EHG4267 - Excavation - Kildonnan, Isle of Eigg

A series of archaeological excavations were undertaken under the direction of John Hunter in June and July 2012, and by students of the University of Glasgow and Cranfield University, in an attempt to identify the traditional site of the early Christian monastery at Kildonnan, Isle of Eigg. The excavation was also intended to provide a deeper insight into the nature and continuity of worship and burial in that area, and to present a small sample of the island's archaeology through time. Work took place in June and July 2012 in order to follow up the 2008 survey (see EHG2889) by both targeted excavation and by some additional geophysics (resistivity) in Area C (see EHG4596). The site was divided into three zones for working purposes (A, B and C; Figure 8). Site A, consisting of four small trenches, was focused on the standing chapel. The presence of modern graves limited this investigation to the north and west ends of the building. Site B, consisting of ten trenches (of which one, trench 10, was an enlargement of Trenches 2 and 3) was designed to investigate the main central area of the site lying on the high ground between the Catholic graves to the north and the Protestant graves to the south. This was initially carried out by deploying a line of 1 x 1m test pits to assess bedrock heights and deposits; it was later extended by the machine stripping of four wide trenches. Site C lay to the south of the site in order to investigate the character and dating of the oval enclosure and consisted of six trenches. <1>