EAB16330 - Excavation and Magnetic Susceptibility Survey - CANDLE STANE

Director: KIRSTY CAMERON Auspices: CFA Fund: HS Excavation was carried out by EUCFA in October 1996 in response to the exposure during unauthorised quarrying of postholes with charcoal-rich fills. Hand-stripping of an irregular area of about 60 sq m within the NW quadrant revealed fourteen features which were totally excavated. These included a length of shallow curvilinear slot, a large and shallow stone-filled pit, a single stakehole and between three and eleven postholes. The features were interpreted as the remains of a circular timber structure to the SW of the recumbent stone circle, the curvilinear slot possibly representing a ring-groove house of about 11m diameter. The juxtaposition of timber structures and stone circle was noted and the possibility was considered that these remains represent the re-use of an earlier (ritual) site by later settlement. Magnetic susceptibility survey revealed no evidence for the presence of a funerary pyre in this part of the monument. Flotation treatment of four soil samples produced sufficient charcoal for radiocarbon assay, but had little potential for the recovery of pollen. No artefacts were recovered in excavation.