Document record MAB50360 - CLARKLY HILL

Prehistoric settlement site and industrial area, and early medieval settlement first discovered through metal detecting, subsequently subject to geophysical survey, evaluation and excavation.

Prehistoric settlement site and industrial area, and early medieval settlement first discovered through metal detecting, subsequently subject to geophysical survey, evaluation and excavation. Multiple metal and other objects were found in this field January 2007 by metal detecting. Objects found include: a Roman brooch/mount, a Roman/Iron Age brooch, Medieval buckle, James IV billon penny, Henry III penny, horse harness pendant, metal decorative fairground ring, flint, pot rim sherd, whistle, buttons, nail. Geophysical (magnetometer surveys) undertaken in 2009 and 2010 recorded previously unknown later prehistoric settlement, comprising a series of at least eight circular features below traces of medieval rig and furrow. The northwest end of the field is likely sterile but it is likely that the settlement extends into the woodland to the southwest of the site.Evaluation trenching to the southwest of Meadowhillock Farm to clarify this was carried out in July/August 2011. It recorded a significant later prehistoric settlement. The remains, which show excellent survival below a layer of wind-blown sand, comprise two settlements. The first is of roundhouses perhaps starting in the late Bronze Age and certainly occupied in the Roman Iron Age, where the inhabitants had access to valued Roman goods. One trench confirmed the presence of a substantial roundhouse with a complex history, finds including two steatite lamps and an iron dagger. Over this was a stone building platform, which included a reused cup-marked stone and which was associated with a cobbled spread. Other finds from this trench included a Romano-British trumpet ring and a Roman Iron Age openwork finger ring. The earlier settlement included an industrial zone with finds indicating both iron smelting and bronze casting, finds including hearths and crucible fragments. Unusual activity is evidence by the erection of standing stones on one of the roundhouses suggesting the old house was turned into a monument or ceremonial centre. The later settlement is a more fragmentary one of stone buildings, of uncertain date, but medieval at the latest and possibly Pictish. These structures lay on an old soil layer which overlay a series of features including ard marks. Finds from the soil included a yellow glass bead and an iron ring-headed pin. Further excavation was carried out in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 excavations, which opened new trench and reopened the 2011 trenches, uncovered two large Iron Age ring-ditch houses, one showing a long occupation sequence. Further investigation revealed more of the roundhouse uncovered in 2011. After abandonment a curved line of standing stones was erected over its stance, four stone settings recorded within the excavated area. Only the stumps of two remained, the others removed, but excavation of the holes produced evidence of deliberate deposits. In one was a human skull buried face down in the base of the pit, and in the other was a cache of artefacts including two reworked sherds of Roman Samian pottery, a silver finger ring and an iron knife.To the north of the settlement the area of industrial activity, was further investigating providing including evidence for iron smelting and bronze casting. Over the Iron Age settlement were remains of insubstantial rectangular houses defined by cobble scatters which formed the base of turf walls. In Trench E to the west of the stie was a large ring ditch house, circa 18m in diameter, the finds indicating a Roman Iron Age date. The house had been built against an earlier standing stone which was deliberately incorporated into its wall. More of the industrial area was also exposed, including a large pit which once held an iron-smelting furnace. Finds included extensive slag, some crucible fragments from non-ferrous metalworking, a fragment of steatite bowl, and rotary quern fragments. The 2013 excavation targeted a number of geophysical anomalies. Trench F produced an extended occupation sequence, the earliest evidence dating to the Mesolithic, with features including a stone setting, possibly a variant stone circle. Other trenches revealed ring-groove houses, an area once used as an iron or bronze a workshop with a cobbled floor associated with a hearth. Finds included crucible fragments and pieces of a shale bangle. Examination of the lithic assemblages has identified some of these to be of Stotfield silcrete. Further metal detecting finds from the area include an Iron Age enamelled finger ring and Viking bell.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 19/09/08 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

POLLER, T, 2010, CLARKLY HILL, BURGHEAD, MORAY: GEOPHYSICS REPORT, Geophysics report (Bibliographic reference). SAB5435.

HUNTER, F, 2012, EXCAVATIONS AT CLARKLY HILL, ROSEISLE, MORAY 2011: INTERIM REPORT, Excavation report (Bibliographic reference). SAB4376.

PICTISH ARTS SOCIETY, 2012, NEWSLETTER 63, 6-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1482.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2013, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND, NEW SERIES, VOLUME 13, 2012, pp.122-3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5487.

HUNTER, F, 2013, EXCAVATIONS AT CLARKLY HILL, ROSEISLE, MORAY 2012: INTERIM REPORT, Excavation report (Bibliographic reference). SAB4417.

BJARKE BALLIN, T, 2014, A 'NEW' LITHIC RAW MATERIAL FROM MORAY, IN IFA SCOTTISH GROUP NEWSLETTER APRIL 2014, PP 10-12 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3814.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2014, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND, NEW SERIES, VOLUME 14, 2013, pp.128-9 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5483.

BJARKE BALLIN, T, 2017, THE STOTFIELD SILCRETE (OR 'STOTFIELD CHERTY ROCK'), MORAY, EASTERN SCOTLAND (Bibliographic reference). SAB3837.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 05/08/11 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 11/10/13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, p.7, 19/03/2010 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Record last edited

Jul 8 2025 3:29PM