Inner Hebrides Archaeological Project – Tiree Mounds Geophysical and field surveys Darko Maričević, University of Reading

NM 0444 4921 Vaul
A low flat-topped mound, 12 m in diameter, is situated at the landward approach to Dùn Beag at Vaul, adjacent to the NE side of the ditched enclosure (not to be confused with much smaller mound NM04NW 10). The mound was surveyed with magnetometry, resistivity and GPR. Magnetic survey covered the widest area of three 30 x 30 m grid squares arranged in L-shaped grid with the central grid square over the mound. Resistivity and GPR covered a 20 x 20 m area centred over the mound. The three techniques produced complementary results, revealing a complex set of structural remains, which probably represent multi-period settlement and perhaps also burial activity. Magnetometry and resistivity were able to detect structures nearer the surface of the mound, while the GPR also revealed the much deeper buried remains of a sub-rectangular building, c.13 x 7m, on a NNW–SSE orientation. It is not clear if this building was free standing or partly subterranean, but the GPR results suggest that the masonry survives up to 0.5 m in height. It is highly probable that this structure, which is c.1.3 m from the surface, is prehistoric in date.

Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 2009, pp. 51–2.

Drone photogrammetry by Alan Thompson, NOSAS

See ‘Vaul Enclosure’