A medieval ditch and fence alignment encountered within the town of Ayr marks the boundary of the medieval burgh. 

These archaeological remains were first encountered in 2002-2003 during excavations on the site of the now demolished Carrick Halls in the centre of the historic town of Ayr. A further intervention on the site in 2021 by GUARD Archaeology Ltd was made in advance of development, which allowed specialist analyses of the evidence from the earlier archaeological work to be undertaken.

The earliest activity identified on the site was the creation of a ditch that formed a medieval burgage plot boundary between the mid-twelfth and early thirteenth century, in the period immediately preceding or during the initial town expansion. The boundary was reinforced in the middle to late thirteenth century by an oak planked fence with roundwood stakes erected in the middle of the ditch. 

The location of the ditch is important in understanding the expansion of medieval Ayr to the south-east and it continued in use into the fourteenth century after which it was filled in. Evidence of iron smelting recovered from the ditch deposits indicated that metalworking took place nearby. The presence of Scottish medieval pottery and especially of imported French wares within the ditch deposits indicates that during the Middle Ages, Ayr, a royal burgh, was also an important international trading port.

The original excavations and subsequent analysis of artefacts found in the ditch revealed changes in land use and occupation of the burgage plot into the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The domestic uses of the land were brought to an end by the accumulation of windblown sand across the southern part of the town. A wide variety of plants were found growing on these deposits indicating that the plot may have remained as waste ground into the post-medieval and modern periods, prior to the construction and the eventual demolition of Carrick Halls in the twentieth century.

The full results of this research, which was funded by Ayrshire Housing Association, ARO57: Medieval Burgage Boundary at Carrick Street, Ayr by Tamsin Scott has recently been published and is now freely available to download from the ARO website –Archaeology Reports Online.

Recent laboratory investigations of a Bronze Age hoard, by GUARD Archaeology, have revealed rare organic plant remains intertwined with nine bronze bracelets and necklaces buried sometime around 1000 BC.

The Bronze Age hoard was discovered during excavations conducted prior to the development of new 3 and 4 bed homes by local developer, Pat Munro Homes (a division of Pat Munro (Alness) Ltd) at Greenside in Rosemarkie, in Highland Scotland.

What makes the hoard especially significant is that it was not an isolated find with little context to explain it, but was discovered within the middle of a prehistoric settlement, a Bronze Age village comprising at least six roundhouses and also a Bronze Age cist grave. Altogether GUARD Archaeology’s analysis of these archaeological remains will shed light upon the lives, beliefs and deaths of Bronze Age highlanders. This will add to what GUARD Archaeologists have gleaned from another Bronze Age hoard they excavated in Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland, also found within a Bronze Age village, which may altogether reveal aspects of Bronze Age culture apparent across Scotland.

The laboratory excavation conducted by a team of GUARD Archaeologists alongside Conservator, Will Murray, from the Scottish Conservation Studio revealed nine bronze artefacts, including one complete neck ring, one partial neck ring, six penannular bracelets and one cup-ended penannular bracelet. Remains of plant/organic material was also recovered, comprising fibrous cords tied and knotted around some of the bronze objects.

“The recovery of the artefacts was successfully carried out under the controlled conditions necessary to preserve these highly significant objects, particularly the very delicate organic cords that tether some of the objects together,” said Rachel Buckley, who led the laboratory excavation. “Where bracelets were held together with organic material, these were recovered as a group to allow further detailed study. While there are other examples of hoards where it has been postulated that items were bound together due to their positioning, the vegetation in the Rosemarkie hoard has survived for approximately 3000 years, proving that these artefacts were held together.”

The survival of the organics is likely in part due to the anti-microbial properties of copper (in the bronze), where the corrosion products from the copper adhere to the organics and preserve them.

Over the next few months, the team of specialists brought together by GUARD Archaeology will be examining the various strands of archaeological evidence that may explain why the hoard was buried here.

