Lamb’s Nursery, Dalkeith, Midlothian
The evidence for Late Neolithic settlement structures in south-east Scotland is as sparse as it is for the Middle and Early Neolithic. At Lamb’s Nursery, Dalkeith, three sets of Late Neolithic features were found, of which Structure A consists of ‘an arcing slot measuring 1.4 metres in length, up to 0.19 metres wide and 0.1 metres deep. This comprises a series of intercutting stake-holes’, with a pit within the enclosed area, but no hearth (Cook 2000, 96). Structure A was interpreted as the possible remains of a lightly-built, ‘circular’ dwelling structure, or perhaps as a wind-break. Its small size makes it unlikely that this had been a house and its ground plan does not suggest circularity.
The other groups of features consisted of post- and stake-holes and pits. Grooved Ware pottery was associated with some of these features, as were charcoal and burnt hazelnut shells. Radiocarbon dates of 4130±50 BP (2879-3574 cal BC at 95.4%, OxCal v4.4.4,AA-32604, from oak charcoal), 4070±110 BP (2897-2306 cal BC, calibrated as above, GU-8105, from bulk, mixed-species charcoal) and 4510±80 BP (3493-2926 cal BC, calibrated as above, GU-8102, from bulk, mixed-species charcoal) were obtained, the first two from contexts associated with Grooved Ware. As Copper et al (2021) have pointed out, however, these results should be interpreted with caution in view of the material used to obtain the dates.
