EHG4150 - Excavation - Durcha by Lairg, Sutherland

CFAEd carried out an excavation in 1992 of the south side of a putative broch mound at Durcha in advance of the proposed construction of an extension to a nearby house. A main trench measuring 9m north-south by 6m east-west was excavated inmmediately to the north of the house. The area was only slightly larger than that to be occupied by the new extension and included the area occupied by an old lean-to extension which was mostly demolished by building contractors during the first day of archaeological excavation. A section of concrete flooring, covering an area of c.1.4m east-west by c.1.1m north-south in the southeast corner of the trench, was not removed. Safetly aspects severely constrained the feasibility of excavation in the southernmost 2.5m of the trench where a number of unrecorded services were present, and building contractors were undertaking structural work to the adjacent walls of the house. Two small extensions to the main trench were excavated. A slit trench measuring 3.5m by 0.8m ran westwards from the north-west corner of the main trench. An additional area of 2m by 0.5m was excavated over significant archaeological deposits on the eastern edge of the trench, as the provision for insertion of drains to the new extension entailed earth-moving outside the agreed area of excavation. Two phases of walling and adjacent surfaces were identified though these could not be certainly identified as being prehistoric in date. <1> A second phase of excavation was carried out in 1996 - see EHG All the excavations were subsequently published. <2> Document in the Inverness Museum archive files state that the excavation assemblaged from 1992 was allocated to Inverness Museum in 1993. In light of this and to maintain the integrity of the assemblage, HS allocated the excavation assemblage from 1996 (which was mostly modern) to Inverness Museum as well. Acc. Nos. 2004.008-009. <3>