EHG389 - Trial trenching, test pitting and coring - Ballachulish Moss

Trial trenching, test pitting and coring was carried out by the Centre for Field Archaeology subsequent to a geophysical survey across the southern portion of North Ballachulish Moss. It aimed to provide an assessment of the archeological and palaeolenvironmental potential of the area. This fieldwork represents the second stage in a more extensive programme of work to be undertaken by CFA (see EHG388 and EHG163), and builds upon previous work undertaken by GUARD in 1993 (see EHG156). The aim of the trial trenches were to investigate the nature of the deeper peat and serve as a form of archaeological prospecting. Trench 1 was placed over a suite of anomalies identified during the previous radar survey, whilst the other two trenches functioned as an exploration and as a control investigatigating the result of the radar survey. A series of 1m x 1m test pit were semi-randomly located to seek evidence for a mesolithic presence; check the depth of the peat; look for undetected shallower anomolies; check the condition and nature of the underlying deposits. Three cores were taken from the deepest points of the three lake basins based on the previous radar survey on order to date the formation and accumulation of peat across the moss. <1> Data Structure Reports for this work were published in 1996 with the results of all phases of work of the programme and completed post excavation work was published in a final report in 1998. <2> <3> <4>