EHG5396 - Excavation - Craggie, Glen Oykel, Sutherland

GUARD Archaeology were commissioned by Forestry Commission Scotland to evaluate an area of spreads of iron slag found at Craggie, Glen Oykel, Sutherland in 2010 by J Wombell and others of NoSAS during fieldwalking being undertaken as part of Historic Assynt's 'Assynt's Hidden Lives' project. The slag was found in an area recently mounded for tree planting by Forestry Commission Scotland. Prior to excavation, a phase of artefact recovery and survey was conducted to remove all of the slag from the exposed mounds and pits. Two trenches were subsequently laid out, each approximately 5m × 3m. Trench 1 was located over a block of slag evident in pit 34 and oriented north-west/south-east. The second trench was positioned at right angles from this, with a small baulk (c 200mm) separating them. The excavations revealed a late medieval-early post-medieval bloomery furnace. <1>