EHG5093 - Watching Brief - Chill Facility, Inverness Airport Business Park

An archaeological watching brief was carried out in by AOC Archaeology Group in 2017 in advance of the construction of a new Chill Facility as part of the wider development of Inverness Airport Business Park, located on the south side of Inverness Airport. The watching brief was required due to the archaeological potential of the site highlighted in the desk-based assessment and evaluation carried out in June 2017 (see EHG5092). Fieldwork was carried out from 7th to 20th November 2017 during groundworks for the Chill Facility site where 25 archaeological features were identified. The majority of these consisted of pits, but there were also a number of linear features. Some of the pits were probably prehistoric, including a clay-lined hearth or fire-pit, while others may be the result of vegetation burning or post-medieval agricultural practices. Post-excavation work comprised the processing of environmental samples and the analyses of the recovered carbonised macroplants, charcoal, bone and marine shell. Results indicated that the ecofacts from the site were all typical of a domestic site in Northeast Scotland in use during the prehistoric to the post-medieval period. Radiocarbon dates from two pits indicate Bronze Age and Early Iron Age activities took place on the site. <1>