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Cropmarks of a settlement with at least six ring ditch round houses and four ancillary buildings. There are also traces of a curvilinear palisade. During trial excavation, the substantial burnt remains of one of the houses were found to survive. A copper alloy spiral finger ring was recovered showing Iron Age activity in the area. It is now believed that a Roman coin hoard found in 1996 by a metal detectorist came from this site and not as previously recorded at NJ25NW0040. Further excavations in 2000 revealed four roundhouses and another and a probable workshop. There was also a Medieval building and yard overlying other Iron Age remains. An unusual Iron Age bridle bit was unearthed during this time. Excavations in 2001 revealed the eastern boundary of the site, but extensive trial trenching failed to locate the palisade suggested by aerial photographs. The remains of three Iron Age roundhouses with well preserved occupational deposits were uncovered. The area to the west of the 2000 coin hoard was examined and revealed an area of dense occupation close to a substantial roundhouse. A second Roman silver coin hoard was discovered only 10 m away from the first. Finds from the Medieval settlement were also discovered and included a silver coin and lead spindle whorls. During the excavation season of 2004, three trenches were opened. One continued previous investigations into a ring ditch house while a second further explored a roundhouse first sampled in 2001. In the third trench, a putative Medieval sub-rectangular scooped feature was examined. It represented the sunken floor of a two phase structure. To the southwest of the site lies a small sand quarry. Inspection of this revealed an eroding drystone structure, which proved to be a corn-drying kiln of medieval or later date. Excavation continued in 2006 in four main trenches including further investigation of the burnt down roundhouse. This identified possible floor deposits although with little occupation debris. Notable finds were the terminal of a gold ribbon torc and an exotic amber bead confirming the site's status. The Late Bronze Age metalworking area identified in 2005 was explored further, and evidence points to ephemeral activity with no substantial workshop structure. Finds recovered included mould fragments for pins, bangles and debris from spearheads. A large trench was opened over the remains of a possible building exposed in 2000 but although this was hard to trace, a large later prehistoric ring-ditch house was found. Within this are two clay iron-smelting furnaces although it is not clear whether they are contemporary building. The 2007 excavations examined 4 areas. Continued excavation of the burnt down roundhouse revealed extensive remains of charred timbers from the roof and possibly an upper floor. Substantial structural posts were also found, some squared and other structural elements included a mortise and tenon joint. Finds included a range of glass beads, a rotary quern stone and a series of stone tools. The bulk of the destruction deposits in the western half have now been excavated, revealing the ring groove of an earlier, smaller house. The southeast quadrant was also examined, with removal of the much less extensive destruction deposits revealing a series of large pits and an oval stone feature, yet to be excavated. In the northeast quadrant, there are hints of an overlying rectangular structure defined by slight cobbled spreads. Continued excavation of the large ring ditch house examined in 2000 and 2006 revealed a series of rebuilds, with evidence of at least 3 structures circa 18-19 m diameter on the same site. Two had eastern entrances, but at one stage there was a north-westerly doorway. There were no surviving floor deposits, but finds suggest a later Iron Age date. The pair of iron-smelting furnaces found in 2006 were shown to post-date the house. They may be connected with other later features, including a paved arc and a series of post-sockets, perhaps of medieval date. The third trench examined the area where the coin hoards came from. This confirmed there were no structures connected with the hoards, and revealed two other unusual deposits: a pit with a high quality barely-used whetstone at its base, and another pit with an intact inverted Iron Age pot. Unusually for the area, it was decorated. These and previous finds support the notion that this area was a focus for votive offerings. The hoards and the 2 finds from this year are near equally spaced on a slightly curving line. The final trench to the southwest of previously excavated areas, produced very few features, confirming the limit of the site in this direction. In 2008, 4 trenches were opened. Work continued on the burnt down roundhouse, with some two-thirds of the house now fully excavated. The extent of the smaller underlying ring groove house is now clear. The overlying large ring ditch house had been heavily used and repaired by the time it burnt down. A series of stone roof weights which had collapsed during the fire were recovered, as were substantial fragments of charcoal. Further investigation in the area of the coin hoards confirmed that another house lay immediately to their west. Between this trench and the burnt house another substantial ring ditch house was investigated, one which was known from cropmarks but previously untouched. It was a large single phase structure, some 16 m in diameter, with a ring ditch round the northern half and a series of shallow erosion hollows in the peripheral space of the southern half. A final trench to the east of the burnt house confirmed that remains noted in 2001 at the southern end of trench M comprised a further roundhouse. The 2009 excavation examined six roundhouses, three of which had burnt down. Several showed signs of later activity. Trench AL looked at burnt deposits uncovered in a previous trial trench. It revealed a substantial ring-ditch house, 16 m in diameter, which had been repaired and rebuilt before burning down. Later activity in the same area included two stone hearths. On the east part of the trench, a small post-ring was located from a house circa 7.6 m in diameter. In the southwest corner a rectangular erosion scoop, perhaps a yard, was found. Isolated features included one which had a large fragment of a fired clay structure, perhaps from a kiln or furnace, dumped in it. Trench AM produced another burnt-down ring-ditch house, circa 13.5 m in diameter. Again there was evidence of later activity, with a hearth set into the destruction deposits, although with no surviving trace of any associated structure. An unusual house was revealed in trench AP. This exposed a building which seems to have two entrances. It comprises a ring-groove 10.2 m in diameter, with no internal post-ring for support - the wall took all its weight. Again there was evidence of activity after the house had become structurally unsound. Two further trenches confirmed the eastern extent of the site, with a marked fall-off in feature density. One of these trenches included an enigmatic small enclosure with a large pit dug through its centre. Among a rich range of finds recovered in the 2009 season, one stand out piece was a Romano-British penannular brooch from trench AM. Excavations continued in 2010, and produced the first significant Neolithic material in situ: a cluster of pits with sherds of early Neolithic pottery, and one with a polished stone axe. Stray Bronze Age finds included a shale disc bead, but the bulk of the evidence was Iron Age or later. The Trench D burnt house was finally completed, and the full plan revealed - a massive cooking pit was central to the building in both phases. A silty clay spread may be the base of a hearth collapsed from the first floor or part of the upper floor itself. Other burnt houses were revisited, and shown to have rather varied histories. Further work in parts of the AL roundhouse clarified the nature of late activity in the abandoned house with the discovery of a hearth full of hammerscale from blacksmithing, and an intact fire shovel in a nearby pit. Several unexpected roundhouses were located including a sequence of three in trench AT, bringing the total number known on the site to 25. Remains of post-roundhouse activity were found in several areas. Notable finds included an Iron Age amber bead, a bronze spiral finger ring, the first Roman bronze coin found on the site, the first samian pottery found on the site, a fragmentary Romano-British dragonesque brooch, and from the Pictish period a steatite spindle whorl and grass-tempered pot base.In the surrounding area, an evaluation trench on the lower slopes of the Kirk hill showed that the level had been deliberately built up, probably to avoid damp ground. Pits were cut into this and midden dumped in them. A possible boundary ditch of the early church was located. An area immediately south of the known site was also examined in advance of intensified agricultural activity, and showed that ancient activity had extended into this area. Key features included a small post-ring roundhouse, another blacksmith's pit, an unlined corn-drying kiln and a segmented shallow trench. In 2011 archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping for a pot ale lagoon recorded a scatter of features including a small post-ring roundhouse, a blacksmith's pit and an unlined corn drying kiln and a small scatter of features were recorded during a watching brief by ROCAS in 2013 on a new access track to the lagoon (see NJ25NW0070)
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Moray
HER -
NJ25NW0024 - DYKESIDE, BIRNIE