Excavation

Date August 2010

Event ID 884669

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/884669

NF 975 912

A small-scale excavation (1 x 5m) was undertaken in August 2010 of Mesolithic layers exposed by coastal erosion. Previous fieldwork at the site in 2001 had revealed the first radiocarbon dated Mesolithic deposits in the Western Isles beneath the later Neolithic and Beaker settlement. The extent of coastal erosion was monitored by undertaking an EDM survey of the eroding edge in relation to the existing Neolithic and Beaker earthworks and Mesolithic layers. This survey indicated that the exposed Mesolithic deposits had eroded by about 1m since 2001, but that a greater area of the Neolithic and later remains overlying the Mesolithic deposits had been completely destroyed by coastal erosion.

The excavated area of the Mesolithic deposit was 100% sampled and flotation for plant and animal remains was undertaken. No archaeological features were detected, but a sizable assemblage of Mesolithic lithics, charcoal, carbonised

plant macrofossils and animal bones was uncovered. It is proposed that this layer is a buried land surface that incorporates a palimpsest of disturbed and bioturbated hearth deposits containing fuel remnants and food waste.

Achive: To be decided

Funder: National Science Foundation of America, University of

Durham and the AHRC

R R Bishop, M J Church and P A Rowley-Conwy 2010