Dighty Valley - Archaeology Data Service

AYRSHIRE
ALLOWAY; the Cambusdoon cairn From Mr E. W. MacKie
NS/331185. On March 13th the round cairn at Alloway, 2
miles south of Ayr, was removed by a mechanical grab to make
way for the construction of a house. Through the courtesy of the
contractors I was able, in company with Mr James Forsyth of the
Carnegie Library, Ayr, to direct the operations of the machine so
that the mound was removed systematically. The cairn was artificial
with a core of water-worn stones and small boulders but no traces
of a burial were found in or under it. The grab removed the first
six inches of the underlying subsoil but no trace of a burial pit,
sherds or the slabs of a cist were found.
The cairn was contour-planned a few days earlier. It is popularly
associated with lines in Burns 1 poem " Tam o' Shanter."
From Miss Anne S. Robertson
In September a mechanical excavator struck the remains of a
small stone cist whose position appears to have been beyond the
edge of the cairn (which by then had been completely removed).
The stones of the cist had been much disturbed but one which may
have been the capstone was at least 3£ ft. by about 2 ft. Two other
stones may have marked the west end of the cist.
In the adjacent earth there were tiny fragments of bone, mixed
with some modern wood shavings. The evident disturbance and
confusion of the remains renders fruitless any speculation about
the character and date of the cist.
BANKHEAD, DAHVFL From T, A. Hendry.
NS/573388. A further brief season's excavation was carried
out at Bankhead ' fort ' in May, 1963, by members of a University
of Glasgow Extra Mural Class in Archaeology (Kilmarnock).
The timber structure located last year (Discovery and Excavation,
1962, p.23) appears to have been a roughly circular wooden
hut, diameter 40 ft., occupying most of the eastern half of the site.
"The outer wall-posts had been set in a continuous trench, about 1 ft.
in width and depth. These posts had been held in position by stones
of various sizes packed down along the sides of the trench. Postholes
within the hut area presumably held roof supports. Much of
this area is interrupted by modern cattle burials.
This large hut partly overlies traces of what may be an earlier
hut, diameter 30 ft., built in the western half of the site. Methods
and details of construction were similar. The finds, all associated
with the larger hut and including fragments of iron and pottery
(one fragment of a Drag. 38 flanged bowl) and part of the upper
stone of a rotary quern, suggest a Second Century A.D. occupation
for the site.
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