The Big Dig 2021 — Day 6

Progress Report.  Day 6.  

So far, the weather has been good for digging.  One very hot day (Wednesday 8th) and one cut short by heavy rain (Thursday 9th).  The forecast is good for next week and it looks as if we will not need to bail out trenches again.  Apart from the field work, donated baking, and plums, the highlight of the week was the talks session on Saturday when an audience of 35 gathered in masks, with the doors wide open, to hear an update on the dig by Clare Ellis; new light on Moluag by Carolyn McNamara; and a study of the evidence of violence in SE Scotland in the early Medieval period from 300 bone samples, mainly skulls, by Angela Boyle.

Two important findings from the trenches.   First, it has always been assumed that the Sanctuary Stone was placed in its present position around the time of the Early Church.  However, digging near the Stone has shown that whoever placed it there disturbed several human burials, scattering the remains, and showing little respect for the occupants of the old cemetery.  This suggests that it was positioned in the glebe in more recent times.  Careful digging in this trench will continue in the search for undisturbed Early Church burials, which will be treated with the utmost respect.  Further down the trench there is evidence of a series of cooking hearths (burnt pale soil with calcined animal bone).  This and the slag mentioned in the first report indicate that the area was a hive of various activities after the cemetery had ceased to be used for burials.

Secondly, there is no obvious sign of past activity in the wet peaty area to the east of the manse, but a long trench has confirmed the signs of buildings shown by geophysics.  It is too early to be sure but it looks as if there is a Bronze Age roundhouse emerging from the peat.  For a long time, we have been aware of the many Bronze Age monuments on the island and it will be gratifying to find out where some of the population actually lived.  Houses like this are common elsewhere in Argyll but this is a first for Lismore.

We continue to find flint and pottery of different ages across the area.