Things are going well as we aproach the end of the first week. Both trenches are now open, and we have finds of flint, quartz and Aran pitchstone. Part of the monument's kerb in trench B looks really good (photos to follow in a day or two) and debate is raging about what we have!

Geophysics has also been busy, but the results of that are still waiting to be downloaded, so watch this space.

We have had a few visitors to the site too, which is very pleasing to see. Tomorrow (Friday) is a big day for the PR exercise, as we have two school visits and a public open day at the site until 7 p.m. It'll be interesting to see who turns up.

Day three has dawned on us bright and sunny, which comes as something of a relief and a chance to dry wet boots as we work! Up until now we have been preparing the site. We have been surveying, laying out grids, cutting grass (by hand, with a range of instruments ranging from blunt shears to kitchen scissors- the joys of upland archaeology!) and deturfing. Next we will begin to remove the topsoil and reveal the structure of the tomb. Already we have found a nice flint scraper, and we are just hoping will we find more!
We are also delighted to be able to report we will be in this week's Campbeltown Courier.

We also have a few public events organised. There are open days this Friday (26th, until 7 p.m. so people have a chance to come and see us after work) and also on Sunday 12th July (10-4 p.m.) and we will be presenting a public lecture to announce our findings at the Argyll Arms, Campbeltown on Wednesday 15th July, starting at 8 p.m. In addition to this we have a few school visits organised, and hope to have some more events if we can find suitable venues. They will be announced both here and on the bulletin board in Campbeltown library as and when they become reality.

That's all for now, but this really is where the interesting digging starts, so fingers crossed that in the next couple of days we'll have loads of interesting finds to talk about!

Welcome

Welcome to the Southern Kintyre Project blog.

The project is an archaeological investigation into the prehistory of Southern Kintyre run jointly by the Universities of Central Lancashire and Bangor, and has been running since 2005. The aim of the project is to investigate the prehistory of this fascinating area, and also to look for evidence of links across the sea to Ireland in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

This year we will be excavating a Neolithic burial monument, which is the largest and most exciting excavation yet undertaken by the project.

We will be using this blog to report regular updates of our progress on the dig, and also to advertise various public events we are organising to accompany our research, such as open days at the excavation, public lectures and so forth. Information will also be available from our bulletin board located in Campbeltown Library.

We are all very excited about this years excavations, and look forward to sharing our discoveries with the people of Kintyre!