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On a low knoll in the centre of the site, excavations uncovered a small Bronze Age cemetery consisting of three cremation burials and two possible inhumations. One of the cremations had been placed within a ceramic vessel, and was discovered with the basal cist slab upon which it was resting. The vessel is a decorated Collared Urn, typically belonging to the period 2000-1600 BC, and decorated with patterns made by pressing twisted cord into the wet clay. It is practically complete, with a portion of its base missing, presumably due to plough action. It is highly likely that the pot will contain a cremation deposit and could contain other small grave goods such as bone toggles/pins, flint flakes, beads or animal parts, commonly found in such burials.
Other early prehistoric burials included two other cremations which had been placed in pits, one of which contained an archers stone wrist protector. A further unusual grave was found to contain several important items including a flint arrowhead and a copper dagger, although the bone had decomposed completely. This copper dagger has been identified by Dr Alison Sheridan as an Early Bronze Age dagger of Butterwick type, which typically date to between 2200 BC and 1950 BC. Initial maicroscopic examination in the National Museums of Scotland has revealed that traces of the sheath or scabbard, and of the hilt, survive, along with a corrugated metal hilt band. The sheath/scabbard shows no trace of having had a wooden backing; what survives are friable fragments of animal hide, with individual hairs visible under the microscope. The traces of the hilt around the top of the blade indicate that it included horn. This grave had been covered by a massive stone slab and could have been the grave of a significant member of the community.
Excavations at Lockerbie Academy have provided a significant contribution to our understanding of the nature of timber architecture from both the Neolithic and Early Historic periods, a phenomenon which is poorly understood in both contexts, and have extended the known distributions of these types of building into south-west Scotland. The Bronze Age cemetery, with its variation in burial practice, and the nature of, and the range and extent of, the grave goods used offer us an exciting opportunity to further explore funerary acts and the treatment of the dead in early Bronze Age Lockerbie. Post-excavation work is underway and hopefully this will flesh out our understanding of these issues with more exciting discoveries.
Thanks to Dr Alison Sheridan of the National Museums of Scotland for artefact identifications and the preliminary analysis of the dagger, and dating information. We would also like to thank Jane Brann and Rhona Walls of Dumfries and Galloway Council for support during the fieldwork. The excavations were funded by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Phil Richardson and Magnus Kirby
(This article was originally published in Scottish Archaeological News) |
