{"id":50,"date":"2019-03-28T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/?p=50"},"modified":"2019-03-28T12:25:51","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T12:25:51","slug":"initial-evaluation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/?p=50","title":{"rendered":"Initial evaluation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Amey plc and a small GUARD Archaeology team led by Warren Bailie began an archaeological evaluation of the proposed A75 Dunragit Bypass route in Dumfries and Galloway in August 2012. This work was undertaken on behalf of Transport Scotland in advance of the main construction works commencing. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1_View-east-along-the-bypass-route-to-the-south-of-Dunragit-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51\" width=\"359\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1_View-east-along-the-bypass-route-to-the-south-of-Dunragit-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1_View-east-along-the-bypass-route-to-the-south-of-Dunragit-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1_View-east-along-the-bypass-route-to-the-south-of-Dunragit-624x832.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><figcaption>View east along the bypass route to the south of Dunragit<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Archaeological evaluations are often required where there is a\npotential for unknown archaeology to be encountered. Historic Environment\nScotland and the Dumfries and Galloway Council Archaeologist considered there\nwas a potential for unknown archaeology along the route of this bypass given\nthat significant Neolithic archaeology survives at Dunragit. This known\narchaeology is represented by three scheduled monuments at the west end of the bypass\nroute. Flanking the south side of Dunragit are the cropmarks of a large Neolithic\nceremonial timber circle, which was excavated by the University of Manchester in\n1999-2002. The most prominent of the monuments at Dunragit is Droughduil Mote,\na steep-sided and flat-topped mound, long thought to be an Anglo-Norman motte\nof the 12th century. It was discovered that this was instead Neolithic and\nlikely related to the nearby ceremonial timber circle. The third scheduled\nmonument, the Drumflower complex, 500m west of Dunragit village, was again\nidentified by crop marks appearing in aerial photographs. This is a rectilinear\nenclosure defined by close-set pits and may also be Neolithic in date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3_View-of-evaluation-trenches-at-west-end-of-A75-bypass-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-92\" width=\"364\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3_View-of-evaluation-trenches-at-west-end-of-A75-bypass-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3_View-of-evaluation-trenches-at-west-end-of-A75-bypass-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3_View-of-evaluation-trenches-at-west-end-of-A75-bypass-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/3_View-of-evaluation-trenches-at-west-end-of-A75-bypass-1-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/><figcaption>View of evaluation trenches at west end of A75 Dunragit bypass<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to work starting on all major road projects, Transport\nScotland will undertake an investigation to ascertain whether there is any\narchaeological material at the location and take steps to ensure that anything\nfound is excavated and preserved where necessary. &nbsp;These investigations for the Dunragit Bypass revealed\nthat the proposed route took it through the Neolithic landscape characterised\nby the Dunragit and Drumflower complexes and Droughduil mound. The main aim of\nthe archaeological evaluation was therefore to establish the presence and\nextent of both the known and the unknown archaeology along the course of the\nroute.\n\nThe trial trench evaluation investigated a 10%\nsample of the 7.4 km long route. A total of 241 trenches were excavated by\nmachine excavator under the watchful eyes of the GUARD Archaeologists. Eleven\nkey areas of archaeological significance were uncovered.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amey plc and a small GUARD Archaeology team led by Warren Bailie began an archaeological evaluation of the proposed A75 Dunragit Bypass route in Dumfries and Galloway in August 2012. This work was undertaken on behalf of Transport Scotland in advance of the main construction works commencing. &nbsp; Archaeological evaluations are often required where there [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/DunragitBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}