Excavation

Date 21 September 2012

Event ID 993409

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993409

NB 1003 3633 On 21 September 2012, bulk samples were taken from an unidentified shell midden eroding from the machair covered headland, immediately W of Tràigh na Beirigh. The site was exposed as a result of renewed coastal erosion and identified following survey c50m along the coast from the excavation of a Late Mesolithic, open-area shell midden at Tràigh na Beirigh (DES 2011,194–5).

The site was sampled as the basal deposits of the midden grade into an early to mid-Holocene soil, a stratigraphic sequence comparable to Tràigh na Beirigh. A 1.3m section was cleaned to expose the deposits along the eroding edge, however it was evident the deposits continue for a significant stretch along the headland, potentially over 10m in section and over 0.4m in depth. The site was comprised of an old ground surface overlain by a shell-rich midden deposit. The midden was covered by a layer of stones that seemed to be deliberately laid and subsequently infilled by interface deposits with the substantial machair sequence covering the site. The lowest deposits were heavily concreted by post-depositional carbonate deposits, as a result of groundwater outflow under the machair. It is suggested that the site represents an eroding part of a Late Mesolithic landscape, containing both this site and the adjacent shell midden, which is overlain by the machair on the E slopes of the headland.

The section was drawn, photographed and geo-referenced using GPS, before bulk samples were taken for laboratory analysis. Initial processing of the samples has indicated the deposits contain struck quartz, burnt and unburned fish and mammal bones, shellfish, crustacean, charred hazelnut shells and charcoal. Three small fragments of heavily-abraded pottery were recovered from the upper interface deposits with the overlying machair. Radiocarbon dates will be obtained following the submission of suitable dating material to establish the chronology of the site.

Archive: To be decided

Funder: National Science Foundation of America, Historic Scotland and Durham University

MJ Church, RR Bishop, E Blake, C Nesbitt, A Perri, S Piper, PA Rowley-Conwy, L Snape-Kennedy, J Walker - Durham University, 2012

(Source: DES)