Archaeological Evaluation Research Articles

People and their monuments in the Upper Clyde Valley

This report sets out the results of a programme of topographic survey, geophysical survey, field walking and trial excavation, carried out in 1998–99 and funded by Historic Scotland, in and around an extensive upland prehistoric landscape in the Upper Clyde Valley. It was designed to build on the results of limited excavation of a large, late Neolithic enclosure at Blackshouse Burn, South Lanarkshire (NGR: NS 9528 4046) and preliminary survey of nearby monuments undertaken in the 1980s, and to identify and characterize prehistoric settlement in the adjacent valleys through field walking. Topographic survey of the enclosures at Blackshouse Burn, Meadowflatts and Chester Hill, and of hut circles, clearance cairns and a possible ring cairn on Cairngryffe and Swaites Hills, recorded a complex ritual and domestic landscape: evidence of the longstanding prehistoric occupation of the Pettinain Uplands. The geophysical survey of Chester Hill enclosure found traces of internal structures and quarry scoop, while geophysical survey of part of the large Blackshouse Burn monument and smaller adjacent enclosure found evidence for a curvilinear feature in the large enclosure and a possible screen in its entrance. The systematic examination of ploughed fields in the valleys to the west and south-west of the upland monument complex discovered several concentrations of lithics, most notably evidence of late Mesolithic tool production and late Neolithic to early Bronze Age tool production and domestic activity. Trial trenches excavated over a late Mesolithic cluster at Carmichael found a knapping floor and several structural features.

People and their monuments in the Upper Clyde Valley:a programme of survey, field walking and trial excavation in the environs of the Blackshouse Burn Neolithic enclosure, South Lanarkshire, 1989--99

This report sets out the results of a programme of topographic survey, geophysical survey, field walking and trial excavation, carried out in 1998-99 and funded by Historic Scotland, in and around an extensive upland prehistoric landscape in the Upper Clyde Valley. It was designed to build on the results of limited excavation of a large, late Neolithic enclosure at Blackshouse Burn, South Lanarkshire (centred at NGR NS 9528 4046) and preliminary survey of nearby monuments undertaken in the 1980s, and to identify and characterize prehistoric settlement in the adjacent valleys through field walking. Topographic survey of the enclosures at Blackshouse Burn, Meadowflatts and Chester Hill, and of hut circles, clearance cairns and a possible ring cairn on Cairngryffe and Swaites Hills, recorded a complex ritual and domestic landscape: evidence of the longstanding prehistoric occupation of the Pettinain Uplands. The geophysical survey of Chester Hill enclosure found traces of internal structures and quarry scoop, while geophysical survey of part of the large Blackshouse Burn monument and smaller adjacent enclosure found evidence for a curvilinear feature in the large enclosure and a possible screen in its entrance. The systematic examination of ploughed fields in the valleys to the west and south-west of the upland monument complex discovered several concentrations of lithics, most notably evidence of late Mesolithic tool production and late Neolithic to early Bronze Age tool production and domestic activity. Trial trenches excavated over a late Mesolithic cluster at Carmichael found a knapping floor and several structural features.

Un dépôt de vases du Néolithique moyen aux Ressinières, commune d'Antran (Vienne) : une coupe à socle de tradition septentrionale en Centre-Ouest / A Middle Neolithic vessels depot from Les Ressinières in Antran (Vienne) : a northern tradition coupe à socle in Central-Western France

A Middle Neolithic occupation was discovered in the course of an archaeological evaluation realised in Antran (dept. Vienne, France) before a commercial development. The material, found in river Vienne alluvium, consists of four Chassey vessels, of Northern style by decoration seen on a rare coupe à socle. These finds probably lied in a funerary or ritual pit whose limits remained unclear.

