Field Visit
Date July 2022
Event ID 1200206
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1200206
Loch na Muilne, located just south of the Kildonan Museum on South Uist, features an artificial islet in the northwest corner, connected to the shore by a 37m causeway. The islet, measuring approximately 17m by 20m and rising 1.8m above the current loch surface, is built of portable stones and sits on a coarse-grained sediment bed with fine-grained sediment on its northern side.
Snorkel and diver surveys revealed numerous Neolithic pottery sherds, including Hebridean Ware and Unstan-type vessels. Additional finds included fragments of roundwood and fibrous wood material, possibly organic matting, which could suggest timber use in the islet's construction. A submerged linear stone formation extending 9m from the islet's southeast quadrant was also noted and could be a later modification. While the surface of the islet also appears to show signs of later activity, possibly associated with the Iron Age, further investigation is required to resolve the chronology of this site.
Side scan sonar survey of the entire loch revealed that the island sits on a shallow bed, around 70 cm in depth and gradually deepens to over 25m to the east and southeast. Its proximity to a deepening area in the loch reflects a trend noted at other Neolithic crannogs. Given the abundance of materials and apparent activity at the site, further environmental work and non-invasive surveys are recommended to better understand the site's construction and use.
Information from Islands of Stone Project, July 2022