“That the hoard was buried under a single homogenous fill within a shallow pit with little extra room for anything other than what was found within, indicates that this was no accidental loss,” said Iraia Arabaolaza, who is managing GUARD Archaeology’s analyses. “It would seem that the shallow pit was dug to the required length and depth to accommodate the items, before then being quickly backfilled. It may be that it was intended as temporary storage with the intention of recovering the hoard at some stage. The evidence from the surrounding settlement may reveal whether it was not just the hoard that was abandoned but the settlement as well.”

The archaeological work was funded by Pat Munro (Alness) Ltd and was required as a condition of planning consent by Highland Council who are advised on archaeological matters by the Highland Council Historic Environment Team, who considered there to be a potential for hitherto unknown archaeology to be buried at the site. Hamish Little, Senior Manager, Pat Munro Homes said, ‘It’s been a great experience for the team at Pat Munro Homes to work with the archaeologists at our development at Greenside, Rosemarkie and also be part of the team that uncovered the Bronze Age artefacts. We are hoping to work together with the archaeologists, and other partners in the coming months to involve the local secondary school, Fortrose Academy in learning more about its historical significance and getting pupils involved in helping to design a permanent feature on/near the site that will tell the story and can be shared with the local community and visitors to the area.’

Recently published research by GUARD Archaeology Ltd reveals that the location of a housing development in Larkhall was already popular in prehistory.

The discoveries were made during archaeological excavations undertaken by GUARD Archaeology prior to the building of new houses in 2014, the results of which have only been revealed now once post-excavation analyses were completed. 

The earliest evidence of settlement on this site which overlooks the River Avon, was a small ephemeral circular hut that was radiocarbon dated to the eighth-ninth millennia BC. This was one of the earliest Mesolithic encampments ever found in Scotland, when small  groups of hunter-gatherers were moving into northern Europe after the retreat of the permanent ice sheets and the return of vegetation, plants, woodland and animals.

Some seven thousand years later, another group of people settled this same location. Located in the middle of the promontory was a substantial roundhouse, radiocarbon dated to sometime between the sixteenth and thirteenth centuries BC, during the Bronze Age. A ring of eight large post-holes and the remnants of the thick oak posts that once supported the building’s large conical roof were revealed by the GUARD Archaeologists. This ring of post-holes was surrounded by a circular gully that held the outer wall in place. Fragments of daub from this outer wall survived, showing how the inhabitants kept their house windproof. Sherds of pottery vessels were also found, in pits and post-holes within the centre of the building, and sealed by an organic deposit that may have been part of the building’s roof preserved by waterlogging. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the building was abandoned sometime between the twelfth and tenth centuries BC.

Over a thousand years later, a small rectangular timber building was built on this same location, overlying the Bronze Age roundhouse. It contained a large a fire-pit that was dated from the first to the third century AD, placing it occupation during the Iron Age, when the threat of Rome lay to the south. The building also contained evidence of dung suggest that at least part of it functioned as a small byre for animals.

These chronologically distinct phases of occupation emphasis the attractiveness of this place in the landscape of south Lanarkshire to successive groups of people from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age.

The archaeological work was funded by Bracewell Stirling Consulting and was required as a condition of planning consent by South Lanarkshire council who are advised on archaeological matters by the West of Scotland Archaeology Service, who considered there to be a potential for hitherto unknown archaeology to survive here. 

ARO53: A Mesolithic camp, Bronze Age roundhouse and an Iron Age building at Nairn Street, Larkhall, South Lanarkshire by Kevin Mooney is freely available to download from Archaeology Reports Online.

Recently published research by GUARD Archaeology reveals the discovery of a pair of Bronze Age burnt mounds over four thousand years old.

The discovery was made during archaeological works in advance of the construction of housing at Hallmeadow in Annan. 

‘The Hallmeadow burnt mounds comprised two large accumulations of burnt stones and charcoal surrounding large fire pits,’ said GUARD Archaeologist Kenneth Green, who led the excavation. ‘These were dated to around 2000 BC during the early Bronze Age.’