Ground‐penetrating radar time‐slices from North Ballachulish Moss

AbstractIn the late 1990s ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) was used to map the underlying topography of North Ballachulish Moss as part of an archaeological evaluation of the area that was under threat of development. In the process a series of radar anomalies were identified. These were confirmed subsequently by sediment coring and trial excavation to correspond to a buried prehistoric surface with associated man‐made artefacts. These GPR data have now been used to develop horizontal time‐slices. The series of time‐slices is presented showing the development of discrete surfaces and their relationship to an adjacent headland. The orientation of the site and its proximity to the location of a buried prehistoric wooden figure suggest ritual importance. Although comparable data in similar locations are lacking, the possibility exists to shed further light on the Ballachulish evidence without destroying wetland resources if further GPR investigation can be carried out on other wetland sites of recognized ritual significance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Excavation of an Iron Age burial mound, Loch Borralie, Durness, Sutherland

As part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract, Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) undertook an archaeological evaluation of the find spot of a human skull from a cairn at Loch Borralie, Sutherland (NGR NC 3790 6761). Excavation recovered the remains of two burials beneath the cairn and established that the cairn was multi-phased. One individual was an adult male (Skeleton 1), while the other was immature and of undeterminable sex (Skeleton 2). Both individuals showed signs of ill health, and dogs and/or rats appear to have gnawed their bones. A ring-headed pin was recovered close to Skeleton 1 during the excavation. A radiocarbon date was obtained from the left humerus of Skeleton 1 of 40 cal BC - cal AD210 at 2 sigma (OxA-10253). Excavation revealed that the cairn, broadly sub-rectangular in form, had a maximum height of 1.2m and was composed of large, sub-angular and sub-rounded rocks (including quartz and quartzite) and occasional rounded cobbles within yellow-orange sand. One inhumation, Skeleton 2, lay within an irregular grave, cut through the red brown sand that was sealed by the cairn and into the natural gravel sand below. The other inhumation, Skeleton 1, was sealed by the red brown sand and had been placed on a low primary cairn of stone and earth, the full extent and depth of which remains unknown. The tradition of extended inhumations within sub-rectangular cairns is a recognised funerary practice in the north of Britain during the first millennium AD. Many of these burials are generally considered to be Pictish in date, but Loch Borralie indicates that the tradition commenced in the Iron Age. There is increasing evidence for the variety of ways in which human remains were treated after death in the Iron Age, including cremations in re-used cists, single inhumations in graves and cists, multiple inhumations and the incorporation of human remains in 'domestic' contexts. The results of the excavation of the burial mound at Loch Borralie provide a useful addition to the range of mortuary and funerary rites which were practised during the Iron Age in Scotland.

Archaeological Evaluation of Sandy Mantle Prehistoric and Historic Sites at Camp Swift, Bastrop County, Texas: 2003

Archaeological Evaluation of Sandy Mantle Prehistoric and Historic Sites at Camp Swift, Bastrop County, Texas: 2003

The maritime role of the island of Vectis in the British pre-Roman Iron Age

The distribution of Dressel 1 amphoras and Gallo-Roman ceramics in and around the Isle of Wight is examined. Some come from the floor and margins of the Solent seaway where trawling and natural coastal processes are at work. The authors suggest that islanders of the Iron Age were accomplished seafarers, active in cross-Channel trade. The creeks of the island provided natural havens for these activities while the eastern Solent seems to have offered a great sheltered anchorage in an important strategic position. This is equated with the Magnus Portus mentioned by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The authors consider that submerged artefact scatters and ancient anchorages are aspects of the European coastline which are in particular need of archaeological evaluation and protection.

The maritime role of the island of Vectis in the British pre-Roman Iron Age

The distribution of Dressel 1 amphoras and Gallo-Roman ceramics in and around the Isle of Wight is examined. Some come from the floor and margins of the Solent seaway where trawling and natural coastal processes are at work. The authors suggest that islanders of the Iron Age were accomplished seafarers, active in cross-Channel trade. The creeks of the island provided natural havens for these activities while the eastern Solent seems to have offered a great sheltered anchorage in an important strategic position. This is equated with the Magnus Portus mentioned by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The authors consider that submerged artefact scatters and ancient anchorages are aspects of the European coastline which are in particular need of archaeological evaluation and protection.

