EHG3741 - Excavation - Conon Bridge, Urquhart and Logie Wester

Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd conducted a targeted excavation and monitored topsoil strip in 2012 at the site of a proposed housing development at School Road, Conon Bridge, Highland in order to satisfy a planning condition set by Highland Council. The work was commissioned by Cameron and Patterson Homes and followed previous phases of desk based assessment and trial trenching (see EHG3531). This phase of work comprised a machine excavated topsoil strip of seven discrete areas of up to 20m by 50m, followed by a larger area of some 14,500m². The seven areas, located at the west end of the proposed housing development, were targeted at features of archaeological interest found during the evaluation phase; in turn the results of these areas were used to define the limits of the larger topsoil strip. Across all the excavated areas the topsoil was very thin, with a maximum depth of 0.4m, and there was widespread evidence for plough truncation of the site in the form of plough marks. The excavation produced possible evidence for prehistoric settlement of the area with the most important remains being that of a wood lined trough, filled with burnt mound material, and lying adjacent to the remnants of a substantial palaeochannel running across the site. Away from this feature the heavily truncated remains of a post built roundhouse were identified. Further features consisted of isolated undated pits spread across the site. <1>