Culbin Sands

NJ06SW 5 unlocated.

The Culbin area was habitable in quite early times. Lacaille attributes the immense assemblage of flint implements in museums - the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) has several collections of thousands of implements - to open air encampments of post Neolithic - Early Bronze Age food gatherers on the old land surfaces of Late Atlantic age (beginning about 850 BC) despite the presence of Tardenoisian-type microlithic forms suggestive of Mesolithic occupation.

Atkinson, however, would place the first occupation of the area in the Neolithic period, due to the abundance of leaf shaped arrowheads. He points out, too, that the Culbin area is the only one in north-east Scotland having a marked concentration of secondary flint arrowheads of 'petit-tranchet' derivative forms.

It has proved almost impossible to carry out a complete archaeological examination on a stratigraphical basis, due to the difficulty that remains of all, or nearly all ages, may be found at the same level; due to the sand erosion of the old land surfaces.

J A Steers 1937; A D Lacaille 1954; R J C Atkinson 1962

(Area NJ 010 645) "In a direct line for several hundred yards (from the sandy hillock with shell layers and the areas to the south known as 'The Armoury' in which 16th-18th century industrial remains were found (NJ06SW 4) to the edge of Buckie Loch are several bared spots of irregular size, in which a large quantity of flint implements have been found".

G F Black 1891.