Three sites were excavated: a class II henge, a massive round barrow and a pair of ring-ditches. Five periods of activity were noted on the henge site: I - pre henge-bank activity, including one burial; II - the class II henge, a ditch with an external bank enclosing a timber ring (late third millennium BC); III - burial and ritual/domestic activity, the former associated with food vessels, cinerary urns and a beaker, the latter with beaker material (second millennium BC); IV - in situ cremation and burial (late second/early first millennium BC); V-long grave cemetery (mid/late first millennium AD). A second timber ring, three burials and a number of pits could not be securely related to this sequence. One of the Period III food vessels had contained a cereal-based material.The barrow covered a substantial area of old land surface (Period II) exhibiting probable cultivation traces which in turn sealed small pits (Period I). The construction of the barrow (Period III) was undertaken in six phases, which include a complex timber substructure (A), a ring-bank (B), a fire set near the top of the mound (D) and a stone capping (F). The mound was largely built of material dug from a surrounding ditch, though large quantities of field-stone and turf were also used. The mound has been dated to the early/mid second millennium be. Phosphate concentrations suggest that the barrow had covered burials. Two food vessel sherds were incorporated into the lower mound material. A spindle whorl was found in the upper part of the mound. Multiple and single cremation deposits and two inhumations, both with food vessels, one with a disc-bead jet necklace, had been dug into the mound's surface or had been incorporated during its building. A large cupmarked slab was found at the barrow's summit.The two ring-ditches may have enclosed low barrows. A pit containing cremated bone and 'WesternNeolithic' pottery dated to the early/mid third millennium BC was cut by ring-ditch 2.
The complete excavation of a post-defined Neolithic enclosure took place in 1979 and 1980 in advance of the construction of a gas compressor station for the British Gas Corporation. The enclosure appeared to have been constructed in two parts. There was little evidence for any associated activity except for a pit in the north half. Three charcoal samples from the post-holes produced radiocarbon dates in the range 3930-3390 cal BC. A small sample of a scatter of pits visible on aerial photographs was also excavated. Six penannular ring-ditch houses dating to the mid first millennium BC were also investigated. The houses were of the broad ring-ditch type with internal ring beam support. Other features included six-post structures and crescent-shaped hollows which might be the truncated remains of further house sites. There was little horizontal stratigraphy. The project was arranged and funded by Historic Scotland and its predecessor departments, with a contribution by British Gas.
This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian. The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish Development Department. Features and artefacts of various periods were discovered during the excavations, including a Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage and pits associated with Impressed Ware pottery. A pair of distinctive burial cists dating to c2300-2000 cal BC was discovered, each containing two inhumations, one articulated and the other disarticulated; a Beaker vessel was found directly above one of the cists. By the mid first millennium cal BC a settlement had been founded on the site. Three successive settlement layouts can be interpreted from the excavated structures. The first two phases represent continuous occupation, dating to before 400 cal BC, and consisted of timber roundhouses, other rectangular structures and a small cemetery of pit graves located within a palisaded enclosure. The final occupation phase, which extended into the Roman Iron Age and may have occurred after a break in occupation, consisted of an unenclosed settlement of ring-ditch houses. Historic Scotland and predecessor bodies funded the post-excavation studies and publication of this report.
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