Excavation of a Neolithic settlement and ritual site at Beckton, Lockerbie

Excavation of a Neolithic site at Beckton Farm, Lockerbie (NCR: NY 1305 8245), was carried out in advance of work on the M6 motorway extension and was funded by the National Roads Directorate of the Scottish Office Development Department (Roads). The site, initially identified through the recovery of lithics and pottery from the ploughsoil, consisted of several structures, possibly small houses, and various pits and post-holes. Finds included a small assemblage of Grooved Ware which had been deposited in pits. This material, and the presence of cremated human bone in one of the Grooved Ware pits probably represents ritual activity on the site. A series of six radiocarbon dates was obtained, suggesting a sequence of activity stretching from the mid-fourth to the mid-third millennium BC. This paper is published with the aid of a grant from Historic Scotland