Archaeology Notes

Event ID 709856

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/709856

NH55NE 3 c. 55 57.

A dug-out canoe, 16 feet long, 2-3 feet wide and 2 feet deep, revealed by the accidental change of the course of the River Conon opposite Dingwall,(in 1874) was presented to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on 12th December 1881 by William Bruce, M.D., Dingwall, through Sir Robert Christison.

PSAS 1882.

No further information was found regarding this canoe or its find-spot during field investigation.

Visited by OS (W D J) 17 April 1963.

(Location cited in either Dingwall or Urquhart and Logie Wester parishes). In 1874 erosion revealed a logboat in the bank of the River Conon 'opposite Dingwall' and at a point which was possibly near the upper limit of tidal flow. It lay in silt at a depth of about 2.5m below the surface of a gravel bank.

The boat was of 'oak' and measured 16' 3" (5.0m) in length over all, 2' (0.6m) in beam 'at the bow' and 2' (0.6m) in 'depth of the side'. The figure of 3' (0.9m) that is cited for the beam at the 'stem' probably refers to the stern. On the basis of the recorded measurements and assuming the full height of the sides to have been found, the slenderness coefficient of this boat was 5.4 and the beam/draught coefficient was 1.5. The displacement under standard conditions was about 1.6 cubic metres. These figures indicate that this was a medium-sized boat of non-specialist type worked from a whole-sectioned log.

The boat was subsequently donated to the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (which was later incorporated into the collections of the Royal Museum of Scotland). It cannot now be identified in the collections.

R J C Mowat 1996.

Log boat findspot - not located.

CFA/MORA Coastal Assessment Survey 1998.