Field School 2023: 15/08/23

Today our dig team continued excavation in the structure in Gleann Leac-na-Muidhe. Our sondage in the central trench area uncovered evidence of the short occupation span of the structure, with no earlier floor layers lying beneath the slab floor. Meanwhile the survey team investigated the area around Lairig Gartain and Queenshouse, and our digital team carried out a zine making exercise at our dig site. We also welcomed visitors to the site with a number of site tours.

Survey: Sarah Longdon

Today was the final day of experiencing all of the strands of the field school and with a small but enthusiastic team of Michael, Phoebe and myself, we began our surveying journey. As we walked to our main focus area, we spotted the remains of a wall corner which we noted to return to on our way back. We were in a location where it had been suggested there were some sheilings however we soon discovered that the terrain and other factors signalled that this area would not be suitable for sheilings and so we moved on. Unfortunately, the midges were particularly terrible as there was little wind and so I received, much to my disappointment, bites for the first time in my life.

We returned to the wall corner on our journey back and began inspecting further. At first, we believed the wall and the tree enclosure didn’t interact much. However, we soon realised, as we mapped the shape out with flags, that the wall continued through the enclosure, and we presume it is covered in a thick layer of moss. At this point, I began drawing my first site map whilst Phoebe filled out the site form of Lagangarbh and here, we documented the interesting organic shape it had with a strange combination of the clear corner we first saw in addition to the suspected curved wall that interacts with the modern tree enclosure.

From here, we journeyed to Kingshouse and walked a short distance down the West Highland Way to Queenshouse which we began to document as well. Here, Phoebe and I mapped out the shape of the dyke with flags. We noted again that this had a particularly organic shape with little symmetry and that it seemed to be built with the surrounding area in mind as it avoided the boggy areas of land and ran next to the burn. At this site, the roles were reversed, and I filled out the forms whilst Phoebe focused on drawing the site map and Michael drew the two houses that were located within the settlement.