Geophysical investigations in the service of Mount Carmel (Israel) prehistoric research

Geophysical investigations in el-Wad Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, enabled the mapping of the surface of the bedrock and a reconstruction of the depth of the archeological deposits. Seismic refraction and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) provided similar results, indicating the potential value of geophysical studies when one seeks to reconstruct site features and establish future excavation strategies. Results of a GPR survey later conducted in the adjacent Jamal Cave were supported, to a high degree, by subsequent archeological excavations in the course of which Lower and Middle Paleolithic layers were unearthed. A Continuous Vertical Electrical Sounding (CVES) geoelectric survey in the (collapsed) Misliya Cave indicates a low resistivity layer at the upper, central part of the cave, suggesting that lithified archeological deposits, of ca. 4 m, are preserved at the site. This has been supported by a test excavation recently conducted at the site. More intriguing is the case of what, on the basis of the outer morphology of the cliff, seemed to be another collapsed cave just to the north of el-Wad. The CVES survey, at the bottom of the cliff and across the hypothesized cave (or chamber), shows a two-layer model, with a low resistivity (100–200 ohm-m) layer, overlying a layer of high resistivity (8000–10,000 ohm-m). A trial trench indicates that here the bedrock is covered by shallow, recent, surface material, with no archeological value. All three methods of geophysical investigation proved applicable and resulted in the successful evaluation of sites' location, depth and spatial extension, thus forming essential tools in future prehistoric research.

Le Paléolithique en Arménie : état des connaissances acquises et données récentes

There is certainly evidence for the Palaeolithic (Acheulean and Mousterian) in Armenia, in the plain of Ararat and in the foothills of the bordering mountains, where obsidian deposits are found ; but no new research has been carried out for 20 years. In collaboration with Armenian specialists, a French archaeological expedition has been endeavouring since 1999 to check data on the Palaeolithic in this southern part of the Caucasus, hut especially to look for new sites in the regions (in the north-west near Georgia, and in the south-east not far from Iran) which until now have remained terra incognita archaeologically. This research has made possible the discovery of traces of human occupation covering several periods from the pre-Acheulean at Eni-Ël (in the north-west) to the upper Palaeolithic at Pokr Sevkar (in the south-east). These promising sites, where trial trenches and excavation will be carried out in the near future, are very important for understanding the populations of the Caucasus during the Quaternary.

Excavation of an Iron Age burial mound, Loch Borralie, Durness, Sutherland

As part of the Historic Scotland Human Remains Call Off Contract, Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) undertook an archaeological evaluation of the find spot of a human skull from a cairn at Loch Borralie, Sutherland (NGR: NC 3790 6761). Excavation recovered the remains of two burials beneath the cairn and established that the cairn was multi-phased. One individual was an adult male (Skeleton 1), while the other was immature and of undeterminable sex (Skeleton 2). Both individuals showed signs of ill health, and dogs and/or rats appear to have gnawed their bones. A ring-headed pin was recovered close to Skeleton 1 during the excavation. A radiocarbon date was obtained from the left humerus of Skeleton 1 of 40 cal BC - cal AD210 at 2 sigma (OxA-10253). Excavation revealed that the cairn, broadly sub-rectangular in form, had a maximum height of 1.2m and was composed of large, sub-angular and sub-rounded rocks (including quartz and quartzite) and occasional rounded cobbles within yellow-orange sand. One inhumation, Skeleton 2, lay within an irregular grave, cut through the red brown sand that was sealed by the cairn and into the natural gravel sand below. The other inhumation, Skeleton 1, was sealed by the red brown sand and had been placed on a low primary cairn of stone and earth, the full extent and depth of which remains unknown. The tradition of extended inhumations within sub-rectangular cairns is a recognised funerary practice in the north of Britain during the first millennium AD. Many of these burials are generally considered to be Pictish in date, but Loch Borralie indicates that the tradition commenced in the Iron Age. There is increasing evidence for the variety of ways in which human remains were treated after death in the Iron Age, including cremations in re-used cists, single inhumations in graves and cists, multiple inhumations and the incorporation of human remains in 'domestic' contexts. The results of the excavation of the burial mound at Loch Borralie provide a useful addition to the range of mortuary and funerary rites which were practised during the Iron Age in Scotland.

