Monument record MHG56080 - Late Iron Age - Pictish metal-working - Culduthel, Inverness

Evidence for occupation related to metal working in the Late Iron Age and/or pictish period was exposed and recorded at Culduthel, Inverness, during an evaluation in 2005 and excavation in 2007 by Headland Archaeology. The remains, a metalled surface, a few pits containing metalworking debris and some slag present in the upper fills of an infilled palaeochannel on the east side of the site, were relatively small scale and not in workshops. The metalled surface lay isolated on the west side of the site but may have been associated with industrial activity outside the excavation boundary. A sample from an upper deposit of this feature returned a radio-carbon date of AD570-655. Eleven iron objects and a copper alloy nail-headed pin were recovered from this deposit. The vitrified remains from the site indicate that both smelting and smithing of iron was taking place in the vicinity, however there was no evidence for in situ iron working. The most significant deposit of diagnostic material was recovered from pit 036; its upper fill was dated to AD 770-990. <1> <2> <3>