SAIR 24:Cist burials and an Iron Age settlement at Dryburn Bridge, Innerwick, East Lothian

by Andrew Dunwell
with contributions by B Finlayson, HEM Cool, T Cowie, A Heald, F Hunter, D Ingemark, M Jay, J Roberts, A Sheridan and J Thoms

CFA Archaeology Ltd, The Old Engine House, Eskmills Park, Station Road, Musselburgh EH21 7PQ
based upon excavation records and interim accounts produced by Jon Triscott and David Pollock

ISBN 0 903903 93 8

Published in September 2007 by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland, in Adobe Acrobat format. Available free of charge (see Terms & Conditions of Use).

Report Summary

This report provides an account of the excavations of a cropmark enclosure and other prehistoric remains at Dryburn Bridge, near Innerwick in East Lothian. The excavations were directed over two seasons in 1978 and 1979 by Jon Triscott and David Pollock, and were funded by the Ancient Monuments Branch, Scottish Development Department. Features and artefacts of various periods were discovered during the excavations, including a Mesolithic chipped stone assemblage and pits associated with Impressed Ware pottery. A pair of distinctive burial cists dating to c2300–2000 cal BC was discovered, each containing two inhumations, one articulated and the other disarticulated; a Beaker vessel was found directly above one of the cists. By the mid first millennium cal BC a settlement had been founded on the site. Three successive settlement layouts can be interpreted from the excavated structures. The first two phases represent continuous occupation, dating to before 400 cal BC, and consisted of timber roundhouses, other rectangular structures and a small cemetery of pit graves located within a palisaded enclosure. The final occupation phase, which extended into the Roman Iron Age and may have occurred after a break in occupation, consisted of an unenclosed settlement of ring-ditch houses. Historic Scotland and predecessor bodies funded the post-excavation studies and publication of this report.

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Report content

	Title Page
	Table of Contents
	List of Illustrations
	List of Tables
1	Summary
2	Introduction
3	Early Prehistoric Activity: Excavation Results
	3.1 Mesolithic artefacts and features
	3.2 Neolithic and Bronze Age artefacts and features
	3.3 Cist burials
	3.3.1 Cist 1 (Burials 4 and 5)
	3.3.2 Cist 2 (Burials 10 and 11)
4	Early Prehistoric Activity: The Finds
	4.1 Chipped Stone by Bill Finlayson
	4.2 Late Neolithic pottery by Hilary Cool & Trevor Cowie
	4.3 Beaker vessel by Alison Sheridan
	4.4 Human remains from the cists by Julie Roberts
	4.4.1 Introduction
	4.4.2 Preservation
	4.4.3 Age at death and sex
	4.4.4 Cranial metric data
	4.4.5 Post-cranial metric data
	4.4.6 Non-metric data
	4.4.7 Health and disease
	4.4.8 Burial catalogue
5	Early Prehistoric Activity: Radiocarbon Dates from the Human Remains
6	Early Prehistoric Activity: Discussion
	6.1 Mesolithic
	6.2 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age
	6.3 Continuity and memory?
7	The Iron Age Settlement: Excavation Results
	7.1 Enclosing works
	7.1.1 Outer enclosure
	7.1.2 Possibly related external works
	7.1.3 Inner enclosure
	7.1.4 Relationship between the two enclosing works
	7.2 Post-ring buildings
	7.2.1 Houses 5 and 6
	7.2.2 House 1
	7.2.3 House 4
	7.2.4 House 10?
	7.3 Ring-groove building
	7.3.1 House 9
	7.4 Ring-ditch buildings
	7.4.1 House 3
	7.4.2 House 8
	7.4.3 House 7
	7.4.4 House 2
	7.5 Rectangular structures
	7.6 Pit graves
	7.7 Boundary lines
	7.7.1 Fence-line associated with House 7
	7.7.2 Pitted boundaries articulating with House 8 porch
	7.7.3 Pitted boundary north-west of House 7?
	7.7.4 Fence-line north of House
	7.7.5 Fence-line east of House 9
	7.7.6 Feature F2/F3
	7.7.7 Feature O36
	7.8 Miscellaneous features of interest
	7.8.1 Feature M69 and intercutting remains
	7.8.2 Pit M5
	7.8.3 Pit O48
	7.8.4 Curvilinear feature O76
8	The Finds from the Iron Age Settlement
	8.1 Pottery by Hilary Cool (drafted c 1980)
	8.1.1 Discussion
	8.1.2 Catalogue of illustrated forms
	8.2 Coarse stone tools by Hilary Cool (drafted c 1980)
	8.2.1 Discussion
	8.2.2 Catalogue of illustrated coarse stone artefacts
	8.3 Copper alloy by Fraser Hunter
	8.3.1 Discussion
	8.3.2 Catalogue
	8.4 Iron by Fraser Hunter
	8.4.1 Discussion
	8.4.2 Catalogue
	8.5 Roman glass by Dominic Ingemark
	8.5.1 Discussion
	8.5.2 Catalogue
	8.6 Oil shale and cannel coal by Fraser Hunter
	8.6.1 Discussion
	8.6.2 Catalogue
	8.7 Slag by Andrew Heald
	8.7.1 Description
	8.7.1 Discussion
	8.8 Antler by Fraser Hunter
	8.9 Discussion of the artefact assemblage by Fraser Hunetr
	8.9.1 Nature of the assemblage
	8.9.2 Taphonomy and deposition
	8.9.3 Regional patterns
9	Faunal and Human Remains from the Iron Age Settlement
	9.1 Animal Bone by Jennifer Thoms
	9.1.1 Introduction
	9.1.2 Methods
	9.1.3 Results
	9.1.4 Outer enclosure palisade trench
	9.1.5 Inner enclosure palisade trench
	9.1.6 Houses 5 and 6
	9.1.7 House 7
	9.1.8 House 2
	9.1.9 Pit graves
	9.1.10 Pitted boundaries articulating with House 8 porch
	9.1.11 Feature M69 and dog burial (M43)
	9.1.12 Pit O48
	9.1.13 Conclusion
	9.2 Human remains from the pit graves by Julie Roberts
	9.2.1 Introduction
	9.2.2 Age at death and sex
	9.2.3 Metric data
	9.2.4 Health and disease
	9.2.5 Catalogue
	9.3 Stable isotopes from the human and faunal remains by Mandy Jay
10	Radiocarbon Dates from the Iron Age Settlement
11	The Iron Age Settlement: Discussion
	11.1 Settlement development and chronology
	11.1.1 Phase I
	11.1.2 Phase II
	11.1.3 Phase III
	11.1.4 From enclosed to unenclosed settlement – between Phases II and III
	11.1.5 Population growth/settlement expansion
	11.2 The palisaded (outer) enclosure
	11.3 Roundhouses
	11.3.1 Post-ring structures
	11.3.2 Ring-ditch buildings
	11.3.3 Ring-groove construction
	11.3.4 Houses as cultural and chronological indicators?
	11.3.5 Orientations and cosmology
	11.4 Rectangular structures
	11.5 Souterrain-related features
	11.6 Cemetery
	11.7 Economy
	11.8 Wealth and status of the settlement
	11.9 Structured deposition and ritualized acts?
12	Conclusion
13	Acknowledgements
14	References
A	Appendix I: Osteoarchaeological Analysis Methodology by Julie Roberts

Published by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland, in Adobe Acrobat format. Available free of charge (see Terms & Conditions of Use).

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