The Yellow Man, Rhodes Golf Links

NT58NE 8 5753 8557

(NT 5753 8557) Romano-British Pin, Pottery, etc., found (NAT)

OS 6" map (1971)

At the extreme E end of what used to be the Rhodes Golf Links there is a large rock projecting from the bank formed by the raised beach. The exposed N and NE sides of the rock shelve inwards, presenting a cave-like appearance. Heavy rain had washed down much soil from the E of, and above this rock, and the discovery of a human skull and bones led to an examination at the base of the rock. The remains of a dry-stone dyke which enclosed a space at the base of the rock implied that the site had at one time been occupied.

An ibex-headed bronze pin, now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland [NMAS] (Accession no: FC 236) ws found in a quantity of dark soil still adhering to the face of the rock, on the W of the enclosure. Dr Close-Brooks suggests that this pin is contemporary with a zoomorphic brooch found in the vicinity (see NT58NE 20), i.e. of 5th century AD date.

On examination of the soil in which the pin was found, fragments of buff-coloured pottery, animal and fish bones and shells were recovered. Below the pin level were four levels of different fireplaces. One human bone, the left upper jaw of a small child, was found.

J S Richardson 1907; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1924; J Close-Brooks 1977.

Sited to NT 5753 8557 (J S Richardson). No evidence for rock shelter as such today.

Visited by OS (JLD) 11 September 1962