Tayside & Fife Archaeological Journal 14

The excavation of a fragment of an Early Historic ditch, possibly representing an Early Christian vallum was undertaken in advance of the construction of an extension to Dunning Primary School, Dunning, Perth and Kinross. A Neolithic barbed and tanged arrowhead, a retouched blade and flake, and a caricature clay pipe were recovered from later fills of the ditch.

An archaeological excavation was undertaken on the site of a proposed new high school near Lethangie, Kinross, on a greenfield site, comprising two large fields (north and south) centred on NGR NO 117 035. A Scheduled Ancient Monument, considered to represent an enclosed settlement of prehistoric date with enclosure ditches and pits, was known to be located in the south field. Excavation revealed that a supposed ditch feature in the south field was in fact a medieval pit, most probably a corn-drying kiln, deeply cut into natural sands and gravels. In the north field, a sub-circular enclosure ditch, part of a possible rectilinear building, kilns, postholes and narrow linear cuts were found. The results were taken to indicate that the areas excavated, combined with the settlement indicated by the Scheduled Ancient Monument constitute 'favoured sites', with continuity of occupation extending from the Later Neolithic, through the Dark Ages and into the medieval and modern periods. Of particular interest was the evidence of Dark Age activity of which little has previously been identified. Also significant were features representing medieval rural settlement, the recognition of which, within the archaeological record, is becoming more common in lowland Scotland.

Excavations within the public library in St Andrews recovered seventy-six articulated human skeletons and significant quantities of disarticulated skeletal material from the graveyard of the parish church of the Holy Trinity. The graveyard is known to have been active between circa 1410 and 1600. \r\nA horizon of construction material, including industrial ceramics and slag, was identified pre-dating the graveyard soil. The origin of these materials is uncertain, though it is suggested they may well drive from the construction of the parish church of the Holy Trinity in 1400.