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The value of collecting and studying finds from ploughed fields has been amply demonstrated by a recent project undertaken on behalf of Historic Scotland at East Lochside, Kirriemuir, Angus. A local amateur archaeologist, Archie Dick, had been collecting flint and pottery from the ploughsoil over a period of some years, from across the top and tail of a natural knoll. Historic Scotland commissioned an evaluation to determine the extent of the plough damage occurring and to excavate and record any features associated with the field-collected finds; this was carried out in February 2005.
The trial trenching demonstrated that the archaeological features from which these finds probably originated had been severely truncated and were so shallow as to have been almost entirely removed by ploughing. Only three very shallow pit features were found on the summit of the knoll, one of which contained a few sherds of pottery. The large finds assemblage was almost all collected through fieldwalking, both by Mr Dick and by CFA, and comprised 95 sherds of pottery, 570 lithic artefacts, and a single blue glass bead of Iron Age type.
The pottery belongs within the Late Neolithic Impressed Wares. It was very abraded and consisted of rim and body sherds, some of which were decorated with incised lines and fingernail and stabbed impressions. Vessel forms represented include flat bases and broad bevelled rims, the bevel frequently bearing the decoration. Fingernail and stabbed decoration is common on later Neolithic pottery from sites such as Balfarg, Fife, Grandtully, Perthshire, Brackmont Farm and Mill and Tentsmuir, Fife, and Meldon Bridge, Peeblesshire. These wares are generally suggested to belong to the third millennium BC on the basis of radiocarbon dates from Meldon Bridge; more recent, and perhaps better sampled, dates have been obtained for Blairhall Burn, Dumfriesshire which indicate they could be as early as the second half of the fourth millennium BC. The sherds recovered from the pit fill, which were likely to have been in situ, probably belong to a slightly later period.
Of the 570 lithic artefacts recovered, most were in flint and the remainder in quartz, pitchstone and cannel coal. The flint is mainly local pebble flint, probably procured from the nearby shores of the North Sea, with about 5% being in exotic dark-grey chalk flint. The quartz was collected at a local pebble source, whereas the pitchstone and the cannel coal are imported raw materials. Pitchstone was imported from the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, whereas cannel coal sources are known from northern England and, for example, from Brora in Sutherland. These exotic materials could have been brought to the site through long-distance trading links.
The artefacts can be divided into three main categories – débitage, cores and tools, some of which had been affected by fire. The tools were mostly simple edge-retouched pieces and scrapers, with small numbers of arrowheads, piercers, notched and serrated pieces. The arrowheads include one leaf-shaped point and six chisel-shaped arrowheads, whereas the scraper category includes one discoidal scraper, short end-scrapers, side-scrapers, side-/end-scrapers, and ‘other’ expedient scrapers. The types, their method of manufacture and the raw materials indicate that the assemblage is primarily Late Neolithic, with small amounts of material dating to the early Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods.
The chipped stone’s distribution suggests that the top of the knoll was the focus for the activity on this site, borne out by the discovery of three small pits here. The surface finds were largely recovered around the knoll, demonstrating that the finds had been moved down-slope through ploughing.
Although the site has been almost completely destroyed, it was likely to have been domestic in nature. The small assemblages of early Neolithic and Early Bronze Age chipped stone, and the possibility that some of the pot sherds could be of Early Bronze Age date, indicate a smattering of activity in the periods either side of the Late Neolithic. This may have been smaller in scale than the Late Neolithic activity, or its focus may have been away from the knoll site.
The Impressed Ware pottery assemblage, although small, does help to extend the known northwards distribution of this pottery type. The lithic assemblage is a useful addition to a growing list of exciting assemblages from the Scottish Late Neolithic period. This list includes the assemblages from Stoneyhill in Aberdeenshire, Den of Boddam in Aberdeenshire, Barnhouse on Orkney, Machrie Moor on Arran, and Torrs Warren in Dumfries & Galloway. Together, these collections characterise a distinctive lithic industry, which includes elements such as the sophisticated Levallois-like approach, flint-mining, extensive trade in raw materials and finished tools, and rich depositional practises. The finds are also important as Late Neolithic flint and pottery assemblages of any size are not common in this part of Angus, the most recently published example being Dubton Farm, Brechin. Although it may be anticipated that finds distributed through the soil by ploughing have limited importance, the examination of this assemblage has proven that a considerable amount of information can still be retrieved and demonstrates the worth of the collection of artefacts through fieldwalking. The specialist analyses of the finds have provided a body of evidence which will assist in furthering our understanding of the material culture of this period in Angus.
Melanie Johnson and Torben Bjarke Ballin
(this article was previously published in Scottish Archaeological News)
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