EHG6202 - Watching brief - new house plot, Gaza, Portmahomack

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Avon Archaeology (Highland) in 2024 during groundworks for a new dwelling and associated services at a site located 20m northeast of Eversley Cottage, Gaza Back Street, Portmahomack. The project was designed to identify, record and characterise all significant archaeological deposits, features and finds revealed during the course of preliminary ground works for the development build, in particular buried remains associated with medieval settlement-related activity, nationally important remains of which are recorded c 220 m to the southeast of the site in the area of Tarbet West Church. As with the previous phase of monitored GI test pitting (see EHG6201), the watching brief during topsoil stripping and machine excavation of foundation trenches recorded a relatively uniform sequence of deposits comprising a variable but generally shallow topsoil containing a variety of modern debris, which in turn overlay a more extensive buried topsoil/subsoil and a natural substrate of largely undisturbed windblown sand containing occasional gravels. The site was archaeologically sterile - no significant archaeological deposits, features or finds were revealed and no further archaeological mitigation was recommended. <1>