Trial trenching carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd in 2006 to the north of Lockerbie Academy identified four areas of archaeological significance covering a timescale from early Neolithic to post-medieval periods. The earliest site identified was the remains of a Neolithic timber hall, which was situated on top of the flat plateau towards the northwest end of the site (Area A). Pottery recovered from the Neolithic structure was of the Carinated Bowl ceramic tradition.At the summit of the rounded knoll in the centre of the area (Area D) a Bronze Age phase consisting of a cremation and inhumation cemetery enclosed by a possible ring-cairn was identified. The Bronze Age cemetery included a Collared Urn and a copper alloy dagger of Butterwick type.At the base of the rounded knoll, the remains of an Early Historic timber hall were identified (Area C). This Anglian timber hall reoccupied the site of a post-built structure, which was interpreted as a timber hall, possibly belonging to an earlier British tradition. Radiocarbon dates taken from the primary fill of two of the post-holes of the earlier structure gave dates which are broadly contemporary with the dates obtained for the Anglian hall, suggesting that the post-built structure immediately preceded it.A corn-drying kiln was identified cut into the same knoll as the Bronze Age cemetery (Area D) and has been dated to the late medieval or early post-medieval period.A segmented ditched enclosure was located towards the north-east end of the site (Area B), but the poor survival of this feature combined with a lack of finds and palaeobotanical evidence means that it remains undated and poorly understood.
This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 cal bc. These were found in association with a range of other features including an oval structure and diffuse areas of burning. The closest parallels for the four-post structures can be found in a slowly growing body of Late Neolithic timber structures, some being interpreted as roofed dwellings and others as roofed or unroofed monuments. This article places the Greenbogs structures in their wider context, identifies a number of unexcavated parallels in the aerial record and addresses the nature of the four-post structures found across Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland and suggests that four-post structures were a more common element of Late Neolithic architecture than previously identified. A common building type appears to have been shared across large areas of Britain and Ireland in a variety of contexts, from the seemingly mundane to the more ‘charged’, as part of elaborate monument complexes. The later prehistoric features identified at Greenbogs include a concentration of Middle Bronze Age features including graves containing cremated human bones, one with an upright urn, and a number of Iron Age pits and other features.
Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant, bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined chronology bringing us close to the ' … short-term timescales of lived reality' [Foxhall, L. 2000. "The Running Sands of Time: Archaeology and the Short-Term." World Archaeology 31 (3): 484-498].
Excavations in summer 2005 to the north of Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, revealed the remains of at least three Bronze Age ring-ditch roundhouses and associated features, together apparently forming elements of an area of open settlement. The excavations were conducted in advance of the construction of a new bypass road around the north of Oldmeldrum, related to new housing development. George Wimpey (East Scotland Ltd) funded the project.
In early 2005 a cluster of orthostat stones was exposed by coastal erosion at Meur, Sanday, Orkney. The excavation revealed a stone trough within the centre of an open space defined by walls. It was associated with at least one compartment and a secondary corbelled cistern with an overflow drain and was surrounded by a mound of dark soil and burnt stones. This burnt mound structure, comparable with other burnt mounds in the Northern Isles, was occupied at some time between the late 2 nd millennium and the mid 1 st millennium BC. The evidence from Meur and its comparison with evidence from elsewhere strongly indicates cooking as the primary function of this burnt mound. It is proposed that such cooking took the form of communal feasts that served to optimise the limited resources of the island's land holdings and so maintain social cohesion. This accords with evidence from elsewhere on Sanday for social and economic stability throughout this period.
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