Today our team was busy across the Glencoe and Rannoch landscapes. Our excavation team began the recording of our excavation site with a photomodel being produced by Cole Juckette which required no small amount of bailing of the trenches by our valiant dig team. Afterwards Sean and Amy completed a section drawing of our area A sondage, recording the floor layers within the byre end of our structure. We also welcomed members of the Lochaber Historical Society for a site tour.
Digital team: Samantha Bodiam
Today we focused on our project with the display of household items at the back of the museum. We went to the museum and asked about what objects they’d like us to use and whether there are any objects we could use to record sound.
We also reflected on our first experience of the display, after discussing visitor observation and how it works, but deciding we couldn’t really do it in the museum due to lack of space. Self-reflection seemed the best alternative for gathering that sort of information
I was surprised in my time by the display by how long visitors were spending at it, and how much interest they were taking (more than I had expected based on our reflections).
After this, we recorded sounds from some of the objects in the display (e.g. wash board, carpet beater, blacksmith tools, door knocker).
We then used objects from around our cottage to record some noises we thought would complement our existing recordings.
We spent the rest of the day writing a draft of the book about the boot, having planed earlier in the day that the book would have 6 pages, and would be available in a PDF format, so the museum and perhaps also the public can make their own.
Survey: Isaac Norwood
Today we went down the Ba path, an old part of the military road that connects up with the west highland way. The path was very boggy and midges pestered us along the way, but it was very interesting as we could see the regular quarries in moraines the path passed along the way that were used to build it up. Eddie had previously found lithics on one section of the path, suggesting some mesolithic activity on one of the moraines. Along the way we had to cross an old tumbled down bridge – we thought that it might be an interesting experimental archaeology project to try to rebuild it.
When we got to Ba cottage, we started a comprehensive survey. Meghan and Kaitlyn surveyed the cottage itself, while me and Logan started on the surrounding area. It was very interesting – the cottage showed multiple phases of use, and the house seemed to be placed to make good use of the nice ground, the burn, and the nearby till quarry. A geological analysis I completed of the stones used in the cottage showed the nicer front-facing areas used squarer stones sourced from the quarry, while the back of the house used granite that had been rolled down by the burn. We made detailed plans, took pictures and gps points, and then set off for home. Overall a great day out in the field!
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