Whale rib and saddle quern inside the broch
Another glorious day at The Cairns! The scale of activity on the site has increased as the team get to work on specific areas around and inside the broch, which has resulted in some amazing and interesting finds.
In the north-western zone of the broch, Dominic found a large whalebone lying against the wall. In response to this significant find, he said it was the first thing he’d found in an excavation.
Hopefully, this will be the beginning of more finds to come!
One of the challenges of working inside the broch has been the amount of stone, or shillet, inside the structure.
Tom spent the day clearing the last of this rubble in the north-western corner and has also noted a large amount of clay. The adage he uses when excavating is “slow, but sure” as this important process should not be rushed.
Hannah and Luci-Jo have spent the day removing the last rubble over the paving that seals Structure O.
Hannah has been clearing a section of the structure to get down to this paving and ultimately determine where the Structure O wall lies. She found a lot of animal bone and shells close to the wall.
The focus of Luci-Jo’s excavation was on the revetment wall above Structure O and, while digging, she found the remains of small mammal – we’ll keep you posted on what species it turns out to be. Fortunately, she made the decision to remove the skeleton after lunch.
Chloe and Elio worked on removing rubble from in front of the broch.
Chloe, an archaeology PhD student from Australia, focused on removing large pieces of rubble from the top of the souterrain wall, where it runs close to the broch wall, and she found the loose rubble “no trouble”.
After four days of working on the broch, Elio, who has finally warmed up enough to remove his coat while working, was immersed in the task of levelling the ground before being able to inspect the shells in the midden.
His experience so far has been “extraordinaire” and our team member from Belgium stated that “la vie est belle au Cairns” – or, life is good at The Cairns.
Returning volunteers Deryck and Anthea were determined to remove as much stone as possible to explore the detailed relationship between Structures E (7th Century AD multi-cell building) and J (broch-period village building).
It was interesting to note their conversations with Martin throughout the day to determine the process that led to the construction of these structures.
Finally, l worked with Ole, in Structure E, and exposed more of the broch wall as well.
While digging, I found a stone tool (my first) and got the opportunity to write out a context record sheet with assistance from Kevin – the site’s small finds “guru”. I look forward to writing many more over the course of next week.
With Martin’s and Rick’s knowledge of the broch and the experience of supervisors Sean and Holly, along with the enthusiasm and chutzpah of Alannah, Elisabete and Francesca, there is a sense that the team is coalescing around the singular mission of uncovering as much evidence as possible over the coming weeks to add to the understanding of the people who built and lived at this important archaeological site.
Michael Zambon
MLitt Archaeological Studies. UHI Archaeology Institute
