EHG4056 - Trial trenching - Home Farm, Portree, Isle of Skye

An archaeological evaluation in relation to a proposed residential housing development at Home Farm, Portree, Isle of Skye was carried out by CFA Archaeology in 2005. A total of ninety trenches, covering an area of 11,037m², were excavated (5 of these by hand; 85 by machine) in which a range of features and artefacts were recovered ranging in date from prehistoric to medieval. Finds included: undiagnostic lithics, a rotary quern, four buildings, a platform, an enclosure, an area of 'broad rig' cultivation terraces, a well, an array of turf and stone banks, and burnt bone possibly from a bronze age funerary monument. <1> Excavation by Headland following this evaluation focused in a small area to the west of the site (see EHG1358). A watching brief was carried out by CFA in 2006-7 focusing on the east of the site, where archaeological remains were thought to be less substantial, discovered a series of prehistoric features (see EHG1601). All the investigations on the east side of the site have subseqently been published as Scottish Archaeological Internet Report (SAIR) 54 : see attached link. <2> The excavation assemblage from CFA's 2005 work along with the assemblage from their 2006/7 work (EHG1601) was submitted to Treasure Trove (TT 104/11) and allocated to the Museum of the Isles. See attached TT report. <4> <5> The lithic assemblage discovered during trial trenching (By Headland, EHG1358) was characterised by Toben Bjarke Ballin in 2014. <3>