Radiocarbon dating the larger Neolithic Hall

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Aerial shot of Neolithic hall (from west)

So far, we have received three radiocarbon dates from the larger Neolithic hall (Structure 8) at Carnoustie.  Three of the post-holes at the north-eastern gable end of the hall have yielded calibrated (2 sigma) dates from single entity samples (willow, alder and hazel) of 3694-3530 BC, 3929-3703 BC and 3893-3653 BC. Which confirms our assumption that this was an Early Neolithic structure of the early fourth millennium BC.

Those dates are really close to the radiocarbon dates recovered from other Neolithic halls in Scotland such as Balbridie in Aberdeenshire and Doon Hill in East Lothian. So it’ll be interesting to see whether the smaller building (Structure 13) at Carnoustie, which lies on different alignment south of the larger hall, yields a different range of radiocarbon dates.

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