AB/Q/73

Excavation in 1973 by C M Brooks along the street frontage of 2-28 Queen Street recorded Mesolithic and Medieval levels, structures and finds. Building evidence included remains of wattle and daub, half timbering, timber and clay-bonded stonework dating from between the 13th and 15th centuries. One oak corner post survived to a height of 1.3m. Three pits behind these houses produced French, Yorkshire and Rhineland pottery as well as native wares and animal bones, spindle whorls, leather, textiles, bronze and iron objects. Excavation in Queen St by Colvin Greig in 1973 revealed a large 14th century midden with large quantities of animal, fowl and fish bones, leather (boots and shoes), worked antler, textiles, heather, leaves, nuts and shells as well as two bone playing-dice and two finely-decorated spindle-whorls. Slightly earlier in date than the midden were a series of interrelated pits which had been infilled with 14th century rubbish after going out of use. One of them had the timber lining of a wooden vat. These were industrial pits and may have been a late 13th/early 14th century tannery. The rubbish fill of the pits produced much the same material as the midden plus a face-masked jug. A prehistoric horizon consisting of a thin layer of soil which covered the natural sand and gravel produced a large quantity of flint flakes and pebble cores which were possibly of late Mesolithic/early Neolithic date. The finds from this site are in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. A small excavation by J Dent in 1973 between 30 and 34 Broad Street (at circa NJ 94294 06386, southeast of the midden) showed the ground here to be very disturbed, although a number of 19th century clay pipes of probable local manufacture were recovered. See also NJ90NW1382 for excavation on adjacent site in Broad Street.