Billia croo, Stromness, Orkney, Archaeological Evaluation

ORCA was commissioned to undertake an archaeological evaluation ahead of proposed works relating to the onshore part of the Oyster 2 development. The aim was to investigate a mound identified during the archaeological walkover survey and a series of geophysical anomalies located in the field to the north that fall within the proposed pipe testing area. Two trenches were excavated. Trench A (10m x 1.6m) revealed that a geophysical anomaly corresponds to modern disturbance. An undated irregular archaeological pit-like feature was partly exposed within the south end of the trench. This corresponds to another geophysical anomaly and indicates some archaeological potential for this area. Trench B (3m x 1m) was located on a mound identified by the walkover survey and indicated that the mound was natural in origin and has no archaeological potential.