EHG6427 - Watching brief and excavation - mixed-use development, Delnies, Nairn

An archaeological watching brief and subsequent archaeological excavations were carried out ny AOC Archaeology Group in 2025 at Delnies on the western edge of Nairn, Inverness-shire in advance of the construction of housing as part of a mixed-use development. The whole development proposal includes construction of 300 houses, tourism, heritage, equestrian and ecological centres, hotel and conference facilities, a championship golf course, a clubhouse and a golf academy, community woodland and a country park, and associated infrastructure. A phase of trial trenching had previously been carried out (see EHG6333) and had revealed archaeological features in 12 trenches consisting of small groups of mostly prehistoric pit features and a possible paleo-channel. One feature contained prehistoric ceramic sherds, and a small number of features contained charcoal, indicating the presence of possible fire-pit or hearth features. Extension of trenches and excavation of the archaeological features showed that the extent of the archaeological remains was confined primarily to the northwest quadrant. Following on from the evaluation, a precautionary archaeological watching brief was required. The site at Delnies occupied a large area of the raised beach of the Moray Firth coast between Nairn and the Ardersier peninsula. Significant archaeological sites have been excavated along this coast over the last 10-15 years, covering the full postglacial period, but this is the most significant site in the vicinity of Nairn to date. Survival of the remains varied across the site; the southwest area produced significant results, representing an important site of prehistoric origin with later overlapping activity. The less dense groups of features in the northwest quadrant also represent prehistoric and potentially later activity. These two main concentrations of archaeological features were located mostly on the higher areas of the site. Excavation of Structures 1-4 revealed an incredibly dense collection of features with complex relationships and a significant quantity of prehistoric pottery fragments and other artefacts. The majority of this pottery was provisionally dated to the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The structures were defined by their post-holes and pits and post-excavation analysis of soil samples from these features would add to the clarity of the interpretation. A programme of post-excavation works will be required, to be defined in PERD (Post Excavation Research Design). This will likely include the processing of samples recovered from deposits for macroplant and dating material, followed by radiocarbon dating of deposits with suitable samples of carbonised material. There would also be specialist analyses of finds, including pottery, animal bone, and coarse stone artefacts. Finally, the findings of these various reports, along with the radiocarbon dates, would need to be reported on in an updated DSR and academic publication. <1>