EAB2980 - Excavation 1865 - HURLY HAWKIN

Jervise excavated the site, looking for remains of the 12th Century palace, over two days in March 1865. He exposed the broch, but only tentatively identified it as such, as no others were known at the time outside of Shetland. He excavated the entirety of the interior wall and dug two trenches across the floor at right angles to each other. An inserted burial was discovered, with a deposit of charcoal containing several fragile, bronze, cup-headed pins to its south and west. Jervise's investigation shows that the broch appears to have been re-used as a midden. He described a variety of animal remains (including large parts of the skeleton of a horse), burnt barley, a burnt wooden object, an unfinished whorl, pieces of metal, and further human remains. All were found in the broch interior, which Jervise described as 'turned over at a former period' and so he was unable to provide stratigraphical information. Jervise also noted the ditch to the north, which he considered artificial, and inaccurately sited the entrance to the broch in the northwest, when he had probably exposed a mural chamber.