EHG5372 - Evaluation - Dornoch Bridge Proposed Quarry Extension Phase 5-9

Following a DBA and walkover survey (EHG5373) trial trenching was undertaken to evaluate the area of a proposed extension (Extension Phases 5 to 9) to the Pat Munro Limited quarry at Dornoch Bridge, Evelix, Dornoch. A total of 71 evaluation trenches of varying size were opened. Of these a total of 55 were archaeologically sterile. Buried archaeological deposits of varying quality and importance were revealed in the remaining 16 trenches. The principal archaeology recorded on the site consisted of the hengiform earthwork, a disturbed human earth grave burial, two human cremation burials, a shell-midden and a group of post-pads possibly reflecting the remnant of a former timber structure. A significant assemblage of prehistoric pottery was recovered from the area of the cremation and inhumation burials. The AMS determinations obtained from the cremations date them to second half of the first millennium BC, in the period c 400 to c 200 cal BC, the middle Iron Age, earlier than most known typological parallels for the pottery and illustrating the longevity of the form. An AMS radiocarbon determination of the inhumation burial dates the remains to the period 998-1155 cal AD at 95% confidence. <1>