Excavations at the Peel of Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, 1975-9

Five seasons of excavation on this earthwork castle provided fragmentary information about the initial modification and occupation of a natural drumlin, with associated wet ditch, outer bank and stone causeway. In its earliest phase the site was associated with the Durward family. Ceramic and numismatic evidence indicates an initial occupation span from the mid 13C to the early 14C. Subsequently the site was reoccupied in the late 15C and a 'hall house' known as Ha'ton House was built, going out of use in the 18C. A wall enclosing the summit of the mound was shown to date from a period of agricultural improvement in the 1780s. (Original abstract - amended)