Archaeological Evaluation at St Mary's Place, St Andrews

The footprint of the proposed dwelling formed the area of the excavation and covered an area 13.40m east-west by 7.50m north-south. The excavation area was opened under constant archaeological supervision using a Doosan DX27x 3-tonne mechanical excavator with rubber tracks and fitted with a toothless ditching bucket. Excavation continued to the uppermost archaeological horizon. Where safe to do so, thereafter all excavation work was undertaken by hand. Care was taken to ensure that the machining did not impact on any shallow archaeological remains. All archaeological features were recorded using RHA pro-forma record sheets. Sections were recorded at appropriate scales and digital photographs were taken of the excavation area, relevant features, and deposits. Natural geology was reached across the excavation area, this was sealed by a thick deposit of developed soil resembling garden soils, and the overlying deposits recorded principally represented post-medieval to modern activity. The results of the excavation confirmed the presence of archaeological features and deposits surviving within the proposed development area which had initially been recorded during the previous archaeological evaluation. The archaeological features consisted of a possible pit; from which two sherds of pottery were recovered from the fill and a linear feature aligned north south across the excavation area and suggested to represent a former foundation trench that had been subject to disturbance and robbing for stone.