Excavations at Ardnadam, Cowal, Argyll, 1964-1982

Abstract

SummaryThis multi-period site in Ardnadam Glen had been occupied by man intermittently through five millennia. It is not possible to estimate the length of each of the eight periods described owing to the scarcity of datable finds although the Early Neolithic and the Iron Age occupations are fixed approximately by radio carbondating. The Early Neolithic is represented by pottery, flint tools, hearths, post holes and banks of stone; the later Neolithic, by the remains of a round house and pottery. An Iron Age occupation is suggested by the remains of two round houses, followed by an early Christian settlement with an enclosure, a possible house, a possible ‘cell’, graves, cross-marked stones and a chapel. The Medieval period is represented by remains of another house, datable pottery, paving, evidence of iron-working and charcoalburning. Later activity is incidental, but the area was probably usedas a burial ground until late Medieval times. The entire site stands on an alluvial fan and suffered at intervals from the flow of surface water across the various levels, which destroyed most of the detail of the earlier occupations. There were, however, sufficient remains in the post holes, paths, and hearths to reconstruct the probable shape and sequence of events.