Bulletin
3, 1997
The Settlements at Tarbat
Excavations in Sectors 1 and 2 in 1997 (Fig 2).
By Martin Carver and Justin Garner-Lahire.
There were two operations in Sectors 1 and 2 during 1997: in the northern half of Sector 2 (Int 14, 24); and at the eastern end of Sector 1 (Int 25).
Figure 2: The Excavation sectors at Portmahomack, showing principal features encountered in 1997.
The north end of Sector 2 (Int 14), which lies within the Glebe Field and is destined to become the Tarbat Discovery Centre car-park was begun in 1996 (Bull 2, 9-11). It was re-opened without damage and extended southwards for 30m (Int 24). The stratified deposit beneath the ploughsoil thickens from 300-400mm at the north end to a depth of 1 metre or more in waterlogged ground towards the south. The final phase of this deposit is one of the greatest complexity and features shell middens, metal-working hearths and large pits for the disposal of refuse. This phase is likely to belong to a period around the late sixteenth to seventeenth century, when the Glebe was created to support the minister of the Reformed church. Amongst the material redeposited at this time was a piece of carved stone belonging to the Pictish period and featuring a bull, a cow and a calf (TR28, Appendix 2; Bull 2, 23-25).
The pre-reformation, later medieval, layout of the site appears to feature rectangular buildings aligned with the church and connected by a pebbled trackway which leads down towards the boggy ground. Preservation of animal bone is good and there are hopes that the waterlogged area may prove productive of organic finds. Work in 1998 will attempt to complete the northern half of this excavation in order to release the site for the construction of the car park.
At the east end of Sector 1, the Field School excavated the first four 4m x 8m modules of the sector, which lay beyond the main prehistoric ditch which defines the Tarbat site. An oval enclosure which had been remarked as a parch-mark on the ground in 1995 was shown to have existed, but provided no evidence for function or date. More information will be forthcoming when adjacent modules are excavated (by the Field School) in 1998.
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