Field School 2023: 10/08/23

Today our teams continued their work across the Glencoe landscape! At the excavation site the team uncovered some exciting deposits within the structure we are investigating perhaps relating to the occupation of the structure. The survey team continued exploring the coffin cairns and structures of Lairig Eildh.

Digital Team – Kaitlyn Whitsitt

We spent today doing some digital media shenanigans. Samantha began with experimenting with the contact mic (e.g. attaching it to a branch and twanging on it) and I with the hydrophone (e.g. plopping it into the burn to the East of site), and then we switched: Samantha used the hydrophone—sending it down a waterfall and dragging it over stones in the stream, dragging it through grasses, tapping it on some moss—and I the contact mic—recorded trowel scrapings and a wheelbarrow moving. We also tried to gather some ambient noise using the XY mics on the audio recorders. Sean, meanwhile, was taking pictures of the landscape surrounding the house and of other things.

   Samantha and I also set up the 360-degree microphone to record some excavation noise and nature sounds to the southwest of the excavation (where I also took some video footage), while Sean worked with the contact microphones to create some really interesting clanging noises.

    After lunch we wanted to get a view of the house from a different angle and were planning to go out to the hill across from site after lunch, but the sun had come out in full strength and our planned hike was relatively uncovered so we changed routes. We walked along the trail to the West of the excavation and Lizzie pointed out some shielings along the way. We stopped by a stream and tried to get some audio recording as we made our way to a hill where we sat for a while looking back at the house and the valley. I took some pictures of the excavation from that angle, and we started recording the sounds of the different grasses using the contact mic while recording ourselves with the XY mic describing the sounds being made. Then we went back to the excavation and packed up for the day.

Dig Team – Ellie Brown

Today, our group spent the whole day excavating. I began in section B, clearing mud and roots away from the collapsed wall. The midges were out in force in the morning which made it a little difficult to concentrate, but with my midge hood on and my skin covered in Smidge, I made decent progress. Eddie showed me how to fill out a context sheet, assessing the composition of the soil, its colour, compaction, etc. After our tea break, Phoebe and I moved on to section A, which was still very boggy, but at least by this point the midges had subsided. Removing the top layer of thick, dark mud revealed a more silty, dark grey-ish layer underneath, which had a sulphurous smell. We spent the rest of the time until lunch following Gareth’s suggestion to “dig until you smell eggs”! This proved to be quite successful, and before breaking for lunch, we photographed the area we had cleared. After our well-earned lunch break, I went back to section B and began clearing away some of the stones from the collapsed wall. It was very hot by this point, and the roots made it hard going, but I made good progress and shifted a few buckets full of soil and some of the rocks. I had a brief chat with a few interested visitors who stopped at our site while on a Land Rover tour of the area. I also found another small piece of blue and white pottery wedged in between the flagstones, and Sarah found a well-preserved coin with a thistle and crown design in section C. Towards the end of the day, Eddie gave me a quick lesson in archaeological photography and recommended taking the shot parallel to the edges of the trench and including a ranging rod to provide scale. It was a tiring day, but very rewarding.