Find Spot record MAB48232 - SGOR AN EOIN

Lithic artefacts recorded during field survey in July 2016 as part of the Upper Dee Tributaries Project, and subsequent test pitting in 2021 The work focused on investigation of the area in which three lithic artefacts were found in an erosive context during rapid walkover survey in 2015 and assessing potential for paleoenvironmental sequences in the immediate vicinity.

Lithic artefacts recorded during field survey in July 2016 as part of the Upper Dee Tributaries Project, and subsequent test pitting in 2021 The work focused on investigation of the area in which three lithic artefacts were found in an erosive context during rapid walkover survey in 2015 and assessing potential for paleoenvironmental sequences in the immediate vicinity. The 2016 work increased the total number of worked flints to 15, all found in a relatively small area at the edge of a small stream on a Late Glacial River Terrace at 47m O.D. The terrace is a significant landscape feature, remnant of a much larger terrace. Eleven of the lithics are burnt fragments of flakes, three represent debitage and one is a retouched piece. The pieces are not chronologically diagnostic. In September 2021, 30 test pits were excavated, over an area circa 30m by 15m, about 20 percent of the pits yielding artefacts, 32 from this season making a total of 48 from the site as a whole. Artefacts were recovered at the interface of peat and fine sands above a podsol, sometimes a couple of centimetres into the soils. The flint scatter is small, possibly comparable to Caochanan Ruadha. Only two pits (2.5 m apart) had more than two artefacts in them. Artefacts found included diagnostically Later Mesolithic tools (circa 8000-4000 BC), but most of the scatter was small in size (average maximum dimension 12.8 mm) and fragmentary, with a lot burnt. The 46 flint artefacts are debitage products: blades, flakes and indeterminate fragmentary removals. They include occasional larger flakes and narrow blades, two microburins and snapped blades, and one small fragmentary possible scraper. Many test pits had significant proportions of charcoal but not in association with artefacts. A small bowl-shaped feature, possibly a pit, measuring circa 15cm across and 5cm deep, was uncovered in one test pit. The provisional interpretation is that the Mesolithic settlement took place on a small rise on a well-drained Late Glacial terrace, seemingly on an in-situ soil development of fine sands above the terrace. Subsequent peat formation and podsolisation transformed the drainage, forming the small stream which had disturbed the site, exposing the artefacts that were recorded in the 2015 fieldwork. Some of the site is deflated, but fragments of it remain in situ, especially to the southwest. See NN99SE0005 for coring survey across and around the site in 2022. Excavation within an area 2.5 m by 5 m within the lithic scatter was carried out by University of Dublin/University of Stavanger in 2022, the excavation undertaken within a 50 cm grid in spits of 2-3 cm. Poor weather hampered progress and the excavation was focused on the eastern end of the trench. The site is overlain by peat ranging in depth from 1-2- cm, which overlies a heavily podsolised deposit which is interpreted as an old land surface formed on top of a Late Glacial Terrace. Although there has been some bioturbation of this surface the spatial distribution of artefacts suggests that this has not been extensive and it is concluded it be a substantially in situ occupation deposit. A more complex sequence was evident to the west and including deposits that are interpreted as redeposited sediment from the raised area to the east into a channel. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from birch from the old land surface, both giving dates in the Bronze Age (one 2022-1783 BC, the other 2015-1788 BC) although this does not match the lithic technology. These samples likely relate to a late episode of fire which has become mixed with artefacts through bioturbation. A total of 157 artefacts were recovered from the excavation, these tightly concentrated in the eastern half of the trench most within circa 1 m of the central baulk, and the distribution might indicate the presence of a structure. This coincides with a darker area of the old land surface. All the of the lithics recovered from the site (total 203) are flint which would have been brought in from elsewhere, most likely from sources on the Moray Firth or North Sea coast. Nearly a third of the artefacts are cortical, despite the distance from the sources. All of the flint artefacts are the products of debitage, comprising blades, flakes or indeterminate fragments and shatter. The material is very fragmentary, with less than a third complete, and with a lot of fragmentation resulting from burning – with almost a third of the assemblage as a whole burnt. Six artefacts are retouched (and one possibly), these include a fragmentary possible scraper, an edge-retouched blade, four definite and one possible microburins032). The microburins combined with the high percentage of broken blade (22 broken from a total of 36) might indicate deliberate snapping of blades and microlith production. No cores are present, but a small number of pieces are indicative of different stages of working. Based on the technology the assemblage is most likely Mesolithic in date. The range of artefacts suggest that cores, possibly prepared, were transported to the site and worked here to produce flakes and blades. The assemblages is similar to that from Caochanan Ruadha (NN98NW0004) although cortex is more common at Sgor an Eoin. Further excavation of the lithic scatter is planned for 2023.

Period Notes
2022 excavation, obtained on birch (Betula sp.) from C.102 Sq. P16, Spit 2 (S.054): SUERC-109068 (GU63242), 3574 +/- 25, calibrated to 2022-1783 CB at 2 sigma; SUERC-109073 (GU63243) 3563+/- 25, calibrated to 2015-1788 BC at 2 sigma.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2017, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND, NEW SERIES, VOLUME 17, 2016, p. 13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6497.

WICKHAM-JONES, C, 2020, NEW EVIDENCE FOR UPLAND OCCUPATION IN THE MESOLITHIC OF SCOTLAND. IN PPS DOI:10.1017/PPR.2020.8 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3447.

WARREN, G, 2022, ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK AT SGOR AN EOIN, GLEN OF DEE, ABERDEENSHIRE, SEPT 2022: INTERIM REPORT (Bibliographic reference). SAB3469.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2022, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND, NEW SERIES, VOLUME 22 (2021), p. 12 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8314.

WARREN, G, 2022, SGOR AN EOIN, GLENN DEE, ABERDEENSHIRE SEPTEMBER 2021: INTERIM REPORT UCD SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY FIELDWORK (Bibliographic reference). SAB3457.

WARREN, G, 2023, SGOR AN EOIN, GLEN DEE, ABERDEENSHIRE SEPT 2023 PROJECT DESIGN (Bibliographic reference). SAB3470.

Record last edited

Aug 30 2023 2:11PM