Baltersan: a stately tower house in Ayrshire

The ruined tower house of Baltersan near Maybole, Ayrshire (NGR: NS 283 087; NMRS site no NS 20 NE) is the subject of an intended restoration. In view of its Category A Listing and the aspirations of its owner, an archaeological evaluation was conducted and extensive research carried out. The knowledge gained to date justifies a reappraisal of the origin and importance of this remarkable building.

Srednevekovoe rasselenie na Belom ozere by N. A. s> Makarov S. D. Zakharov , A. P. Buzhilova (review)

REVIEWS 537 Makarov, N. A., Zakharov, S. D., and Buzhilova, A. P. Srednevekovoe rasselenie na Belomozere.lazyki russkoy kul'tury,Moscow, 200I. 495 pp. Tables. Figures.Appendices. Bibliography.Priceunknown. IN recent years many publications have appeared on rural settlement in the vicinity of large towns enjoying political prominence, for example E. N. Nosov's on Novgorod and A. E. Leont'ev's on the regions of Rostov and Suzdal. Yet no major work has been devoted to the networks of smaller settlementswhich arose round natural features such as lakes without having any obviously dominant urban centre. This book presentsthe resultsof more than fifteenyears of fieldworkdirectedby N. A. Makarov,and his authorship or co-authorshipof most sectionsin the book bringsit coherence. The 'region' of Beloozero isdefinedasthe centraland north-easternpartsofthe fourteenthcentury principality of Beloozersk, comprising approximately 9,ooo square kilometres of territory round Lake Beloozero and the upper Sheksna. The avowed aim of the authorsis to reconstructthe networksof ruralpopulations. Some i8o sites containing materials datable to between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries have been registered and the majority are unfortified settlements.Coverage is given to such problems as the date when the town of Beloozero shiftedto its present-daylocation on the south shore of the lake at Beloozersk. Interesting points are made about the Slavs' migration into the area. Apparently the pre-existing Finnic settlements were orientated southwestwardsfrom the lake and the Sheksna;the 'Slavo-Rus' settlementscannot be regardedas their direct continuation, even though the main settlement of the Rus, the town of Beloozero, arose in close proximity to the Finnic sites. The prime concern of the project is, however, with patternsof settlementand economic organizationand with assessingchanges over time. Disciplinessuch as palaeopathology can shed light on changing ways of life, as well as on life spans and the incidence of diseases. For example, analysis of the skeletons suggestsvariationsin the kindsof load borne by men and women and some of the signs of wear on thirteenth-century bones are consistent with heavy engagement in agrarianwork. Most innovative of all is the attentionpaid to the interrelationshipbetween populations and their natural environment. As Makarov observes, one must neverforgetthatthe earlyRus settlementsof the north-eastand north-western arose in materiallypoor lands and that even the new groupingswere virtual islands, 'separated from one another by sizeable tracts of thinly populated territories'(p. 2I9). He also highlights the role of lakes in the formation of networksof settlementsin northernRus. The naturalresourcesin and around the lakes,ratherthan the riverwaysby themselves,could best supportcompact populations. Makarov and his colleagues lacked detailed maps of the terrain around Beloozero or cartographic surveys of the archaeological sites of northern Rus. Their conclusions are necessarilytentative, relying on surface surveys and trial trenches. Yet the parallelswith developments elsewhere in the north-east are clear. The number of rural settlements around Beloozero rose substantiallyfromthe eleventh centuryonwards,reachinga climax in the second half of the twelfth. Similartrendsare discerniblenot only in the northeast but also in the regions of the Desna and the Upper Don. This points to a 538 SEER, 8o, 3, 2002 general increase in population and economic buoyancy acrossthe Rus lands. No less suggestive is the finding that changes in settlement patterns around Beloozero from the end of the thirteenth century resemble those in other regions.The ruralpopulation was dispersedand the 'compactnests'gave way to settlements with fewer inhabitants strung across extensive areas far from the terracesabove flood meadows of the earlierperiod. The material culture of these new settlements seems to have been poorer. Engagement in the fur tradeseems to have dwindled and agriculturenow became the chief means of support:self-sufficiencywas at a premium. A link is suggestedwith the 'crisis' of settlements concentrated within limited areas and reliant on constant trading. The authors might usefully have considered a connection with the impact of Mongol overlordship -not so much physical destruction as the dissolutionof intricatenexuses of exchange. Rural populations had reason to withdraw into the backwoods and minimize their exposure to census takers and tributecollectors. This studyis not confined to the materialcultureand naturalhabitatof the peoples living around Lake Beloozero. Culturo-religioustopics receive lively treatment,offeringilluminationto studentsof Muscovy as well as Old Rus. It is argued that the first parishes may date back to c. I200 and...

