EHG3762 - Metal detector survey - Culloden Access and Interpretation Project

A metal-detecting survey was carried out by West Coast Archaeological Services in 2013 on behalf of the Highland Council and National Trust for Scotland at a site located to the west-southwest of Culloden Battlefield in Inverness. The work was undertaken during construction of a new footpath along the south side of the B9006 to check for any archaeological finds of interest, particularly in relation to the Battle of Culloden. The survey was conducted along a 125m-long stretch of ground, covering the west-southwestern half of the new footpath route (in an area that was not available for survey the previous year - see EHG3694). Although the intention had been for the survey to be carried out ahead of any construction work, due to the short notice of the project, one section of the new footpath had already been excavated and constructed prior to the archaeologists’ visit. The western half of the new footpath had already been constructed at the time of the survey. Therefore, an area 10m wide to the south side of the footpath was surveyed using the metal detector. Only the western half of the site for the new footpath was metal-detected during the fieldwork. The eastern half of the footpath route was not surveyed because the ground had been previously made-up with numerous services running below the narrow road verge surface and any detecting to the side of the footpath extended into privately owned land beyond the fenceline boundary. The spoil heaps from the construction were also checked for contacts, but the overwhelming mix of modern rubbish in the spoil led to no useful results. Forty-two objects were recovered, including two copper alloy buttons, one copper alloy buckle, a lead or pewter object and miscellaneous iron objects. <1>