A cornucopia of finds across the site
There was plenty of sun today, with a high of 13 degrees and little wind. Besides the incessant mooing of the cows in the field next to us, the ideal working conditions considering prior half days cancelled due to rain.
An impressive discovery was made in the broch’s south room. As Alannah and Emma were carefully excavating an organic-rich occupation context when they uncovered a well-preserved, perforated bone mount.
Meanwhile, in the north-east room Scott has been attempting to uncover the flagstone flooring, finding some charred cereal grain during his efforts. In the west room efforts to uncover the corner of the main hearth continued. Today, the west room has also saw Travis finding stone tools, a selection of bones and some pottery sherds. Another point to note was in south-east room, where fragments of copper alloy have been found. Today also saw the planning of a new hearth in the north room.
Outside of the broch, in Structure U4, Ole and Deryck have been diligently excavating layers of clay and ash, discovering some beautiful pottery sherds along the way. The north-east side of U4 revealed a high concentration of pottery that was probably a whole, smashed pot.
Some of today’s pottery finds across the site. Click on the images for details.
Adjacent to Structure U4, in cells U2 and U1, Iris and Anthea have been drawing a section of the wall before it is further investigated to discover whether cells U1 and U2 were originally one. After completing the archaeological planning, work can now recommence within the cells.
Moving closer to the broch entrance, Dan and Isaac continued work on the outside of the broch wall, attempting to move closer to the base. The two found stone tools, including a Skaill knife, some articulated bones, that included a very well-preserved spine, and a shell cache pressed against the broch wall.
Adjacent to them, Craig continued work along the souterrain passage attempting to uncover where it leads – the current souterrain leads from the entrance of the broch to the south, reusing material from the broch, including what appears to be a quernstone (an interesting choice as a block within a wall considering its rounded structure).
To the north of Craig and his unique wall, work continued within Structure O, with Cath, Dani, Amber, and Kev uncovering a mammal skull while removing rubble. Cath, Amber and Danni have discovered a possibly earlier wall running through the centre of Structure O.
Finally, in another outer building to the north of the broch entrance, Ellen and Claire have been writing records prior to beginning work to investigate the paved floor further. Alongside them, Nathan and Milly have been excavating another part of this area and found a red deer cranial fragment.
Isaac Nailer
Volunteer
