EHG5240 - Excavation - Stronchrubie Burnt Mound (Assynt Fire and Water)

As part of the Assynt Fire and Water Festival, an excavation was undertaken by AOC Archaeology Group in 2012 in order to investigate the burnt mound at Stronchubie near Inchnadamph. The excavation was accompanied by a series of experiments in order to test the effectiveness of boiling water using local stone. The mound was found to occupy a small natural mound situated next to a relict streambed. The mound of burnt stone was a metre deep at its deepest point, penannular in plan surrounding a central pit. The pit was sub-triangular with sides two metres long and a small channel running in the direction of the stream bed. This channel was found to be roughly level with the streambed, suggesting that the pit could have been filled from that source. The central pit may have been lined with flat slabs of quartzite, only four of which were in situ. All deposits within the mound contained charcoal; this was sampled in order to provide a series of radiocarbon dates. The determinations from these samples indicate activity spanning the middle centuries of the second millennium BC, with a second period of activity in the tenth century AD indicated from charcoal in layers above a clay sealing deposit above the central pit. This research was supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Robert Kiln Charitable Trust. <1>