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Young Archaeologists Club Dig
Susan and John are looking for some ‘Pioneer Corps’ assistance to set up for the forthcoming Inverness and District Young Archaeologists Club (YAC) excavation at An Cladach, the croft on the Heights between Dingwall and Strathpeffer that belongs to the parents of one of our young archaeologists.
We put two small trenches through a possible field bank there in 2015 and many of you will be familiar with what we discovered. We are excavating there again the first 2 weekends in May, 6th and 7th, then 13th and 14th, with Lachlan directing. This year we are opening one trench 15m x 1m across 3 short parallel banks that lay close to the main field bank we investigated in 2015. The aim this year is to find out if the shorter banks are similar in construction to the long bank and to investigate the spaces between the banks.
We need to erect two tents and de-turf the trench one day during the first week of May so the children can go straight to towelling when they arrive on the Saturday morning. The smaller of the two trenches we put through the main field bank in 2015 was left open and another little job we have to do is to clean back two sections 1.5m in length and draw them. The moles have been rather busy in the trench. We shall take all the kit down to the site, which is about 100m from the River Sgitheach, using a powered track barrow. The ground hasn’t been grazed for many years so the vegetation, mostly grass, is rank and thick with moss so we shall use a strimmer fitted with a cutting disc to remove the long grass from the new trench area before cutting and lifting the turves. We may also put a 1m x 1m test pit into a small sub circular structure that abuts the main field bank and we would like to investigate a large pit close by to see if it was the source of the white clay used to form the foundation of the long field bank.
For those of you who are not familiar with Strath Sgitheach the part we are in is a multi period landscape that largely escaped 20thC afforestation. The banks we are investigating were first recognised when we were checking out rock art sites in 2008, and the banks appear to be part of much wider field systems on both sides of the river. There are two chambered cairns in the same area, numerous hut circles, about 20 rock art panels, 4 burnt mounds, 2 Medieval mill sites, an abandoned farm, old tracks everywhere and more.
If anyone would like to help out during the dig, please get in touch. Please note that insurance only covers YAC members, and that anyone helping would need to be with an authorised YAC leader, and not alone with any child.
If you would be willing to help with the setting up please phone or email John and we’ll work out the most convenient day, which might depend on the weather. Contact John Wombell.