Burnt stones such as found at Hallmeadow were the waste product of a method of boiling water, in which stones were heated and then dropped into a trough filled with water. Over 1900 burnt mounds are known in Scotland, with a distinct concentration in Dumfries and Galloway, and it is not uncommon to find several burnt mounds in relatively close proximity to each other, suggesting that groups of people returned to the same sites.

Cooking fish and meat may have been the purpose of many burnt mounds. Experiments have demonstrated that a joint of meat wrapped in leaves can be cooked over several hours, with heated stones being continually fed into the tank of water to keep it boiling. However, the archaeologists found no evidence for a permanent settlement at Hallmeadow suggesting that this was no ordinary Bronze Age site.

‘Hallmeadow’s proximity to the Solway Firth, gives the site easy coastal access to south-west Scotland, western England, Ireland and the Isle of Man,’ said Kenneth Green. ‘Hallmeadow may have been used as a temporary stopping-point or seasonal camping area as people made longer journeys around the Irish Sea.’

A number of flint tools were recovered during the excavation including a fragment of Arran pitchstone and a blade-scraper dating to the Neolithic period (4000-2200 BC), suggesting earlier occupation of the site. Even earlier evidence still was discovered by the GUARD Archaeologists. A hazelnut shell found in the lowest layer of the site was radiocarbon dated to between 4452 and 4264 BC, during the Mesolithic period, when some of the earliest hunter-gatherer peoples began to settle in south-west Scotland.

‘Hallmeadow was also an important place during the Neolithic period. It may be that it had been established as a useful stopping off place long before the burnt mounds were built,’ said Kenneth.

The archaeological work at Hallmeadow in Annan was undertaken in 2020 on behalf of Robert Potter & Partners LLP and Ashleigh Building to meet a condition of planning consent recommended by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Archaeologist. 

Burnt Mounds at Annan by Kenneth Green is published in the Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 96, available in local libraries.

Archaeological artefacts found by GUARD Archaeologists in a palaeochannel at Ferniegair near Hamilton revealed its use as a refuse dump for adjacent Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement.

In the beginning the palaeochannel was an open channel of water, a small burn. Archaeobotanical and pollen analyses indicated mixed woodland close by, making the dryer sandy banks of this burn attractive to early prehistoric people.

The earliest use of the north-western bank of the palaeochannel was a small group of features and artefacts radiocarbon dated to the early Neolithic period. Later, a horseshoe-shaped structure with a single entrance and a deposit of domestic debris was in use from the end of the 35th century BC to the middle of the 34th century BC – the middle Neolithic. Its occupation deposit contained flint microblades as well as pottery and pitchstone. A later and more extensive, mixed deposit that covered the structure was associated with numerous stakeholes, probably from windbreaks, and was dated to the early/middle Bronze Age.

One of the most interesting and unusual finds in the lower fill of the palaeochannel was an exotic jet pendant shaped like a claw or possibly a bird’s head, whose material is from Whitby in North Yorkshire. Although difficult to date, it was probably lost in the early Bronze Age.

Over this time not only did the burn gradually fill in with debris, but the environment around it changed too, and by the end the burn no longer functioned as an open channel of water.

This seemingly ordinary camp site area took on an unexpected importance with the occurrence of exotic objects like the jet pendant. In the use of the palaeochannel, successive groups of prehistoric people inadvertently created a reservoir of archaeological finds that have allowed us a glimpse of how they interacted with each other and with their environment across time.

The archaeological work was funded by Robertson Homes and was required as a condition of planning consent by South Lanarkshire Council who are advised on archaeological matters by the West of Scotland Archaeology Service, who considered there to be a potential for hitherto unknown archaeology to be buried at the site.

ARO52: The long history of a palaeochannel at Ferniegair, Hamilton by John James Atkinson is freely available to download from Archaeology Reports Online.