Preservation of Urban Archaeological Deposits: monitoring and characterisation of archaeological deposits at Marks & Spencer, 44-45 Parliament Street, York

The City of York Council has been pursuing a strict policy of in situ preservation of archaeological deposits since April 1990. Planning consent is normally granted in the historic core of York for a new development so long as less than 5% of the archaeological deposits that are preserved on a site are destroyed. During archaeological evaluation work carried out as part of the redevelopment and expansion proposals for Marks and Spencer plc on Parliament Street, deposit monitoring devices were installed to investigate and monitor both the character of the archaeological deposits present and also the burial environment surrounding them (of particular importance because the burial environment, in terms both of its characteristics and stability, is thought to play a vital role in the preservation in situ of a site's archaeological deposits). The monitoring programme was undertaken between June 1995 and April 1998. As a result the data from a total of 30 site visits have been collected and are presented in this report.This article discusses results of the deposit monitoring project and presents evidence of changes that appear to be taking place in the archaeological deposits. Although the lower deposits at Parliament Street are stable, the upper deposits show considerable seasonal variations. The concept of preservation of archaeological deposits in situ is now deeply embedded both in Codes of Professional Conduct (IFA Code of Conduct) and in national policy guidance (PPG 16). However, this emphasis on preservation in situ has been criticised. Does conservation archaeology in general and the City of York policy in particular achieve the preservation of the remaining 95% of the archaeology? Or are these deposits condemned to unseen, unrecorded destruction, sealed below new buildings; indeed if this is the case, shouldn't these deposits be excavated now while they are still viable?

Risk and Invention in Human Technological Evolution

A central issue in archaeology is the study of technological change, and yet we have relatively little theory to explain the origin of technological novelty. Most models assume that inventions are generated as needed to solve adaptive problems. Alternatively, some view innovation as a creative and random process capable only of generating variation on which selection operates. This article considers the role of risk sensitivity in the production of technological invention. It is argued that evolutionary ecological models of risk and opportunity cost establish expectations for the contexts in which individuals are likely to stick to conservative technologies and when they are likely to be inventive. Archaeological evaluation of the risk-sensitivity theory of technological change requires attention to components of technological systems and their associated mechanical, operational, and strategic costs. The framework is examined with a case study of technological change from the prehistory of the Kodiak Archipelago in the Gulf of Alaska.

The Fourth Glossop Lecture

In this lecture, the process of reading the ground is explored, some of the necessary background is defined and ways of improving our present and future competence in this area are outlined. It acknowledges the world-wide scope of this activity, but employs mainly the narrower canvas of mass movements in NW European conditions to illustrate its nature.Some basic tools which can assist in this process are first noted, good databases, the techniques of initial site appraisal, comprising desk study, site reconnaissance and mapping (with the aid of stereoscopic air photo interpretation and other remote sensing techniques), terrain modelling and the use of associated well-logged and sampled trial trenches. The importance of the classification of mass movements, not least to develop an agreed terminology, is touched upon and the great value, even at this early stage, of the influence line approach in assessing rapidly the effects of proposed cuts and fills is noted.An attempt is then made to identify the relevant vocabulary for reading the ground, that is those physical phenomena which bear on site appraisal. These are divided into bedrock elements, of which lithology and tectonics are highlighted, and Quaternary elements, particularly those that occurred in areas of cold climate, i.e. past freezing and thawing, sea-level changes, hydrogeological features and glacial, periglacial, fluvial and marine erosional and depositional features. Abandoned cliffs and inland scarps in chalk and some clays are then identified as characteristic landforms, and their nature and development are also explored. Case records of successful and unsuccessful earthworks on clayey scarps are also reviewed, in relation to the quality of initial site appraisal undertaken.In conclusion, significant weaknesses in our current education and training in this area are identified, specifically a near-absence of geomorphology and insufficient Quaternary geology, and proposals made to remedy these.

