses high in places and measured 11.3m NW-SE by 10m. A stone floor surface was present on the southern side of the roundhouse and this extended out through the SE-facing entrance-way. The roundhouse also contained a sub-circle, approximately 6.5m in diameter, of nine large stone-packed post-holes which appear to have been structural roof supports. Other features included two internal drains with stone capping, one of which was channelled out underneath the revetment.

Charcoal samples were recovered from the floor deposits and the drain features. Finds include a fragment of a carved spindle whorl (possible stone pendant), a couple of prehistoric pottery sherds and numerous coarse stone implements, including saddle querns, weights, hammerstones and a possible mortar/lamp.

An evaluation was carried out of a linear field bank with a possible structure attached to its northern end. The evaluation was centred on the N end of the field bank. A subsequent excavation totalling 100m² found a field bank consisting of large boulders with smaller stones, and the possible structure was found to be a platform of field clearance. No artefacts or significant archaeological deposits were encountered. A more detailed survey of the field bank was conducted and it was found to turn back towards the roundhouse, and is interpreted as part of a later prehistoric landscape.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Scottish Executive Development Department: Trunk Roads Design and Construction Division, with HS

L Dunbar 2003.