Archaeology Notes

Event ID 843520

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/843520

NO08NW 31 centred 0170 8855

(NO 016 885 to NO 018 885) A scatter of worked lithic material was revealed in October 2003 as a result of footpath maintenance works along the N bank of the River Dee, and eroding out of the river bank itself. The lithics lay in river silts immediately below the peat; 83 pieces of worked flint/chert (some of which show signs of exposure to heat) and 5 pieces of potentially struck quartz were collected for analysis. Their pristine condition indicates that they have not been subject to river action in the past. Fragments of charcoal were also eroding out of the silt.

The assemblage includes cores, narrow flakes and blades, and debitage flakes, chips and chunks. Only one artefact appears to have been retouched: a fragment of an end scraper formed from a narrow blade. The character of the collection indicates tool production on site, and the narrow-blade technology apparent in a large number of the lithics suggests a Mesolithic date for at least part of the assemblage. The site lies at the southern end of a key route of passage through the Cairngorm massif which connects Deeside with Speyside, and provides the first material evidence for Mesolithic activity in the heart of the Cairngorms.

Archive to be deposited in NTS SMR.

Sponsor: NTS.

S M Fraser 2003.