Document record MAB57073 - 4-6 LITTLE BELMONT STREET, ABERDEEN

A watching brief by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit in 1980 during excavation of foundations for an extension to Cameron's Inn recorded an early Medieval pit.

A watching brief by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit in 1980 during excavation of foundations for an extension to Cameron's Inn recorded an early Medieval pit. Below the yard surface there was circa 0.90m of homogeneous loam which was interpreted as cultivated earth. There was a little medieval and post-medieval pottery in this deposit but no features were observed. When the natural surface was cleaned, however, a small oval pit was revealed. It measured 1.95 by 1.00m with vertical sides and a depth of 0.60m. The fill included dark loam and charcoal below soft burnt clay. It was sealed by the medieval garden earth and appeared therefore to be an early medieval feature. The fill contained pottery including Yorkshire fabrics of mid-13th or early 14th-century date. The size and shape of the pit, its east-west orientation and its proximity to St Nicholas churchyard initially suggested that it might have contained a burial but this was disproved by the contents. It was also clearly not part of a property boundary. The location of a medieval pit at this point, well to the west of the Upperkirkgate Port and outside the town boundary suggests some form of suburban occupation, possibly associated with a farm.

DENNISON, E, 1997, HISTORIC ABERDEEN: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT. THE SCOTTISH BURGH SURVEY, p. 62 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4057.

Record last edited

Aug 9 2022 10:04AM