EHG5381 - Trial trenching - Raitts Cave, Lynchat, Kingussie

An archaeological field evaluation was undertaken by Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) on land to the south of the Raitts Cave Souterrain, to the north east of Kingussie in late 2017. The work was undertaken in order to identify the presence or absence of archaeological remains and to ascertain if any such remains were associated with the Scheduled Monument in advance of the proposed A9 dualling. The evaluation consisted of a programme of trial trenching, comprising six trenches, within the land taken for the proposed dualled A9 highway. The results of the fieldwork identified archaeological features within two locations on the site. The remains of a structure were identified at the eastern end of the study area in trench 5. The structural remains were associated with deposits containing material derived from human activity, with evidence for burning and a small number of ceramics. Radiocarbon dating of material recovered from the palaeo-environmental samples has indicated that at least some of this activity occurred during the later medieval period. The environmental data also provides some information regarding the usage of nearby woodland resources. A series of features which appear to represent stone-revetted earthworks, which may be related to General Wade’s Military Road, were identified within the west extent of the evaluation area. A significant proportion of the site to the south of the Souterrain has been affected by intensive ploughing. However, the presence of earthworks on the west side of the development area appears to have preserved some features and deposits, within discrete pockets throughout the Site. <1> The fieldwork report was included in the Environmental Imapct Assessment for this stretch of the A9 project as Appendix 15.3.