A later prehistoric settlement at Balloan Park, Inverness

The position of a circular enclosure identified by aerial photography was located on the ground. Trial trenching revealed that an extensive settlement, dating probably from the LBA to the MIA, lay to the north and east of the palisaded enclosure. Roads along the line of the Inverness southern distributor road, revealed traces of the same settlement and are also discussed in this report. There are two radiocarbon dates from features in Trench III.

Excavation of a cist burial on Doons Law, Leetside Farm, Whitsome, Berwickshire

A cist burial containing the fragmentary remains of a (probably) female skeleton, a decorated Northern British/Northern Rhine Beaker, a group of flints, a fragmentary copper awl and some fragments of burnt bone and charcoal, was unearthed by ploughing in 1995. A sample of skeletal bone yielded a radiocarbon date of 2135-1935 cal BC at one sigma. Analysis of the pollen and spore content in an area of stained cist-floor sediment surrounding the skeleton suggested that flowers of Brassicaceae and Filipendula were deliberately deposited in the cist at the time of the inhumation. A series of trial trenches was excavated around the burial to investigate whether any additional archaeological evidence was detectable, but none was found.

Assessment of the Performance of Trial Trenches Backfilled with Cementitious Materials

Longitudinal and transverse trial trenches backfilled with unbound graded granular material. Lytag:cement and PFA:sand:cement were monitored over a period of one year. Permanent deformation, elastic deflection and ease of break-out of backfill were used to assess the performance of the trenches. Granular backfill exhibited settlement of 2 and 5mm for the transverse and longitudinal trenches respectively. The corresponding settlement for cementitious backfill was 1 and 2mm. For all types of backfill materials, longitudinal trenches showed greater settlement than the corresponding transverse trenches. Settlement of the trenches took place mainly in the first two months after construction and the rate of settlement became insignificant after that period. Field trials showed that cementitious materials performed better than granular backfill both in terms of permanent deformation and less elastic deflection. Falling weight deflectometer tests were conducted to estimate the elastic modulus of the backfill. It was found that after about one year the deduced elastic modulus of granular backfill became similar to that of the surrounding soil. The deduced elastic modulus of the two cementitious backfille became higher than for the control section, but poor bond between fill and trench wall may have limited the deduced value for Lytag cement mix. One metre length of each transverse trench was excavated to assess ease of break-out. Whilst the granular backfill was the quickest to excavate, Lytagxement backfill was favoured by the operatives as it could be broken out and handled as easy as the granular backfill. The initial cost of PFA:sand:cement was very close to the granular backfill whereas Lytagxement was 12–28% more expensive. If long-term performance is considered, cementitious backfill may be more economical even though the initial cost is higher.

Excavation of a Medieval moated site in Elderslie, Renfrewshire

Prior to re-landscaping, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken in August 1998 of the area around the Wallace Memorial in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, which marks the reputed birthplace of Sir William Wallace. In addition to a 16th century structure, known as "Wallace's House", early map evidence suggested that there was a large rectilinear moated enclosure around the site with three rounded corner towers, only one of which now survives at the eastern corner in the garden of Moat House. Excavation across this moat revealed it to be a wide flat-bottomed ditch, with its inner edge faced by a battered and mortared rubble wall. Artefactual evidence and a radiocarbon date suggests that this enclosure was of medieval date. Unfortunately the majority of material recovered from the interior relates to the post-medieval re-use of the site.