Neighbour, T. (2005). Excavation of a Bronze Age kerbed cairn at Olcote, Breasclete, Near Calanais, Isle of Lewis. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. https://doi.org/10.5284/1017938.

An archaeological excavation was carried out by the Centre for Field Archaeology (CFA) from October to December 1995 of a Bronze Age kerbed cairn at Olcote, Breasclete, Isle of Lewis (NGR: NB 2180 3475). The cairn was discovered by CFA during an evaluation of a dense scatter of worked and unworked quartz made by local archaeologists, Margaret and Ron Curtis. The remains lay in the path of the improvement of the single track road through Breasclete. A range of archaeological features and deposits was identified and recorded within the excavation trench. These fell into three groups on stratigraphic grounds: pre-cairn features, including pits, spade or cultivation marks and a buried ground surface; the cairn itself, including inner and outer kerbs, burnt peat deposits, a central cist and other features; and modern deposits which cut the cairn, including post-holes and field drains. Excavation and post-excavation were wholly funded by Historic Scotland.

An account of the excavation methodology is presented along with the research goals, which of necessity, were formulated during the project as the discovery was unexpected. A description of the results of test pitting is followed by a phased archaeological description. The phases are as follows: phase 1 - features beneath the cairn; phase 2 - cultivation marks and preparation of the ground; phase 3 - the kerbed cairn, including its construction and subsequent adaptation with a number of sub-phases; phase 4 - post-cairn features which cut the cairn including postholes and field drains; phase 5 - a variety of unphased negative features of irregular shape, all located outwith the cairn.

The cremated remains were found beside a broken cremation urn. The volume of the cremated remain was very small and the individual fragments were in very poor condition. Consequently, only a small percentage of the total could be identified and very few of the fragments provided any meaningful information. It cannot be stated with any certainty how many individuals were represented. Sex is unknown and there was no evidence of disease or cause of death.

The acidic nature and relatively low organic and moisture content of the site has precluded the preservation of bone, shell, uncarbonized plant macrofossils and insect remains. The routine soil tests confirmed the presence of an altered relic soil beneath the cairn. The correlation between the enhance magnetic signal and the high concentration of carbonized plant macrofossils in the ash spreads confirms the taphonomy of the archaeobotanical assemblage from the burning and dumping of ash from peaty turves and other incorporated plant material into the main body of the cairn. Two of the three fills within the cists displayed magnetic enhancement from the input of ashy material from the ash spreads. Therefore the ash spreads were incorporated into the body of the cairn immediately after the cist was constructed or the cist was not lidded when the deposit was made. The excavation demonstrated that the ash layer was probably cut to insert the cist. It is likely that the ash was redeposited in the cist during this process.

In general, the archaeobotanical assemblage represents a mix of material relating to the fuel source and other plant material incorporated into the fire. Many of the carbonized plant macrofossils relate to the burning of peaty turf. They include relatively large quantities of small culm bases, nodes and rhizome fragments, fibrous burnt peat and seeds and other plant components of heathers, sedges, and grasses, notably heath-grass.

The absence of significant amounts of pollen and/or other microscopic organic remains and the differing amount of microscopic organic remains and the different amounts of microscopic charcoal recording in pollen samples 1, 3 and 4 accord with the results of the thin-section analysis. The presence of organic residues in pollen sample 2 corresponds to the presence of significant amounts of relatively well preserved pollen.

The site at Olcote is multi-phase and is suspected to span from the Neolithic to the middle Bronze Age. The earliest features on the site were pits of probable Neolithic date. While it is possible that these pits were of domestic origins, the possibility that they were the remains of excarnation platforms has been explored and the link between them and the chambered cairn within the circle at Calanais has been discussed. A kerbed cairn sealed most of the pits. The cairn had two kerbs, in common with a number of other such monuments that have been excavated in the Hebrides and it is suggested the double kerbed cairn is a specifically Hebridean variant. Despite its complexity, it is suggested that the cairn was a single phase construction with, at most, one addition, a possible satellite cist of suitable size for an inhumation. The central cist contained the cremated remains of one or two teenage or younger individuals. A vessel within the cist had been disturbed and was suspected to have originally covered the cremated remains.