Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 104

NO 627673. A long barrow built of turf and gravel was revetted laterally by stone walling and flanked by small ditches; an unbroken crescentic drystone façade was found at the E end, and a mortuary structure lay eccentric to the façade and to the axis of the barrow. The primary timber phase of the mortuary structure probably antedated the barrow, but its Phase II remodelling in timber and stone was certainly an integral part of the barrow design. Phase II was associated with a cup-marked stone (the earliest on record), a plano-convex flint knife and 14C dates in the earlier half of the 3rd millennium bc. The construction of the barrow was under way throughout the life-span of the Phase II mortuary structure until the latter was covered over and an elaborate stone setting, Phase III, was built over it. Secondary burials included a short cist with cremation and beaker. A R

NT 117863. The cemetery consisted of three short cists, an urn burial and two cremation patches. One cist contained a crouched inhumation, probably female, accompanied by pig bones; a second cist showed no trace of burial though phosphate analysis tended to suggest one. The third cist held a crouched inhumation 14C-dated in 17th century bc, a Food Vessel, slug knife, strike-a-light and piece of iron ore. An Enlarged Food Vessel containing a female cremation was inverted within a small stone setting. Appended is a description of a short cist burial with Food Vessel at Keavil, Fife. A R

NS 954214. The primary fort was an Agricolan foundation, built in AD 80 or 81 and abandoned, its timber buildings dismantled, soon after AD 87. A second phase of occupation began around AD 140 when the original ditch system was modified; the end of this first Antonine period was very quickly followed by a second Antonine occupation. This time the fort was enlarged and the defences recast. Final abandonment occurred between 165 and 170 apparently as part of a planned military withdrawal. Finds included coins, metalwork, leather shoes and samian and coarse wares. Organic remains indicated a contemporary natural environment of mixed deciduous forest with encroaching heath and peat-bog. A R

Phosphate analysis has been used at a number of Scottish sites, principally to test for evidence of burials. An improved method for rapid field testing is described and the optimum spacing of samples given.