This was our first full day in the field – after landscape and site orientations on the 7th and 8th. Our survey team has been up Lairig Eildhe exploring this important pass between Glencoe and Glen Etive. The excavation team continued investigating the ‘House of MacIain’. Our digital team joined the survey team to explore recording and narrative our field practices and the stories of this landscape.
Field Diary (Survey) – Hannah Boyd
Today a small group of the team headed up to Lairg Eilde, a glen branching off from Glencoe to carry out a walkover survey over a possible shieling site. The walk up to the survey area was really fun and engaging. As we made the journey up wading through bogland and streams we each shared some of our interests in botany and geology and bonded over the interdisciplinary opportunities of archaeology. Tuning into the landscape, Isaac and Michael shared some facts about the geological and topographical formations of the glen where we learned about the volcanic history of the area. Michael helped us identify different grasses and wild plants that added to our experience and understanding of the site before we even got there! Later, Ellie also shared a sweet story of her grandmother and how she taught her the dying qualities present in a kind of lichen dotted on some of the rocks we passed. We approached the site excited and ready to start the survey!
We marked our survey boundary via GPS points after a quick glance to see where would be best to walk and lined up 20 metres apart to begin the trek westerly down the curve of the glen. As I walked forward, I soon noticed many lumps and bumps surrounding a hiker’s cairn and I quickly began planting my pointer flags over various spots in the landscape where I could feel an interesting change whether that be via my boot stomping, visual changes, or prodding with the stick of the flag. We discussed some of the points we each marked and learned valuable skills in identifying what could be a natural or human made feature. Amy and I quickly surveyed a triangular patch of possible grazing land after this and noted a rectangular collection of embedded rocks. We recorded this rock feature collectively with Rachel and I taking charge of the site recording sheet and Amy, Ellie, and Isaac doing close observation work recording the layout of the site and landscape.
The walkover survey and recording process highlighted the importance of the archaeology of natural places and how people closely interacted with the landscape to pick the best places to settle or transport their livestock. Recording also made us think more critically of the areas we picked as we soon came upon some uncertainty relating to the boundary of the northern wall of the possible structure. Overall, the best part of today was the sharing of our own experiences with the landscape and how we could apply these to the past. As a nice end to the day, we saw a huge herd of deer passing over the steep slopes of the glen!
Field Diary (Excavation) – Edward Stewart
Today we continued our excavation of the this substantial domestic structure. Finds relating to both a possible 18th or early 19th century occupation of this structure have been popping up – so to have fragments which suggest a far earlier occupation including a possible early 18th century clay pipe bowl, and a large fragment of a substantial imported bartmann jug or flagon.
Other finds related to more recent visitors to this site including a clay pipe dating between 1850-1900, a selection of coins spanning 1880s-1950s, buttons and bottle glass.
Exciting deposits are also emerging in both ends of the structure which may represent occupation levels preserved by the collapse of the structure. These have been samples for phytolith analysis and will later be sampled for an analysis of macro remains which should allow us to better understand how the inhabitants of this stucture subsisted within this landscape.
Field Diary (Digital) – Phoebe Forster
After the induction, Group 4 focused on Digital Media with Lizzie and Gareth. As we had been introduced to some of the equipment yesterday, we had a vague idea of what we could do.
We followed the Survey Team on their hike to the target area, trying to take in the landscape as we walked. We found this quite difficult since neither of us knew the terrain and spent most of the time looking at our feet. However, an unintended consequence of this was that our other senses, especially hearing, became more in tune with the landscape around us. We focused on the sound of water from the burn that we followed all the way up to the target site, as well as footsteps and the sounds made by our backpacks. This was an interesting effect that centred the person within the landscape rather than hearing the landscape by itself.
Once we got to the survey site, we discussed what our initial ideas could be for the sound and image recording. Ultimately we decided on recording the natural landscape but also the people (us and the survey team) that move within the landscape.
I personally chose to focus on sound, first using the hydrophone to capture different volumes of rushing water, from a small stream to a pool of water so deep we couldn’t see the bottom. I also used the 360° microphone but I felt that it’s use was limited by the winds that would sometimes drown out what I was trying to record. Other members of the team used the contact microphone on the vegetation in the area, as well as some time lapses and photos of the landscape and survey team.
Overall, the day was an interesting experiment in reflection, as it was hard to maintain concentration on your own feelings and perceptions as we you walk on unfamiliar trails. We felt that we became more “in tune” with the nature around us, hearing things that we otherwise would have tuned out as unimportant background noise.
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