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MHG62040 - BA burnt mound - NE of Cnoc Freiceadain, Caithness

Summary

The remains of an early Bronze Age burnt mound were found to the northeast of Cnoc Freiceadain, Caithness.

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Full Description

The remains of an early Bronze Age burnt mound were found at Skaill to the northeast of Cnoc Freiceadain, Caithness.

The remains of an early Bronze Age burnt mound were found at Skaill to the northeast of Cnoc Freiceadain, Caithness during trial excavation in 2015 by AOC Archaeology Group and members of the Castletown Heritage Society with local volunteers. The fieldwork was undertaken as part of the 'Hidden Bronze Age Landscape of Caithness Project' which followed a LiDAR survey carried out in 2011 as part of the mitigation for the visual impact on the archaeological landscape associated with the proposed Baillie Hill windfarm, Caithness (see <1>). Three features identified at Skaill in the 2011 survey data proved to be hut circles. Two quadrants (Trenches 4 & 5) of the middle of the three hut circles (see MHG61703) were subject to excavation. The earliest dated elements of all the the excavations at Skaill were the remains of a burnt mound that was later modified to form the central hut circle on which the excavations were centred. The presence of a burnt mound at the site pre-dating the hut circle was mainly indicated by the distinctive ‘burnt mound material’ that had been re-used to build the outer bank of the hut circle. The only other excavated feature that may relate to this earlier site was a large pit with a possible clay lining at the base, located within the hut-circle, that might originally have been the 'trough' or tank associated with the burnt mound. Radiocarbon dating of two samples of the burnt mound material gave dates of 2341-2138calBC and 2455-2146calBC (Calibrated to 2σ). The construction of the hut circle dramatically altered the burnt mound meaning that it was difficult to be certain about much of the feature. <1> <2>

Sources/Archives (2)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred ND 0177 6602 (24m by 24m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	ND06NW
Civil Parish	THURSO
Geographical Area	CAITHNESS

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