Beaker Burial at Elvanfoot
Archaeological works were carried out by CFA Archaeology Ltd near Elvanfoot between January and April 2007 as part of the planning conditions associated with the construction of a proposed new electrical substation. This condition was attached by South Lanarkshire Council on the advice of the West of Scotland Archaeology Service. The substation will be situated in a possible Bronze Age cairnfield, which had previously been identified during a field survey carried out by CFA. The site consisted of eight cairns, two field banks and one structure. All these features were initially evaluated by hand before being completely removed by JCB to check for any features cut into the subsoil beneath.
One of the cairns, shown in the photograph above, was irregular in shape, measuring 7.75m east to west by 5.5m north to south and stood to a height of 0.6m. It had been constructed from loosely packed angular to sub-angular stones and sat directly on the subsoil. Beneath the cairn a shallow sub-rectangular pit (below) was identified. The pit measured 1.6m east to west by 1m north to south by 0.33m deep. In the north east corner of the pit, a prehistoric pottery vessel was uncovered. The pottery is of a type known as 'beaker pottery', which dates to the Early Bronze Age and is often found in a funerary context. It is thought that the pit would have contained a crouched inhumation with the beaker vessel placed near the head, but no trace of human remains was identified. A dark grey-brown organic layer identified at the base of the pit was retained for analysis.
Although the vessel was not complete, some large sherds measuring up to 10cm by 9cm across were recovered. The vessel had the inverted bell shaped profile that is diagnostic of beaker pottery and was decorated with chevrons and with horizontal and vertical incised lines running round the circumference.
No further prehistoric material was identified under any of the other features.