EHG6095 - Geophysical survey - Barrow cemetery, Tarradale (Tarradale Through Time)

A geophysical survey was carried out by members of the Tarradale Through Time Committee and the North of Scotland Archaeological Society in 2019 at the Tarradale Barrow Cemetery, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire as part of the overall Tarradale Through Time Project. The fieldwork consisted of a resistivity survey which exceeded the boundaries of the proposed excavation trenches, providing some overlap. For Trench 1, an area equating to five 20m grid squares was surveyed with some overlap on the uncultivated area of ground, with the main alignment of the grid aligned SSW-NNE. The area surveyed covering Trench 2 was aligned SE-NW and totalled eight 20m grid squares and also included a small area of the uncultivated ground at its SE edge. And for Trench 3, the area surveyed covered twelve 20m grid squares, aligned SSE-NNW. The main areas surveyed comprised plough soil covered with a short stubble from the last harvested crop. The results from the surveys (Figure 13) varied significantly between the three trenches and we can now show (post-excavation) that this was due to a number of factors including the depth of the plough soil and significant variations in the underlying subsoil. The plough soil in Trench 3 ranged between 0.75m and 0.85m in depth, which resulted in no clear images of any underlying archaeology; although some of the plough furrows were clearly displayed. The plough soil in Trenches 1 and 2 was shallower, but the overall results were affected by the underlying subsoil, which ranged from fine sand in Trench 2 to hard, stony subsoil deposits in Trench 1 – especially in the SW end of the trench. <1>