A walk round the site with Django
Today is my last day at the Cairns dig. For today’s blog, I have walked my last walk around the site to discover what people have been working on.
A special thanks to Declan for volunteering me to write it!
In Structure B2, the ‘wag’ structure, Iain, Clare, Carrie, Alesia, and Robert have been working on following a burnt layer.
It appears that the burning (evident by black and red ash under the paving) may have been a structure-wide event with future walls built on top of it, as the same ash spans over a sizeable amount of the structure and goes under a partition wall, rather than over it, which would have placed it earlier than the construction of the wall.
In terms of finds, there was a horn core (the base of the horn). However, the most interesting discovery was a piece of pumice found placed against the hearth. It was used for polishing and is nicely rounded.
Clare and Carrie are drawing a section of B2. B2 will hopefully be completed by the time the dig closes. Great news! Saffy the Dog has also been watching over the site and stood watch over B2 today.
Over on the other side of the site, in Structure K, Jonathan and Nico have continued to excavate a red ‘clayey’ layer with a very charcoal-rich deposit.
This area has suddenly become exciting as James pointed out a large amount of iron-working slag on top of the charcoal deposit, which is more evidence of metalworking.
Structure K has yielded evidence of metalworking in the past, so it is exciting to see there may have been a tradition of metallurgy in this area of the site for longer than we previously knew. James offered that the red clay deposit could in fact be an in situ working furnace, but this is currently just a working theory.
Other finds include some stone tools and a piece of worked antler over by Annette’s area in Structure K.
In Structure B, the drain continues. This is where I have been working, although I was in B2, which was much drier than the drain where Elspeth and Alannah were working.
As mentioned in earlier blog posts, it is the excavation of the midden in the drain discovered earlier in the 2026 season. To properly visualise the drain, imagine a ‘V’ or ‘U’ shaped channel packed with red clay to form the water channel, flowing from the southeast broch wall down through to the ‘plaza’ (Structure O).
It has been an endless supply of animal bone, interestingly there has been an abundance of jawbones, possibly from red deer, exceptionally numerous on The Cairns site, as, although they are extinct in today’s Orkney, they were very much around 2,000 years ago!
Excitingly, there has been a lot of articulated bone found in the drain. This is when bones, such as vertebrae, are still together in their anatomically correct positions. This means that the bone was deposited in the drain with cartilage and remnants of flesh still attached.
I say excitingly, because this means that if the bone were to be radiocarbon dated it would be a fairly direct and reliable date for the layer it comes from as opposed to being redeposited after many years in the ground which would give a misleading date for the drain feature. It could indicate a dumping place for animal remains after consumption.
In the side cell of Structure T (T2), I have been happily working away, grid-sampling a charcoal rich layer lying over a red clay layer. It has been relatively high and dry in my area, unlike the drain, which Elspeth describes as ‘soggy’.
Further round to the west of the Structure O area, Julia has lifted her articulated pig bones and Craig has exposed more paving.
As a side note, Holly has been my supervisor for six weeks (four weeks last year and two weeks this year) and is the supervisor for this area (O and T). She has taught me a lot, and I mean a lot. It has been really lovely!
Kev has been working on excavating rubble from the wall opposite to broch entrance. He is exposing the drain culvert that we know heads under this wall. Eventually, the drain cap stones will be lifted. Kev told me that he was happy about the dry weather today, something that I am in firm agreement with!
Now, into the broch..
James (the broch one) found a lot of stone tools in the south-east room with Amanda and Scott, who have been following deposits to better understand the earlier sequence of the room.
Leila and Quin have been working in the south room. I’d like to suggest Leila’s new name is ‘Boss’. Ask anyone, they’ll tell you about the famous pink hard hat. I even want one of my own.
They have found some deer leg bone, and lifted stone tools after photographing them in situ. They discovered something which, at first glance, appeared to be a pivot stone, but may actually be a stone oil lamp. If you have been following the blog you would know that this is the second oil lamp found in the south room this season. Quin also found a big pottery spread between two of the orthostats.
Jem, Thore, and Declan left the west room as it was still drying off after the recent rain. Now, in the far end of the north room, Jem excavated the occupation deposits and also found a ring embossed pottery sherd. Thore worked in the west end of the north room, and came down onto the natural, revealing the full extent of the well in the area.
Away from the broch, in ‘the cells’, (the U structures), Bev and Zsuzsanna have been excavating the floor deposit of U4 on a grid. They’ve found large chunks of carbonised roundwood within the ashy deposits. Scott, the plant specialist, suggests that they are possibly pine, and ‘not oak’.
These pieces of wood would constitute the second biggest piece of wood found on site. As the cells are an older inclusion to the site; probably Late Iron Age/Pictish period, these pieces of wood will provide some good confirmation of the dating of the cell.
Exposing the paved floor in another cell, Daniel has found a brilliant kerbstone and other paving stones, which suggests there may be two layers of paving.
With that final note, it concludes my time on The Cairns. Peace out!
Django Moses
Excavator
