EAB16331 - Excavation - CANDLE STANE

Director: KIRSTY CAMERON Auspices: CFA Fund: HS 50% of the total area was evaluated Further excavation was conducted by EUCFA in January 1997 and opened an area of about 70 sq m immediately SE of that opened in 1996, on the NE, E and SSE of the circle. The partial remains were exposed of a circular timber structure with a suggested diameter of about 15.5m which was defined by a ring-groove and had largely been destroyed by quarrying. A series of eight evenly-spaced postholes was identified within the groove, nd an arc of six further postholes was interpreted as a former inner ring. There was a complex entrance-structure on the SE, and internal features included a large and shallow stone spread, a series of near-central stakeholes, and a possible third ring of boulders. No artifacts were recovered and the chronology of the structure remains unclear pending possible radiocarbon dating of charcoal recovered from some of the features. The initial interpretation of the structure as the remains of a roundhouse is, however, confirmed.