My name is Craig Barnes and I am a volunteer archaeologist who has travelled from Canada to assist Martin, his fabulous team and the many other students and volunteers. What an absolute honour it has been to be involved (again this year).
Beginning outside the broch, I can report on today’s progress:
Structure V (Ella, Julia, Indy, and Craig): This team has continued their work of yesterday by working within a 62 squares grid. This excavation work is taking us down to more pavers but also identifying some beautiful (and very colourful) deposits. A few animal bone fragments have also been located today.
Structure T (Holly, Elspeth, Sterling, and Ross): Holly has been busy digging within the sump that connects with the drain. Within the sump, a whale bone, quern stones, and a stone tool were all found. It appears that the sump was partially stone lined.
Sterling and Ross (within side-cell: T2) have performed some cleaning, sampling, and photography. This is a very interesting cell with a beautiful orange layer that was relatively thick. Today’s work concludes the effort in this cell.
Elspeth has been excavating through some hard packed clay in a cross-section and performing sampling as she goes.
Structure K (Nico): Nico is the last remaining member of the team that worked within this area and is finishing the remarkable furnace here. Today involved drawing plans and elevations. This involved digging a section through deposits at the front of the furnace (where lots of slag was discovered).
Structure B2 (Iain): Similar to Structure K, Iain was the last remaining member of this team here. Today’s work saw a large horizontal orthostat removed to reveal some beautiful roundwood charcoal deposits. And with that Structure B2 is completed.
Structures J1 and U3 (Astrid): The back wall of my favourite cell (U3) continued to be methodically dismantled by Astrid to look for evidence of other walls running beneath. In addition, continued excavation of the J1 lower deposits is underway to determine if another shelf/shelves might lie beneath.
Structure U1 (Ole and Matt): The guys excavated the upper layers to locate pavers. These will be excavated to see what occupation lies beneath. The best find was a new hearth-setting and animal bone within the hearth that can be C-14 dated.
The hearth setting in Structure U1. (📷 Iain Healy/Martin Carruthers)
Structure U4 (Bev): A grid excavation is underway with has revealed a black layer, which was beneath a clay layer. Additionally, a large piece of burnt wood has been located, which will be removed on Thursday. Finally, orange clay was removed from around the peck-marked stone built into the wall of U4.
Our Small Finds Supervisor (Sir Kevin Kerr) has spent most of his day organizing the vast quantities of small finds, artifacts, and bulk samples in readiness for transport to UHI.
Within the broch, the following has occurred:
North Room (Thore): Sampling of re-deposited natural material (on the east side of well) has taken place. A cleaning of all associated stones around the well will allow photography of the well cap stones.
West Room (Jem and Declan): Jem continued to take down hearth deposits and the result – a natural till level. Tomorrow, a Kubiena tin sample will be taken.
Declan has excavated layers within the grid squares. Working in clay sections around the upright slabs (orthostats), several tools and pottery sherds were discovered.
South Room (Quin and Peter): Peter worked in the central ‘cubby’ and surrounding areas and was able to locate a 3 cm-long copper alloy item (likely a pin fragment). Some pottery sherds (one piece with a lip) were also located.
Quin was determined to locate the natural till, and his excavation efforts may have been proven successful- very important for locating the natural in what is the last major zone of the broch interior that had not yet yielded up the very lowest occupation.
Southeast Room (Amanda, Scott and James): Amanda has been excavating within the grid and has excavated the lowest clay floor and some rich charcoal deposits.
Scott has made a sondage (a localised deep excavation cutting) on the base of the room in order to look at the stratigraphy within the deposits. It appears that there are stone tools and a broken quern stone located within his excavation.
James is working within the Southeast ‘aisle’, right up against the interior broch wall. He has also located the natural till here.
Broch Entrance Passageway (Martin): The upper occupation deposit has been excavated on a gird and this revealed very large paving slabs. Now more slabs have been exposed across the base of the passage. Ultimately, Martin is attempting to reveal the drain that runs from within the broch to the drains (located outside the broch) that take water away from the structure.
Craig Barnes
Volunteer excavator
