{"id":628,"date":"2024-01-24T18:18:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T18:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/?p=628"},"modified":"2024-02-14T11:55:55","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T11:55:55","slug":"bronze-age-burnt-mounds-in-annan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/?p=628","title":{"rendered":"Bronze Age burnt mounds in Annan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Location of Hallmeadow burnt mounds at Annan\u00a0\u00a9 GUARD Archaeology Ltd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Recently published research by GUARD Archaeology reveals the discovery of a pair of Bronze Age burnt mounds over four thousand years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery was made during archaeological works in advance of the construction of housing at Hallmeadow in Annan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Hallmeadow burnt mounds comprised two large accumulations of burnt stones and charcoal surrounding large fire pits,\u2019 said GUARD Archaeologist Kenneth Green, who led the excavation. \u2018These were dated to around 2000 BC during the early Bronze Age.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burnt stones such as found at Hallmeadow were the waste product of a method of boiling water, in which stones were heated and then dropped into a trough filled with water. Over 1900 burnt mounds are known in Scotland, with a distinct concentration in Dumfries and Galloway, and it is not uncommon to find several burnt mounds in relatively close proximity to each other, suggesting that groups of people returned to the same sites.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The eastern burnt mound during excavation \u00a9 GUARD Archaeology Ltd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cooking fish and meat may have been the purpose of many burnt mounds. Experiments have demonstrated that a joint of meat wrapped in leaves can be cooked over several hours, with heated stones being continually fed into the tank of water to keep it boiling. However, the archaeologists found no evidence for a permanent settlement at Hallmeadow suggesting that this was no ordinary Bronze Age site.<\/p>\n\n\n

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View of the layers of burnt material and the trough in the eastern burnt mound\u00a0\u00a9 GUARD Archaeology Ltd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018Hallmeadow\u2019s proximity to the Solway Firth, gives the site easy coastal access to south-west Scotland, western England, Ireland and the Isle of Man,\u2019 said Kenneth Green. \u2018Hallmeadow may have been used as a temporary stopping-point or seasonal camping area as people made longer journeys around the Irish Sea.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of flint tools were recovered during the excavation including a fragment of Arran pitchstone and a blade-scraper dating to the Neolithic period (4000-2200 BC), suggesting earlier occupation of the site. Even earlier evidence still was discovered by the GUARD Archaeologists. A hazelnut shell found in the lowest layer of the site was radiocarbon dated to between 4452 and 4264 BC, during the Mesolithic period, when some of the earliest hunter-gatherer peoples began to settle in south-west Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plan of both burnt mounds \u00a9 GUARD Archaeology Ltd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hallmeadow was also an important place during the Neolithic period. It may be that it had been established as a useful stopping off place long before the burnt mounds were built,\u2019 said Kenneth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The archaeological work at Hallmeadow in Annan was undertaken in 2020 on behalf of Robert Potter & Partners LLP and Ashleigh Building to meet a condition of planning consent recommended by Dumfries and Galloway Council\u2019s Archaeologist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burnt Mounds at Annan<\/em> by Kenneth Green is published in the Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 96<\/em><\/a>, available in local libraries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently published research by GUARD Archaeology reveals the discovery of a pair of Bronze Age burnt mounds over four thousand years old. The discovery was made during archaeological works in advance of the construction of housing at Hallmeadow in Annan.  \u2018The Hallmeadow burnt mounds comprised two large accumulations of burnt stones and charcoal surrounding large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guard-archaeology.co.uk\/GALNews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}