We hit the ground running at Swartigill and the site continues yield interesting finds and fascinating features.
Work in Structure B has focused around the huge hearth that takes up the entire centre of the structure. We think that this hearth had multiple functions, with different activity areas within it.
We are also continuing to find huge quantities of pottery in the building, mainly around the outside of the southern hearth, where the remains of entire pots in shattered spreads are emerging. There were also sherds of a decorated vessel within the hearth.
Our dates for the activity around the hearth are from the Mid 1st century BC and Mid 1st Century AD, but we are confident that there is also an earlier phase to this structure, as we have found in neighbouring Structure D to the south.
Structure D still paints a picture of complex modification and structural repair, but we are also starting to see the building’s original shape as later skins of degraded stonework are removed to reveal the walls behind and below. Paving is emerging around the south side, at a similar level to a surface of flagstones to the north that we know to date to the late 4th century BC.
As with Structure B, a large hearth forms the focal point within Structure D and we are starting to see how the location of the hearth migrated around the central area of the building over time, with new layouts superseding the old. The later phases of activity around this hearth have been dated to the Mid 1st century BC.
Structure D is not disappointing us in terms of finds either. While excavating the remaining rubble on the north side of the building, local volunteer Alison Smith found an iron object. Although it is heavily corroded, its size and shape are suggestive of the blade of a small knife. This is the only piece of a recognisably iron object recovered from the excavation so far, so we are very pleased to add this to our rapidly growing assemblage of finds.
Roland Spence Jones, another of our volunteers, working right next to Alison, soon made a remarkable discovery of his own. A bangle fragment, made from lignite, also known as “canal coal”. These items of personal adornment are well documented from Iron Age sites across Northern Scotland and the Northern Isles, with one known source of lignite located about 40 miles to the south-west at Brora.
This is the third fragment we have recovered from the site so far and the first from a context that we can confidently date to the Middle Iron Age.
Although the two main buildings have been our primary focus, we have also continued our excavations in the structures connecting to them. Local volunteer Camilla Manson, along with her sons, have been hard at work in Structure G. Meanwhile, Val Ashpool has uncovered a curving drain feature under the floor of Structure C. This is more evidence that controlling the flow of water through the site was an important part of activity at the Swartigill settlement
This site has the potential to answer many questions about what life was like in the Iron Age of Caithness away from the large and imposing broch settlements. We have two weeks of digging left, and we are gaining more information and a better understanding of the archaeology every day.
Visitors are welcome to come and see our progress, Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm. Our open day will be on Sunday, August 31, with tours from noon. We look forward to welcoming you to the site.
