Archaeologists excavating the prehistoric monument known locally as the “Witch’s Grave” on South Uist have uncovered Neolithic pottery, flint tools and new evidence that could shed light on the construction and later use of the ancient burial site.
The excavation is being carried out by researchers working alongside the Uist Community Archaeology Group as part of the Scotland’s Earliest Megalithic Monuments Project. The project is supported by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland’s Audrey Henshall Legacy Award and Historic Environment Scotland.
The Witch’s Grave, at Leaval, is the surviving stone cist of a Neolithic chambered cairn dating to around 4000 BC. Formed by four upright stone slabs, the monument is thought to have been built approximately 6,000 years ago as a burial chamber for the dead.
Excavations began with the careful removal of turf from a trench adjacent to the chamber, quickly revealing stones belonging to the cairn that once surrounded the burial monument. Throughout the excavation, Uist Community Archaeology Group chair Simon Davies has produced daily 3D models documenting the site’s progress.
The first significant archaeological discoveries came on the second day of excavation. While archaeologists recovered several iron nails believed to date from earlier investigations undertaken during the 1990s, a far more important find emerged after a second trench was opened within the chamber itself.
Shortly after removing the turf, the team uncovered a fragment of prehistoric pottery positioned beside a cluster of small stones between two of the chamber’s large upright slabs, providing fresh evidence of Neolithic activity within the monument.
As excavations continued, archaeologists began recovering flint tools and manufacturing flakes from across the site, along with additional pottery fragments. The work also revealed what may be the line of a Bronze Age enclosure running east to west across the cairn, supporting evidence identified during previous surveys and excavations that the monument continued to influence the landscape long after its construction.
On the fourth day, attention focused on an enigmatic circular feature discovered within the chamber. Archaeologists say it could represent a posthole from an earlier structure predating the cairn, evidence relating to the construction of the chamber itself, or alternatively a pit left behind by past attempts to rob the monument.
To help determine the feature’s function, researchers collected phosphate samples for scientific analysis, which may reveal traces of organic material no longer visible in the archaeological record. Finds from the chamber remain relatively sparse, consisting primarily of a small number of worked flints and pieces of quartz.
Meanwhile, excavation outside the chamber reached what appears to be an ancient ground surface preserved beneath the cairn stones. Archaeologists are also investigating one of the monument’s western chamber stones in an effort to better understand how the Neolithic builders constructed the burial chamber.
The excavation forms part of ongoing efforts to investigate Scotland’s earliest megalithic monuments and improve understanding of the communities who built them more than six millennia ago.
Header Image Credit : Uist Community Archaeology Group
Sources : Archaeology Scotland
