Open AccessEarly medieval settlement and ironworking in Dornoch, Sutherland
Author(s) -
Russel Coleman,
Effie Photos-Jones
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
scottish archaeological internet reports/scottish archaeological internet report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2056-7421
pISSN - 1473-3803
DOI - 10.9750/issn.2056-7421.2008.28.1-22
Subject(s) - hearth , radiocarbon dating , archaeology , excavation , period (music) , settlement (finance) , assemblage (archaeology) , bog , drilling , geology , geography , peat , art , engineering , mechanical engineering , world wide web , computer science , payment , aesthetics
Monitoring and excavation during the development of a new business park in Dornoch (NGR: NH 797 895) in 1997 revealed numerous features including a building, ditched enclosures and several hearths, all sealed beneath an artefact-rich cultivation soil. Radiocarbon dates obtained place the main period of activity here in the late 1st millennium AD. The evidence recovered also suggests a tradition of ironworking here from the early medieval period continuing through into the medieval period. A small assemblage of finds was recovered from the excavation, including quantities of iron slag, bog iron ore, fragments from a clay-lined furnace, whale bone, a bone counter and a bone pin beater. This paper reports on the results of the work and includes an extended section on the analysis of the iron making and working evidence.