Prior to the construction of a mezzanine within the church hall, two trenches, measuring 2.1m by 1m, were excavated to the base of the sleeper walls. The trenches were hand-excavated, and the spoil was left, at a safe distance from the trench edge, underneath the floorboards. The methodology had to be updated when solid masonry was encountered in Trench 1. Trench 2 was excavated to the required depth, but a 0.4m square was left against the north sleeper wall for access. Addyman Archaeology undertook an archaeological excavation at Steeple Church, Dundee in advance of the construction of a mezzanine. The site is a Category A Listed Building (LB25374), also known as St Clement's and part of the City Churches with St Mary's Tower. Previous excavation at the site during renovation works were undertaken by Addyman Archaeology in 2011 and revealed an inhumation with a quantity of charnel from at least a further two individuals (Addyman Archaeology 2011). Furthermore, excavation of a large, N-S aligned foundation trench across the east end of the sanctuary uncovered 15 in situ skeletons in 2012 (Addyman Archaeology 2012). During the present works, two 2.1m by 1m trenches were hand-excavated prior to the construction of concrete pads. Trench 1 revealed masonry walls at 0.3m deep. Trench 2 was excavated to the base of the sleeper walls and revealed a series of sloping deposits of backfill between the sleeper walls. One of these deposits appeared to be cemetery soil and it contained 30 small fragments of comingled human remains.
Antoine Ruchonnet (Sun,) studied this question.