Summary Two small burnt mounds were excavated as part of the programme to mitigate the impact of motorway construction in the Crawford area. The excavations followed a research strategy designed to address questions of date and function. This paper surveys the various competing theories about burnt mounds and how the archaeological evidence was evaluated against those theories. Both sites produced radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age and evidence to suggest that they were cooking places. In addition, a short account is presented of two further burnt mounds discovered during the construction of the motorway in Annandale.
Summary Excavations were carried out on two sites containing traces of iron ore processing, as part of the N-W Ethylene Pipeline Project, funded by Shell Chemicals UK Ltd. The excavations at Scabgill revealed a small part of an iron ore processing site apparently dating to the later medieval period or earlier. At nearby Boghall, a small furnace was excavated, which, while not itself datable, was also used in the processing of low grade, bog iron ores.
Summary Excavations within the courtyard of the fifteenth century towerhouse were undertaken to fulfil conditions of Scheduled Monument Consent. They revealed some new details of the medieval structures, but encountered few stratified deposits. Most secure archaeological deposits appear to have been removed during the early twentieth century restoration.
Summary The ring enclosure at Burnhouse Moor lies at the 300m contour on a small hill just SW of Tinto Hill near Biggar (Fig 1). It was excavated prior to the afforestation of the area. Before excavation the site appeared as a 2m wide bank with no breaks apart from a modern sheep track. The bank enclosed a circular area 8m in diameter. A slight depression or halo was just visible around the outer edge of the bank. One quarter of the interior was excavated with extension trenches to S and E sectioning both bank and the external depression. Four pits were dug outside the excavated area to examine the soil profiles across the hillside. In places these showed tilled soil, while others showed a build up of peat.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Eastern Dumfriesshire: an archaeological landscape, HMSO, Edinburgh, 1997. 209 x 295 mm. 382 pp. 306 illustrations. ISBN 0 11 495859 9. Price £95.