The first few days of the dig will concentrate on the roundhouse at the west end of the trench, leaving the wetter end with the square structure for later in the week. With some shelter from the showers provided by Clare’s gazebo, the work was mainly clearing and cleaning the floor surface, and exploring the walls round the entrance.
Clare Ellis sampling charcoal from the hearth
Removing the loose stones from a circular structure within the roundhouse, Clare was able to recover charcoal, providing samples for radiocarbon dating the building, and confirming that it was a hearth. Cleaning the floor surface also yielded two important artefacts: a bronze chisel and a rubbing stone, as well as a good supply of bones (probably food items). As last year, there were also fragments of flint.
Bronze chisel
Rubbing Stone
With this evidence, and her wide experience across Argyll, Clare is already able to say that it is probably a late Iron Age dwelling house – not incompatible with the date of Moluag’s arrival on Lismore. Over the coming two or three days, the floor surface will be carefully explored before the team moves on to the more demanding east end of the trench.
Today was a shorter day, respecting the midday service at the church, but extremely productive.