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A once-thriving Bronze Age settlement has been revealed during excavations in Erksine, Renfrewshire.
The discovery was made by a team from GUARD Archaeology, who excavated two large fields in Northbar, on the south-east outskirts of Erskine, between 2018 and 2019.
In total, the remains of 12 roundhouses were uncovered across the site, dating between 1500 BC and 1100 BC. Two large roundhouses were found in the centre of the first field, while a slightly smaller example was discovered to the south-east. Two more large roundhouses were then found in the western part of the same field, while two smaller and less complex structures were uncovered to the north-west and the south-east. They all appear to have been broadly contemporary with each other, and to have been in use for much of the Bronze Age.
In the other field that formed part of the excavation, the team found five roundhouses in a linear alignment running north-west to south-east – each spaced approximately 40m (130ft) apart. These appear to have been shorter-lived buildings than those in the other field, dating mainly to the middle Bronze Age.
Signs of agricultural activity were found within almost all the buildings, including burnt animal bones and charred barley and wheat grains. Animal dung was also present in two of the roundhouses, suggesting that humans and livestock cohabitated during colder months. There was a lot of evidence for craft, too. Several kiln pits, indicative of pottery production, were found within one of the larger roundhouses, while numerous clay loom weights, used for weaving woollen cloth, were in another.
In addition to this later Bronze Age settlement, the site appears to have been used earlier in the same period, as indicated by the discovery of a small cist cemetery, which contained the cremated remains of at least nine people, together with sherds of ceramic Beakers and urns. As the GUARD team hypothesise: ‘It may even be that it was these graves and the reputation of the people buried here that first attracted a small Bronze Age community to settle on this site.’
The site report can be found at https://archaeologyreportsonline.com.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka / Image: GUARD Archaeology
