EHG6352 - Excavation - community project, Greeanan, Strath Brora

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by GUARD Archaeology in 2022, commissioned by N Lindsay on behalf of the Clyne Heritage Society, on parts of an abandoned farmstead at Greeanan, Strath Brora, Brora, Sutherland. The investigations involved members of the Clyne Heritage Society, volunteers from the local community and archaeology students from the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh, including overseas students from America and China. The project involved the hand excavation of a series of eight trenches across parts of the farmstead buildings’ footprints, an enclosure wall and a track approaching the farm steading from the north-west. Walls, floor surfaces and hearths were found forming parts of four buildings and cobbled or paved areas outside the buildings were also recorded. The investigations provided an insight into the working of an eighteenth-century farm steading, albeit perhaps not a typical farm steading from this period. No evidence of occupation earlier than the eighteenth-century steading was found on the site during the course of the work, although the excavated trenches were specifically targeting the extant structures. A metal detecting survey was undertaken across the site and a varied assemblage of metal artefacts along with ceramic, faunal and glass finds was recovered during the course of the excavation. <1>