Field lynchet, North Stream Settlement, Skomer Island.

The 2016 excavation opened a small trench measuring 0.5m x 4.3m across a large prehistoric field lynchet located 74m due west of Hut Group 6 in the North Stream settlement. The lynchet was found to have developed upon a mass of stones and small boulders cleared from the field, and not to be a simple earthen bank. Despite the high number of stones within the soil matrix, no built revetment was identified.

Bracken roots were seen to penetrate to 32cm in the relatively stone-free context (202), but down as far as 42-56cms in the coarse stone matrix of context (206).The bracken penetration had carried much modern material down into the core of the lynchet, making it difficult to recover of secure charcoal deposits suitable for radiocarbon dating from flotation. No artefacts were found in the trench, but a number of soil samples were taken for the purposes of palaeoenvironmental analysis, the sampling undertaken in close cooperation with Dr Sarah Davies from Aberystwyth University. Samples for Optically Stimulated Luminescence were also taken from the northern section of the trench but the loose soil and stone matrix proved unsuitable for dating using this method.

The 2016 excavation season was curtailed in scope and duration by the effects of Storm Katie, limiting the visit to 2 days with one overnight stay on the island.

T. Driver & L. Barker, RCAHMW, 2016

References: 

Barker, L., Davis, O., Driver, T. and Johnston, R. 2012b. Puffins amidst prehistory: reinterpreting the complex landscape of Skomer Island, in: Britnell, W. J. and Silvester, R. J. Reflections on the Past, Essays in Honour of Frances Lynch. Cambrian Archaeological Association. Welshpool. 280-302.

Barker, L., Davis, O., Driver, T., and Johnston, B. 2015. Skomer Island Project [gazeteer entries], Archaeology in Wales 54, 186-190.

Barker, L., Davis, O., Driver, T. and Johnston, B. 2018. Skomer Island: The excavation of a prehistoric field lynchet associated with the North Stream settlement. Unpublished Report. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, NPRN 421796.