EHG5645 - Trial trenching - proposed distillery, Craggan

A 10% archaeological evaluation was carried out by AOC Archaeology Group in 2019 at a distillery development site on land 350m southeast of Lower Gaich, Craggan, Grantown-on-Spey. The evaluation was required because there was potential for buried archaeological remains to be present on the site. Forty-six trenches were excavated across the proposed development site comprising 7,286m² to cover 9.2% of the total Area 1, which amounted to 10.3% of the area that could be evaluated (c. 70788m²). This excluded areas which could not be evaluated due to either ecological constraints, live services buffer areas, land under crop and land currently in use as an archery range. Trench 3 contained a curvilinear feature and a posthole. Trench 39 contained a curvilinear and several postholes/small pits. Both curvilinear features contained rotary quern stones. As a result of these features the trench was expanded to ascertain the full extent of the curvilinear features and whether they formed part of a larger structure. In Trench 3, eleven additional features were recorded comprising ten postholes forming a post-ring with sections of truncated ring-ditch, suggesting the structure was a roundhouse. In Trench 39, a total of 29 features, including a stone lined hearth and multiple postholes, were recorded which appeared to form remains of two structures, including a second possible roundhouse. Furthermore, a total of nine isolated features, mainly pits, were recorded in six trenches (Trenches 4, 10, 22, 26, 28 and 38). A watching brief was recommended for all further ground breaking, it was recommended that a controlled strip of the site is undertaken several weeks in advance of development to avoid any delays to the development. To help inform the future work an initial targeted post-excavation strategy was suggested. <1>