Excavation of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement features at Lamb's Nursery, Dalkeith, Midlothian

Abstract

Excavation identified the remains of at least two timber roundhouses, one of which was dated to the mid second millennium BC. The site also contained a Neolithic structure and series of pits, some of which contained fragments of Grooved Ware pottery. Includes separately authored reports on:

Howe Mire: excavations across the cropmark complex at Inveresk, Musselburgh, East Lothian

“…Activity in this period at Inveresk is characterized by unenclosed settlement: five timber roundhouses (in addition to those reported from here) have been excavated around Inveresk (Hanson 2002a;Neighbour 2002). Within Midlothian and East Lothian timber roundhouses have a wide chronological range with examples dating from the mid second millennium bc to the later first millennium ad (Cook 2000;Haslegrove & McCullagh 2000). Roman activity in Scotland comprises at least three major incursions: Flavian (late first century ad), Antonine (mid-second century) and Severan (early third century).…”

Bronze Age pastoral practices in the Clyde Valley

“…The lowland gap in the Bronze Age settlement record in Scotland is generally considered to be due simply to archaeological visibility (Cowie & Shepherd 1997, 162). In recent years, Bronze Age settlements have been discovered in lowland areas such as Ednie (Strachan & Dunwell 2003, 159 & 167) and Kintore (Cook forthcoming) in Aberdeenshire, Lamb's Nursery in Midlothian (Cook 2000), Myrehead in Falkirk (Barclay 1983), Blairhall Burn in Dumfriesshire and Ailsa View in Ayrshire (Gooder forthcoming). The survival of cropmark sites such as Shiels (Scott 1996) and Braehead (Ellis 2001), albeit Iron Age enclosed sites, and the more recent discovery of a palisade enclosure at Mearnskirk (Rees 2002, 45) shows that the lower Clyde Valley was not devoid of prehistoric or early historic settlement either.…”

Developer-funded fieldwork in Scotland, 1990-2003

“…Circular structures dating from the later Neolithic have been excavated at Beckton Farm, S Lanarkshire, where they were associated with Grooved Ware (Pollard 1997). On the later Neolithic site at Lamb's Nursery, Midlothian, enigmatic slots, post circles and cut features appear to relate to buildings (Cook 2000a).…”

“…In S Lanarkshire, at Annieston, the houses were also associated with a number of pits, one of which contained Beaker ceramics (Neighbour 1995). Middle Bronze Age roundhouses and similar circular structures have been excavated at Lamb's Nursery (Cook 2000a), and a Late Bronze Age roundhouse settlement was discovered at Ednie, near Peterhead (Strachan & Dunwell 2003). At Garvald Quarry, it would appear that a Bronze Age structure had been purposefully burnt down (Duncan et al 1998).…”

“…There is limited evidence for the cultivation of domesticated oats. They were associated with the Middle Bronze Age settlement of Lamb's Nursery (Cook 2000a). At the platform settlement of Lintshie Gutter, S Lanarkshire, small quantities of grain were recovered (Terry 1995) but the lack of quern stones suggested that this may have been a specialist pastoral site.…”