EHG3259 - Watching Brief on laying of underground cables, Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig

Observation of groundworks associated with laying out cables in proximity to Wade's military road, which survives as an earthwork at Kincraig. No archaeological finds or features were recorded in the western section of observations. Observation along the eastern section noted a roadside wall, although no dating evidence was recovered from it. It had apparently been constructed of alternate layers of turf and rounded cobbles c. 8-14cm in diameter. These has however collapsed and fused and now appeared as a single deposit. The layer of dark, humic material beneath this dyke was too rich to represent buried topsoil. Owing to the oblique and curving nature of the section through the old wall it is difficult to interpret what this stratified darker band represents. It could be that the turf and stone wall might have been constructed alongside Wade’s Road sometime after completion of the road, on top of a shallow ditch which had filled with silt and surface detritus from the road. <1>