Collared Urn at Snabe Quarry
Image copyright GUARD
Staff from the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) have found fragments of what appears to be a collared urn during fieldwork undertaken at Snabe Quarry near Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire. This discovery was made during a programme of trial trenching in advance of the expansion of an existing sand and gravel quarry. This evaluation was required as a condition of planning consent, the condition being attached by South Lanarkshire Council on the advice of the West of Scotland Archaeology Service.
The pottery was recovered from within a pit-like feature identified in one of the evaluation trenches. Excavation of this feature led to the recovery of prehistoric pottery, tentatively identified as of probable Bronze Age date. In addition to the pottery fragments, fire-cracked stones, a possible hammer stone and a possible worked stone were also found within the pit. The characteristics of the pottery recovered suggest a Bronze Age date is most likely. An area c 35 m by 25 m was ultimately exposed and cleaned, revealing a further 75 possible archaeological features. These will be subject to further investigation during subsequent phases of fieldwork.