Excavating rock art in Strath Tay day 8: Test pits, drawing and cleaning

The picture we a revealing is of a site that has been disturbed by relatively recent activities. This mirrors what we found in 2017, where features were found to date to the early modern period. We open two new small trenches outside the main trench to see if the area of cobbles continues.

Above: Moyra works on a large test pit outside the main area (Photo: Aaron Watson)

The first of these smaller pits contains cobbles, but they appear loose and incoherent and are tumbling down the sides of the natural mound. They do not like they ever formed part of a monument.

In the main trench, we continue to clean around the putative area of the cairn. I begin drawing the quartz feature.

Above: Taking a break from drawing the quartz feature (Photo: Aaron Watson)

In the afternoon, we decide to take away some of the cobbles from the areas which have been drawn and recorded. Will this help to determine whether this was a prehistoric feature?

Above: Working back from the rock outcrop fringing the cobbled area, removing one layer of stones at a time (Photo: Aaron Watson)

The 2018 excavations in Strath Tay were co-directed by Richard Bradley and Aaron Watson, assisted by Ronnie Scott and Moyra Simon. Many thanks to the landowner and estate staff for their support.