EHG3781 - Excavation - Culduthel Phase 9, Inverness

Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd undertook a monitored topsoil strip in 2012 in advance of Phase 9 of the housing development at Culduthel Farm, Inverness. Previous excavation at sites adjacent to the north, south and west revealed a rich archaeological landscape with evidence for occupation and industrial activity from the Neolithic to the present day. The area in question excluded the two previously excavated areas to the west (see EHG & EHG3650), and a substantial embankment formed during the construction of the distributor road to the north which was to be left in situ. The remaining area totalled some 5,350m2 although the far east of the area appeared to have been substantially disturbed during construction of a recent access track and the adjacent work compound to the east. The excavations revealed seventy cut features in three main groups. The first consisted of a narrow sub-rectangular enclosure ditch, a large central pit and a number of further pits and post-holes. No firm dating evidence was retrieved from this group, although use during the Neolithic is suggested by typological comparison to similar enclosures. The other two groups were small clusters of pits and post-holes, both with artefactual evidence for Neolithic activity. One isolated feature may represent a waste pit of Iron Age date, and indeed palaeoenvironmental analysis suggests wider activity across the site during this period, although it is possible that some of this evidence may be intrusive, and related to a substantial Iron Age settlement to the west. <1>