EHG6398 - Strip and map excavation - Areas PS6 and Lonnie Bothy, Cabot Highlands, Newton of Petty

Two archaeological strip and record mitigation excavations were undertaken by Avon Achaeology (Highland) in 2023 in areas adjacent to Lonnie farmstead, Newton of Petty, in advance of preliminary development works for a new Championship Golf Course. This stage of mitigation fieldwork was designed to fully characterise and record buried archaeological deposits, features and finds located in the area of 2022 Evaluation Trench 100 and adjacent to the ruined Lonnie Bothy, areas where significant buried archaeological remains had been identified during an earlier phase of evaluation trenching (see EHG5992). Mitigation excavation in Area PS6 recorded a small number of buried soil features, principally postholes, which are provisionally interpreted to reflect further evidence for a phase of nonspecific later prehistoric settlement-related activity that was first identified in adjacent 2022 Evaluation Trench 100. Strip and record excavation in the area of the ruinous Lonnie Bothy recorded a range of soil features, principally a pair of shallow linear gullies and a series of large sub-rectangular pits, the majority of which are provisionally interpreted to reflect later post medieval and/or modern settlement and horticultural activity associated with the occupation of the Bothy. The group of large sub-rectangular pits were interpreted to represent potato-storage pits. The archaeological deposits and features recorded in Mitigation Area PS6 and Lonnie Bothy indicated episodes of settlement-related activity of varying intensity during the later prehistoric and later post-medieval periods. In view of the evidence gathered during each element of mitigation fieldwork it was recommended that a further very selective stage of PERD-stage post-excavation analysis and reporting be undertaken to clarify the date and character of the postulated later prehistoric activity recorded in Area PS6 and Evaluation Trench 100. No further analysis-stage work was considered necessary for the evidence recorded at Lonnie Bothy, other than the presentation of a summary of those results in the final report. Subject to approval by Highland Council, the details, programme and resources for a final stage of post-site analysis and reporting work for evidence gathered in Mitigation Area PS6 and Evaluation trench 100 would be set out in a Post-excavation Research Design (PERD) for approval by Cabot Highlands LLP and Highland Council. <1>