Document record MAB57163 - GALLOWGATE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Excavation in 1991 by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit of a potential medieval frontage site recorded medieval remains.

Excavation in 1991 by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit of a potential medieval frontage site recorded medieval remains. Three areas on the frontage of the site were excavated following the demolition of the Gallowgate Middle School. The site lay on the main medieval route out of Aberdeen to the north, but previous development in the area (including road widening in the early 1900s) had destroyed archaeological layers on much of the site. The earliest features discovered on this site were late 12th to early 13th century midden layers and large pit containing cobbling waste, boots, shoes and leather trimmings from boots and shoes as well as a large amount of bone. Over 50 shoe soles, a wooden 'paddle', of radially-split oak, probably for processing flax and many sherds of late 12th-century cooking pots were recovered from the pit. The finds also included an object identified as a scutching knife, used for removing stalk and bark form flax fibres, and flax seeds, pointing to possible cloth production if only on a small scale. The earliest definite building evidence dated to the 13th to 14th centuries at the north of the site, probably remains of a backland building. By this date there is documentary evidence of fairly extensive urban ‘ribbon development’ on Gallowgate. The school's swimming pool had destroyed much of the archaeological remains, but under the pool, after it had been removed, a wooden barrel was discovered. The twelve staves of the barrel were from radially-split oak. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) dated the barrel to the late 14th century. It was also determined that the wood used to construct the barrel had originally come from Pomerania in Poland on the Baltic Sea. Sixteen worked flints including a broken blade, a scraper and small multi-platformed flake core were found during the excavations. The finds from this site are in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums.

COUNCIL FOR SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGY, 1992, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND 1992, p.35 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8247.

KENNEY, J, 1993, THE BEGINNINGS OF AGRICULTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT (Bibliographic reference). SAB2784.

HALL, A, 1994, AN ASSESSMENT OF BIOLOGICAL REMAINS FROM EXCAVATIONS AT GALLOWGATE MIDDLE SCHOOL AND 16-18 NETHERKIRKGATE (E34 AND E35). (Bibliographic reference). SAB5881.

CAMERON, AS, 2001, ABERDEEN: AN IN-DEPTH VIEW OF THE CITY'S PAST: SOC OF ANTS SCOT MONOGRAPH SERIES, 19 (Bibliographic reference). SAB8204.

Record last edited

Jan 25 2023 11:48AM