EHG5045 - Excavation - Controlled Topsoil Strip, Rothiemurchus

An archaeological controlled topsoil strip and subsequent excavation was undertaken by Northlight Heritage in 2014 at Rothiemurchus, Highland, during the Ettridge to Boat of Garten Rationalisation project. This involved the undergrounding of an existing overhead line as part of the Beauly to Denny 400kV overhead line development programme. The work was undertaken by Northlight Heritage on behalf of Scottish & Southern Energy Ltd. between the 15th and 30th of September 2014 and focussed on the area where the route of the underground cables ran close to a known palisaded enclosure (Scheduled Ancient Monument 9337). During the controlled topsoil strip a series of 53 archaeological features were uncovered, which included pits and possible post-holes, that partly corresponded to the location of previously recorded unscheduled crop marks located to the south-west of the scheduled monument. Where preservation in situ was not possible the archaeological features were fully excavated and recorded. Although no artefacts were recovered the excavated features have been provisionally interpreted as prehistoric. <1>