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Archaeology Notes
Event ID 726813
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/726813
NX44SW 12 c. 40 42.
Five oak paddles were found close to a mass of timbers about 6' below the surface of Ravenstone Moss (Name: NX 408 427). It is thought that these timbers formed the remains of a crannog. One paddle was given to the NMAS (HU 14) in 1865.
J Stuart 1868.
Before 1866, five, or possibly six, paddles were discovered (probably during drainage operations) in Ravenstone Moss which is situated in drumlin country at an altitude of about 60m OD. They were close to a 'mass of timbers' which was identified as a probable crannog.
The published descriptions of these paddles are contradictory. Munro remarks that they were all of similar size, measuring 3' (0.9m) in length, but he variously cites their blades as measuring 1'2" (0.4m) and 10" (0.3m) in breadth, and 1" (25mm) and ?" (13mm) in thickness.
One of the paddles was donated to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, together with the finds from Dowalton Loch (nos. 29-33), and is in store at the Royal Museum of Scotland under accession number NMS HU 14. It was recorded as measuring 2'4" (0.7m) in length, of which the handle accounts for 7" (175mm); the greatest breadth is 10' (255mm) and the greatest thickness 1" (25mm).
On examination, the most obvious feature of this surviving paddle is its eccentric shape. An alternative explanation as a rudder or (less probably) a leeboard cannot be ruled out. It has apparently been made from a flat board of fine-grained and knot-free wood with rounded edges, and has become slightly warped and possibly charred in places. No distinction can be made between the ventral and dorsal surfaces.
As conserved, it measures 0.89m in length. The handle accounts for 160mm of this and measures 37mm in width by 155mm in thickness; it is squared with rounded corners in section and the end has been broken off and ground down. On one side, a pronounced reverse-curved shoulder leads into the blade; on the other, a section has been split away, giving the appearance of a slight chamfer along the unillustrated side. The surviving portion of the blade measures up to 0.25m in breadth and 15mm in thickness.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1868; J Stuart 1866; R Munro 1885; R J C Mowat 1996, visited January 1988.
