At the start of 2015, emergency excavation was undertaken on behalf of NHS Highland on the site of the new, £1.5 million health centre.

Amidst time constraints and freezing winter conditions, AOC Archaeology’s new office sent out a team to the Drumnadrochit site after workers uncovered human remains in a cist during site clearance.

The discovery of this prehistoric site, situated between two rivers on the low-lying plain of Urquhart Bay off Loch Ness, was a rare find for the area where little is known about prehistoric occupation.

The cist, which contained the well-preserved remains of a crouched inhumation burial, was recorded and excavated in time for site clearance to continue on schedule. During excavation of the cist, the team identified the shallow remains of a second possible burial pit containing the fragments of a decorated Beaker pot and a rare find of a stone wrist guard.

They did not expect that! – BUt the cist burial is fenced off, excavated and the construction carries on around the archaeology.

[geo_mashup_map height=”300″ width=”700″ zoom=”8″ add_overview_control=”false” add_map_type_control=”false” map_type=”G_HYBRID_MAP” map_control=”GSmallMapControl” markers =”dot” align=”alignright”]