Significant progress and a Wispa well revelation!
Hi. I’m Alex, a UHI student on my field school at the Cairns dig.
Another sunny day today as the team at the Cairns continued excavations across the site.
At the broch entrance Holly, Craig, and Kevin continued taking down the rest of the souterrain walls, investigating how it interacts with the rest of Structure O. By the broch entrance itself, Holly found the remains of a shattered clay pot, likely crushed by rubble as the broch was decommissioned.
The work here will continue in the coming days as the team tries to gain more understanding of the buildings and courtyard outside the broch.
Further round to the north-west, Kathryn and I have been excavating and sampling a clay deposit rich in charcoal, which could give us more insight into the environment around the site during the broch’s use.
Under this deposit, Kathryn discovered a whalebone, with signs of wear and butchering. Several other whale bones have been found across the site and will all be sent back to the lab for analysis, hopefully giving us more information on the broch inhabitants’ interactions with these animals.
Further along the exterior of the broch, at Structure B2, Iain has been leading a team excavating the floor of the structure.
Digging in grid squares, the team has been revealing a burnt layer which runs through the structure. The team has uncovered a few interesting finds, including a potential stone tool and quite a lot of pottery.
Supervising this team has been Iain’s dog, Saffie, who has kept a close eye on them, occasionally demanding they play fetch with her.
Inside the broch, the team have been excavating the south room, lifting the slabs and excavating in a grid. Quin and Matthew have found some small bones, pottery fragments and whalebone. In the north room, Graham and Thore have been sampling the floor, recovering some bones and a scraper, while Rick tested out the well’s ability to chill a Wispa bar!*
Finally in the west room, Jemima has been collecting some geochemical and bulk samples and lifting some of the flagstones, finding some more bone fragments.
Overall, another busy day at the site, with some significant progress and amazing new finds!
Alex Rayner
UHI Archaeology Institute student
*Editor’s note: For non-UK readers: a Wispa is a velvety chocolate bar, and this particular one had earlier melted in the sun leading to Rick’s novel solution to reconsolidate the sweet treat!
