An update from our excavation team after our 2026 season. The excavations at Achnacon were led by Dr Edward Stewart (AS), Derek Alexander (NTS), Amy Hellier (Perth Museums) and Leonore Kitt (UofG).
Excavation
This summer we were back in Achnacon exploring a kailyard adjacent to the modern sheepfold. Kailyards were garden plots attached to individual dwellings where domestic waste from middens would be spread to enrich the soils for the planting of vegetables for the family. These small areas of cultivation were used from at least the 17th century until the 20th century and can be found in pre- and post- Clearance sites.
This season we excavated 10 test pits across the enclosure, sampling for elemental analysis and bulk density analysis. These will help us understand how these cultivation areas were managed and provide a comparison to the two other cultivation areas and the area of rig and furrow fields we have excavated in 2024 and 2025. These samples will be analysed by Meike van Lit at the University of Glasgow, Nicholas Cullen at Stanford University and Sabrina Ross. By investigating the places where people grew food for their communities and families we can build up a picture of how they developed strategies to be resilient to climate events during the 17th and 18th centuries. This was a period where the climate worsened with an event we call the ‘Little Ice Age’ which brought colder winders, less predictable and shorter summers, and more storminess. What was it like to live in this changing world?
From our excavations this year the soils appear to represent two phases of use of this kailyard. In the 18th century this site was an area of cultivation, likely attached to a byrehouse which we have now lost under the 19th century sheepfold. In the 17th century it served quite a different function. In the Northern part of the enclosure we found a large burnt deposit stretching across several test pits and measuring perhaps 7m across. This burning event comprised black ash with very little charcoal suggesting we did not find the core of the fire but the waste material from one. The volume of ash likely means this was either a very substantial blaze, or the result of a prolonged period of activity involving fire. The finding of some pieces of slag from one of these test pits might give us a clue to what this ash represents. Could this represent an area of iron working within Achnacon? Iron smelting requires lots of heat, produced from lots of charcoal, and results in lots of ash! From this ashy layer Amy also uncovered a nice fragment of 17th century Staffordshire Slipware plate. Is this where the MacDonalds of Glencoe got iron from ore, or worked iron into tools such as cauldrons, chisels, knives or swords?
This season we also carried out some final investigations at the ‘Summerhouse of MacIain’. Here we excavated two slots in the kitchens of this chiefly hunting lodge to collect better stratified samples, and to investigate the fireplace at this end of the structure. We successfully collected these samples and uncovered some exciting finds including redware cooking vessels and german stonewares.
This season we were joined by another amazing team of volunteers without whom we could not have got so much done.
– Dr Edward Stewart and Amy Hellier
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