from yesterdays Clydebank Post
http://www.clydebankpost.co.uk/news/thi ... age-site-/AN archaeological excavation is to be carried out on the land for the proposed Davie Cooper Centre as it is on the site of an ancient Bronze Age burial ground.
The site — which is very well-known in archaeological circles — was discovered in the 1930s when it was Knappers Quarry, and any part of that area which is being developed must first be checked for artefacts.
The plans for the Great Western Road centre, which is a special needs daycare and respite facility in memory of the great Bankies player, will come before the Planning Committee on September 7.
Hugh McBrien, from the West of Scotland Archaeologist Service, will be in charge of the excavations taking place there.
Between 2700 and 700BC, the area is believed to have been an important ritual site for Bronze Age inhabitants.
Hugh said: “In the 1930s there weren’t many professional archaeologists.
“There was also very little control over development and archaeologists had to go cap in hand to the landowner.
“Archaeologists went in as the top soil was being scraped away and found a whole range of burial sites and possible timber sites that suggested ritual use of the site for hundreds, possibly thousands of years.
“If you look at the site, even with all the modern buildings there, you can see that it’s a flat, sandy terrace surrounded by little bits of high ground, one of which Drumchapel sits on now, and another with the multi-storey flats on the south side of Great Western Road."
Hugh does not expect to find anything new on the Davie Cooper site, but due to the amateur nature of excavations in the past, uncertainty about the size of the Bronze Age site and movements caused by quarrying, he does not completely rule it out.
It is recommended that the plans for the Davie Cooper Centre are approved, subject to the excavation and other conditions.