No abstract

A fieldwalking exercise by Lanark and District Archaeological Society (LADAS) on moorland recently ploughed for forestry revealed the presence of an extensive Early Neo, Late Neo and EBA artefact scatter, a long mound and five round cairns. Excavation of two of the round cairns revealed them to be simple, single-phase monuments of Beaker date, sealing possibly cultivated soils. The long mound was a complex, multi-phase monument of Early Neo date which contained two secondary burials of a later date; one contained Late Neo artefacts (a Seamer axe and a large leaf-shaped knife), and the other contained three Beakers and a polished stone axehead. The mound overlay three phases of earlier activity: a stake-built structure which produced two Late Meso radiocarbon dates; a possibly cultivated soil deposit; and a series of bonfires (containing Early Neo pottery) which produced two Early Neo radiocarbon dates. This phase may be contemporary with stone structures whose relative stratigraphic position could not be ascertained. Excavation in the artefact scatters revealed evidence for widespread Neo domestic activity. There are specialist reports on: `The artefact scatters and areas of sample excavation' by Daniel A Johnston & Tam Ward (198--202); `Pottery' by A Sheridan (202--23); `Chipped stone; hammerstone and axeheads' by Bill Finlayson (223--34); and `Stone axehead from cairn 2' by Roy Ritchie (234). The Palaeoenvironmental remains section includes: `The charred plant remains from cairns 2 & 3' by Sheila Boardman (234); `Charcoal from the pre-mound deposits under cairn 2' by Anne Crone (234--5); `Palynology of old ground surfaces beneath cairns 1 & 3' by Richard Tipping (235--6); `Micromorphology of the soils buried by cairns 1 & 3' (236--7) and `Soil chemistry from the Historic Scotland sites' (237) both by Stephen Carter; `Charcoal identifications from sample areas 2 & 5' by Sheila Boardman (237--8); and `Carbonized plant remains from sample areas 2 & 5' by Ruth Pelling (238--9). `Dating evidence' is discussed by Daniel A Johnston & Tam Ward (240--3).

Cropmarks of a square, double-ditched Iron Age/Romano-British enclosure, a Roman temporary camp and  another sub-rectangular enclosure were excavated in advance of road building. All the monuments were plough damaged. The square enclosure had three main enclosure phases. It contained six intersecting circular buildings, one of which was surrounded by a large ditch and three large sunken features  with complex, charcoal-rich fills. A cobbled surface (probably a Roman road) crossed its south-east corner. Radiocarbon dates from the enclosure ranged from 145 BC to AD 415; earlier activity was dated  to between 1285 and 230 BC. A brooch, sword, and sickle, deposited probably in the ninth or tenth century AD, were found within the enclosure.   The primary fill of the Roman camp ditch was redeposited turf. A group of internal post-holes was rich in  charred barley and wheat. The third and earliest enclosure was defended by a ditch and palisade; the  temporary camp re-used part of its ditch. An oven found within the third enclosure was probably associated  with the temporary camp.    Three cremation burials were found north of the square enclosure. Two were contained in collared urns, which were found in small cists. The third was in a pit, and unaccompanied. The excavation was arranged and funded  by Historic Scotland.

Articulated human skeletons and disarticulated bones recovered in 1993 from excavations in the area of the former Lady Yester's Kirkyard showed clear evidence of post-mortem dissection. They are identified as the `unclaimed' dead buried by the Royal Infirmary in the second half of the eighteenth century. There was evidence for post-mortem tooth removal from all the dentitions recovered during the excavation, probably for the manufacture of sets of false teeth. A further assemblage of human bones, found in 1988 adjacent to eighteenth/nineteenth-century anatomy schools formed part of a teaching collection from the schools.