EHG5733 - Excavation - Strathnaver Museum, Bettyhill

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by AOC Archaeology Group in 2021 ahead of development of a site for a new museum annex building at Strathnaver Museum in Bettyhill, Sutherland. A previous phase of trench evaluation (see EHG5731) had revealed deep, well stratified archaeological deposits and the presence of buried features within them. One excavated feature, a hearth pit, contained fragments of animal bone, burnt cereal grain, a coarse pot sherd from a globular pot and small fragments of iron objects. Animal bone, charcoal, burnt cereal grain and hazel nutshell, coarse pot sherds and a fragment of an iron knife were recovered from within the various layers. While smelting slag was noted in the upper midden, fragments of furnace lining were identified from the lowest midden deposit; while the knife fragment and coarse pottery were recovered from the underlying / lowest occupation layer on the site. The site consisted of a series of deep, stratified midden layers that were sampled in alternating grid squares. Animal bone, struck stone and iron-working debris was found throughout the layers, with the deepest concentrations at the lower layer. Within these layers were a series of peat ash-rich hearths that contained animal and fish bone alongside frequent scattered iron-working debris and other artefacts, including an iron ard or plough and a rotary quern fragment and a whetstone fragment. A significant spread of archaeological features and deposits were preserved below the midden spreads and included a rich soil layer that contained intense butchered animal bone, fire-cracked stone and coarse pot sherds and a separate shell/animal bone deposit that sealed the dismantled remains of a large stone slab-built structure – overall interpreted as the dismantled remains of a feasting site. This was overlain by some discrete areas with bronze-smithing evidence, including fragments of bronze and fragments of ceramic moulds (e.g. a ring-like mould); and half of a narrow circular ditch that contained a bronze brooch pin. In areas of the site peripheral to this activity, the lowest horizon contained a sandy layer with animal bone overlying areas of stone slab paving or the remains of small stone-built cell-like structures. Based on the results of the initial post-excavation assessment undertaken following the initial trench evaluation, the earliest activity dates to at least the 3rd/4th centuries with definite 6th/7th century later activity. Excavation revealed that the site includes a later, possibly medieval or late-medieval phase of iron-working, potentially smelting; an intermediate phase of occupation represented by numerous hearth pits and a possible structure, potentially medieval or early medieval in date. The earliest phases of activity are represented by possible bronze-smithing that took place after the dismantlement of a large stone slab structure associated with significant feasting/ritual activity, potentially relating to late Iron Age or early Christian/Pictish period activity on the basis of the initial radiocarbon dates and artefactual evidence. A full programme of archaeological post-excavation analysis is recommended to provide a broad understanding of the site activities, to include metal-working and food consumption, and to establish a chronological sequence using radiocarbon dating and artefact identification. This should be followed by a full publication on the results of what appears to be a high significant archaeological site – one which appears to have further and extensive buried archaeological potential. <1>