EHG1545 - DBA and walkover survey - Broomhill, Muir of Ord

An archaeological desk-based assessment and site appraisal were undertaken by Headland Archaeology in 2007 at a proposed housing development at Broomhill, Muir of Ord, Highland. The initial desk-based assessment identified that from the time of the first detailed plans of the area the site had been open farmland. A number of prehistoric cropmark sites had been identified in the immediate surroundings of the site. The north of the site was low-lying and marshy. To the south the ground rose steeply to a terrace with pronounced Kame and Kettle topography formed by melting at the end of the last glaciation. This resulted in a landscape of pronounced hillocks separated by fairly steep slopes and gullies. The base of these gullies can be marshy in places and the tops of the hillocks had been eroded by cultivation. The potential for previously unrecorded prehistoric settlement in the area was regarded as low as a result of the topography. Natural hillocks and ridges were sometimes used as the location for prehistoric burial or ritual activity and in this regard the south of the site had an untested potential. The low-lying area to the north had the potential to be the location for burnt mounds, which are found at the edge of wetlands. <1>