Tag: excavation
Kailyards and hunting lodges
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…
Glencoe Summer Season 2026
This summer we will be back in Achnacon excavating an enclosure within the township area. This investigation builds on our previous excavations in the kailyards, corn kilns, platforms and field systems of this township. By digging these features and securing soil samples from their deposits, and artefacts for dating, we can build up a picture…
In the Archive: Finds Auditing
Leap into our artefact catalogues, finds studies and archiving processes with Amy Hellier, excavations and finds lab supervisor. ………….. If you have joined us on excavation over the past three years, I more than likely have taken the find you discovered, placed it in a finds bag, scribbled on a context and finds number with…
In the Lab: Soil Science
Blogpost by Leonore Kitt (Excavations Assistant) During the excavations back in 2024, you have probably seen me and a few helping hands jamming a metal cylinder on the walls of the kailyard and the rig and furrow test pits. Once in the lab, those samples proved very useful to have a better insight into how…
Post Excavation: What we get up to!
Once we returned from the season in Glencoe there was still plenty work to do. Alongside our students we set out to ensure all our records, finds and samples were in order after the season. It is always a little chaotic at the end of the field season so it is good to have time…
Why Model? Digital Archaeology in Glencoe
In 2025, as in previous seasons, we again employed some targeted 3D photogrammetric capture for the excavation team. In collaboration with Eddie and Derek in the early season we created a series of 3D models of the major open trenches which display their progress through the excavation. This year at Glencoe there were three areas…
Reflections from our senior honours team
03/07/25 For us returning students, the variable weather of Glencoe hardly comes as a surprise, but today’s intense rain caught us all off guard. By lunchtime, both excavation and survey had abandoned ship, returning to the accommodation to shelter from the downpour. As returning senior honours, each of us have been tasked with focussing on…
Glencoe Excavation – Sunday on site
Today is the 29th of June and a Sunday (the day of rest) but apparently this doesn’t apply to archaeologists. Today is really sunny and the ground is dry for the most part which is a change. I was on excavation with Liv and Katie today and we started by attempting to sponge water out of…
In the lab: the story continues away from the field
Over the past few months our team had been hard at work preparing for our 2025 season, and processing the materials from our 2024 season. Over the last few weeks I have been processing the soil samples from our 2024 seasons excavation of a 17th c. house, 18th c. house, kailyard and platform. After subsampling…
Field School 2024: 18/06/24
Over the past few days we have continued our work in Glencoe exploring the settlement archaeology in this landscape through survey, excavations and creative media. Our excavations, run in partnership with the NTS archaeology team, have continued exploring the settlement of Achnacon. The three structures we are excavating have yielded exciting finds including pottery and…