Loch Tay, Tombreck

NN63NE 17 659 371.

This is probably the 'cairn known to anglers' that Gillies noted 'near the mouth of the burn at Carwhin, and right opposite those at Ardeonaig'.

W A Gillies 1938

No traces seen of the 'submerged cairn', possibly a crannog, noted by Gillies (1938) in this area.

Visited by OS 26 August 1969 and 7 December 1978.

This crannog lies 30m offshore to the E of the outlet of the Allt on Tuim Bhric burn below Tombreck Farm. It measures 22m along its greatest axis and 16m along the shortest. The highest point is 0.89m below the water surface and the bottom edge is from 1.68 to 3.81m deep. Within 1m of the deepest edge of the crannog can be seen three substantial worked timbers, two of which may be vertical piles. Many of the stones of which the mound is superficially composed are massive and may be the remains of buildings.

T N Dixon 1983

Phase 2 of the shore and underwater survey of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project took place in March 2004 . . . [concentrating] on the snorkel survey of the shallows along the shore and sampling of the crannogs in the area. The areas adjacent to the crannogs were specifically targeted, as were the crannogs themselves. Where possible, a timber sample was taken from an upright pile and a sample was taken of the associated organic matrix in which it was embedded.

The results from the crannog samples were very exciting, and have added considerably to our understanding of the people who occupied Loch Tay in the past. Morenish Crannog (NN63NW 17), in the W of the survey area, and Tombreck Crannog (NN63NE 17), towards the E, produced almost identical radiocarbon dates at AD 10±50 (GU-12125) and 0±50 BC/AD (GU-12126). The environmental samples showed that the Morenish Crannog dwellers were farmers growing six-row barley, spelt wheat and flax on the nearby shore. The Tombreck Crannog folk left burnt bone and charcoal on their site but no evidence of farming.

All of the crannogs showed that the people collected a wide range of wild fruits, including raspberries, brambles and blaeberries, from the rich landscape around them.

Sponsors: HS, HLF, NTS, SNH, Clive Booth.

N Dixon 2004

A summary of the work carried out by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology in 2004 is included in The University of Edinburgh's 50th Annual Report, 2004 (RCAHMS MS 2638).

The 2005 season of the Lawers Underwater and Shore Survey was carried out between March and April with a short second phase in August. Areas and features noted last year (Discovery and Excavation 2004, 107) were checked out and significant sections of the loch were examined by divers down to 7m. The size of the whole area is so large that it could not all be covered in the time available and more work is planned for the future. Areas of shoreline were planned using a total station.

Neolithic woodland

A particularly interesting feature was a group of about 25 piles in Area 9 to the E of Tombreck Crannog (0 BC/AD). The piles are on a ledge 3-5m wide in about 2-2.5m of water, depending on the time of year. They are large oaks, some of them upright and others sloping steeply, mostly towards the shore. Two of the timbers were sampled, one from a group near the E end and another about 100m to the W. The radiocarbon dates were between 2480-2280BC calibrated (OxCal3, GU-13025) for the eastern pile and between 3540-3370BC (OxCal3, GU-13026) for the one to the W, placing them in the Neolithic.

The tree stumps were first noted during snorkelling in 2004 by a number of different surveyors. It became clear after observations in March 2005 that the groups of timbers referred to, and described as piles, were in fact all part of the same group along a submerged strip about 160m long. The ends of the alignment have not yet been definitely established.

A rough plan has been made of the approximately 25 stumps initially noted, but it is clear that there are substantially more timbers than were first seen. There is difficulty planning the timbers accurately as there is no convenient platform for siting a total station. The initial plan was made using tapes as a baseline survey.

Two timbers close to each other were chosen for closer study. They were close to the upright that produced the Bronze Age date (GU-13025). A 1 x 2m trench was laid out enclosing these stumps and the lochbed silts were removed. In laying out the trench another timber was noted at the SW corner, which may be elm according to the wear pattern and the orange colour of the wood. The upright was eroded down to lochbed level and only became apparent when the silt overlying it was cleared to locate the corner marker. The top of the timber was almost level with the lochbed and was only covered with a fine layer of silt.

Removal of the uppermost silts showed that the two large stumps that appeared to be of hard black heartwood were complete with sapwood, and in some cases with bark where they had been protected by the lochbed silt. The sapwood in particular is very soft and would have been eroded away if these parts of the timbers had been exposed for a long period of time, so it appears that there has been no significant build-up of silt around the timbers since they were initially buried.

Most of the timbers in the whole array extend above the lochbed about 70-75cm. It is possible that the water level rose to that level initially when the trees were originally drowned and then, at some later date, rose to the existing level which is about 1m above the tops of the timbers, depending upon the time of year. However, it is possible that the loch may now periodically drop to the level of the top of the timbers when it is particularly low in summer, and that may have been sufficient to erode the timbers down to their existing level without there having been two phases of loch level change in the past.

Other timbers came to light as the lochbed silt was removed. One lying on the E side of the trench also appeared to be elm, for the same reasons as the corner timber. It is apparently a fallen branch or smaller tree that is broken at the end. Another smaller fallen timber was uncovered to the S of the large S stump. The timbers are the remains of natural woodland, and sampling of the material in which they are embedded will give important data regarding the Neolithic environment at the time.

Archive to be deposited in Perth and Kinross SMR and NMRS.

Sponsors: HS A, HLF, NTS, SNH, STUA, Loch Tay Highland Lodges, Scotia Archaeology.

N Dixon 2005