Bronze-Age Cremation Cemetery at Bridge of Awe
An archaeological evaluation undertaken by Dr Clare Ellis of Argyll Archaeology has identified a possible dispersed cremation cemetery at Crunachy Farm, Bridge of Awe. This evalauation, which was undertaken in advance of a proposed residential development, was requested by Argyll and Bute Council on the advice of the West of Scotland Archaeology Service.
A range of archaeological features were identified from across the proposed development area. These included a number of sub-circular pits typically with a charcoal rich core; elongated pits with charcoal, ash, mixed silt and charcoal and sometimes burnt bone; smears of ash, charcoal, fire-cracked stone and sometimes burnt bone; other smaller pits or postholes; and two narrow silt-filled ditches and a larger possible ditch terminal. These features appeared to be concentrated on a terrace above the flood plain of the River Awe.
One of the sub-circular pits was half-sectioned during the course of the evaluation. The centre of the pit was filled with pure charcoal, with a very sharp edge between the charcoal and the surrounding yellow silt. This suggested that either the charcoal had been contained within some form of organic bag around which the silt had been packed, or the silt had been packed and smoothed around the cut of the pit forming a bowl into which the charcoal deposit had been place. Two pottery sherds were recovered from the silt surrounding the charcoal, though these were well packed within the silt, and there was no indication that a pottery vessel had once separated the charcoal from the silt. It seems unlikely therefore that the pit contained a whole urn, inverted or not. However, the presence of burnt bone within some of the charcoal cores, coupled with the presence of heat affected and/or fire-cracked stones strongly indicates that the deposits are the ashy residue of human cremations which have been gathered up and deliberately buried within pits.
Although none of the elongated pits were excavated during the evaluation, visual examination of the surface deposits indicated that they contained a high proportion of ash, charcoal and silt, and some contained burnt bone fragments and heat affected, fire-cracked stones. These elongated pits may also be a variant of the cremation pit, although given their elongated form another possible explanation is that they are the location of actual funerary pyres.
Two thin linear ditches were also identified. One initial interpretation is that these could be part of an enclosing ring-ditch, which may have been present around at least some of the pit cremations.
The archaeological features identified during the course of the evaluation all appear to be prehistoric in origin, and given the character of the pit cremations and the recovery of coarse hand constructed pottery and flint, it is probable that the features largely date from the Bronze Age. A large number of cremation cemeteries are documented in Scotland, although the vast majority are enclosed by ring-ditches and a few are enclosed by earthen and/or stone banks. The only documented site in Argyll is at Loch Lomond where in 2004 an excavation was carried out of an enclosed cremation cemetery in which two pits contained cremated remains and another 4 pits contained inverted urns with which cremation remains had been placed. One unenclosed site that appears to be similar in lateral extent to Crunachy Farm is Brackmont Mill, North Fife where excavation in the 1930s identified a concentration of 16 cremation pits that covered an area some 82m by 32 m, although in the 1940s 5 other burial sites were discovered outwith this area. Further excavation in the 1960s produced 49 cremations, 40 of which were urn burials.