A cist and other material relating to prehistoric occupation has been identified during fieldwork undertaken in advance of the erection of two new houses at Ardnacross Farm in Kintyre. This material was identified during the course of an evaluation undertaken by Dr Claire Ellis of Archaeology and Micromorphology to assess the potential for the development to disturb archaeological deposits. This fieldwork was required as a condition of planning consent by Argyll and Bute Council, following advice from the West of Scotland Archaeology Service that the proposed development was located in an area rich in archaeological remains from all periods. For example, there are the remains of an Iron Age fort at Kildonald Point to the north east of the proposed development area, while to the south there are the remains of two Bronze Age burial cairns at Ardnacross.
Archaeological features and material were identified towards the NW end of the site, and it is likely that their survival in this area was due to the protection afforded by thick covering of colluvium located at the base of a terrace slope. The cist had been severely truncated, with a single end stone surviving in situ (no other stones which may have originated from the cist were observed). The cause of the truncation was ploughing, as testified by the survival of plough marks. Dr Ellis considered that these plough marks were too deep within the profile to be modern or to relate to activity from the more recent past; rather, given the cleanness of the overlying colluvium, it seems likely that the ploughing is later prehistoric in origin.
Twenty-six fragments of a broken cord decorated vessel were recovered from the upper grey brown silt of the cist. In addition, one other sherd was recovered from the underlying organic matter; this piece may be the remains of a foot similar to those associated with a vessel recently recovered from Upper Largie Quarry, Argyll. The pottery recovered from the upper fill included a portion of the base of the vessel, many body sherds and one large rim fragment. Some of the sherds have an internal soot / burnt deposit. A fire-cracked smooth cobble, five pieces of struck quartz, one with possible retouch and one a fragment of a blade, a small rounded quartz pebble and a single small fragment of burnt bone were also recovered from this feature. The recovery of a single piece of burnt bone and two fragments of a heat shattered rounded pebble indicates that the cist and / or pottery vessel may have contained cremated remains. The presence of worked quartz and a small rounded quartz pebble indicates the deliberate inclusion of grave goods.
Four fragments of coarse pottery with a cord decoration were recovered from the area some 3m to the north of the cist. Interestingly, the cord decorated sherds from the greyish brown silt are very similar to those derived from the cist vessel and it is likely that these were ripped out from the cist and re-deposited during ploughing. Adjacent to the cist was an irregular feature, the full extent of which was not ascertained during the course of the evaluation. This feature was up to 0.10 m deep and comprised two fills. The upper one contained five fragments of pottery with a thin, discontinuous linear pattern, while the lower one appeared to have partially comprised weathered ash. One possible interpretation of this feature is that it is the truncated remnants of a hearth or firepit. The pottery recovered from the possible firepit or hearth bears a different pattern to that recovered from the cist and must be derived from a separate vessel. No stratigraphic relationship was ascertained between the firepit / hearth and the cist.
To the south of this hearth or firepit, 35 round stakeholes were identified. One of these stakeholes was excavated, and was found to survive to up to 0.08m depth. These stakeholes contained mostly charcoal, while the remaining fills comprised brown silt with charcoal flecks. The cluster of stakeholes formed no definitive pattern, although one arrangement that could be discerned was three vaguely parallel curving lines, with the northernmost one completing a circle. Given the apparent severe truncation that had occurred on the site, it is probable that these stakes were wider and hence almost abutting at the original ground surface. There was no indication of the function these stakes performed, and no stratigraphic relationship was ascertained between the stakeholes, the cist and the firepit / hearth.