EHG6123 - Trial trenching evaluation - Scheduled Monument area, Castle Stuart, Petty

A trial trenching evaluation was undertaken by Avon Archaeology (Highland) in 2023 in advance of development works for the new Castle Stuart Golf Championship Course at Castle Stuart near Inverness. The evaluation was designed to establish the presence or absence of significant buried archaeological deposits, features and finds within a specified part of the new Championship Course development area, the portion of the site located in the area of Scheduled Monument SM11835, Newton of Petty Prehistoric Settlement. Evaluation trenching did not extend into the area of the scheduled monument or a 10m wide protective buffer zone. Significant buried archaeological deposits and features provisionally dated to the prehistoric and post-medieval periods were identified within the evaluation area, those of suggested prehistoric date including features and deposits whose character indicates the remains of settlement-related earthfast timber structures and associated activity. The distribution of significant buried remains did not, so far as the evaluation evidence indicated, appear to be uniform across the site, significant parts of which appeared either archaeologically sterile or to contain relatively isolated deposits and/or features that were judged to have low archaeological potential. The evidence recorded during the evaluation also enabled areas where significant archaeological remains are preserved as buried features and deposits to be defined and, thereby, areas where there would be significant potential for further buried archaeological deposits of equal or greater importance to be preserved. Eight such areas of varying size were identified. In the event that future development of the new championship golf course has a direct impact on any of the eight areas of identified archaeological potential, further archaeological mitigation involving either preservation in-situ through design or preservation by record through further archaeological recording, was recommended. In addition, evidence gathered during the evaluation stage alone was considered to have significant archaeological research potential. Accordingly, it was recommended that a Post-Excavation Research Design (PERD) be prepared which would set out a selective programme of additional post-site analysis and reporting designed to fully understand and report the evidence gathered during the evaluation stage. <1>