EHG5483 - Excavation - New housing development, Stratton

An archaeological excavation was carried out by AOC Archaeology Group in 2019 at Stratton Farm, Inverness, in advance of the construction of a new housing development. Following the discovery of archaeological features during evaluation trenching in 2017 (see EHG5080 and EHG5481), areas of known archaeology were targeted for a controlled topsoil strip to locate and excavate the known remains and understand their significance in relation to other potential sub-surface remains within the development area. The excavation uncovered a total of sixteen features comprising pits, postholes, a firepit and a substantial culvert; predominantly concentrated in the central area of the development site, with isolated outliers to the north and south. All features were discovered to have been severely truncated by agricultural activities and many did not contain diagnostic datable artefacts. Environmental material recovered during post-excavation processing of the environmental samples facilitated the radiocarbon dating of four features. This showed that the firepit was Neolithic in date, while one of the postholes was Iron Age in date with a second pit, which contained fragments of animal bone, being of very similar Iron Age date. Another pit was of a later Iron Age date. Three pits contained modern artefacts and likely relate to modern agricultural activity. The remaining features did not contain any diagnostic material and their function and date remains inconclusive. <1>