Tayside Fife Archaeol J 2

A programme of research excavation and monitoring was undertaken on the site of an early nineteenth-century salt pan and coal-mine complex at Preston Island, Torry Bay, Fife. One salt panhouse and associated forehouse were excavated, along with a freshwater cistern; elements of the sea wall and a second panhouse were also recorded during the restoration of the main buildings on the island. Appendix I (23--6) is `A summary of the salt panning industry in Scotland and at Preston Island'.

In 1986 the remains of an inhumation, which had been revealed by coastal erosion at Tangleha', near St Cyrus, was excavated. A pathological examination indicated that the well-preserved skeleton was that of a young adult male, and a radiocarbon assay of a bone sample from the skeleton revealed that the burial was of late twelfth- to early fourteenth-century date.

A range of dress accessories found during recent urban excavations in Tayside, Fife, and elsewhere in Scotland is discussed. The artefacts are considered from both an archaeological and a socio-historical perspective.

The conversion of the Abbot's House to a heritage centre afforded the opportunity to examine an area which lay both on the fringes of the medieval abbey precinct and within the burgh. The evidence recovered indicated a long history of semi-industrial activity on the site, probably metal-working, which continued through the medieval and post-medieval periods despite major changes in the use and ownership of the land. The garden behind the house was established over the medieval abbey cemetery, which in turn had been laid over a sequence of possible workshops. After the cemetery had been deliberately sealed, the first substantial building was erected in the late medieval period, probably in the fifteenth century; possibly constructed as the abbot's lodgings, it became a private town-house soon after the Reformation. A stretch of the abbey precinct wall was also exposed near the street frontage, abutting which were the medieval levels of the Maygate. Lying considerably further south than its present position, the Maygate was built over an earlier flagstone path and wall.There are specialist contributions by Derek W Hall (88--91) with `The pottery'; Adrian Cox on`Copper alloy objects' (91--4), `Lead alloy objects' (94), `Iron objects' (94--7), `Stone object' (97), `Stone building material' (97--8), `Bone and antler objects' (99--100), `The glass' (100--1), `Ceramic objects' (101--2), `Ceramic building material' (102), `Clay pipes' (102), `Leather' (103) and `The shell' (106); Adrian Cox & Paul Harrison `Metal-working debris' (103); Catherine Smith `Animal bone' (103--6); Richard Fawcett `Fragment of a lion footrest' (98--9); Nicholas M McQ Holmes `Coins and a jeton' (102--3); and Alan Fairweather `Botanical remains' (106). BOC

The current state of research in Scottish medieval pottery studies is summarised fabric by fabric. Suggestions for future study are made with the emphasis on the discovery and excavation of native kiln sites.