Journal Entries
Archaeology in South west Scotland
Posted Jul 20, 2007
Hey folks. I was back at my local dig on Wednesday. Its an Early Bronze Age site around a wee loch, complete with a crannog and 34 burials which have been confirmed. This is my first dig, so I am removing the peat deposit from what has been the lake-botton, in order to expose the stonework which it covers. I'm still aching from the 25-30 barrowfuls of peat I shifted, but we-hey! I noticed some clay in the spoil I was removing, and it turns out that I was working on the site of a pit lined with clay, perhaps used for tanning leather, or maybe for storage. As the pits seem to be in a step-like formation, the tanning idea is more likely. It is all the more interesting in that I grew up nearby, and learned to walk on the wee lane beside the loch, and the nearset clay deposit I knew of was about 12 kilometers away.
We know the site was used subsequently by Cistercian monks for raising sheep, and that they re-used some of the stone from the site for their own purposes, but a period of 18 years persistent rain due to an erupting volcano in 1150-ish AD changed the level of the loch and part of the site would have been submerged.
One of the ladies on site found a beautiful brass fishing reel, probably from early last century at the margin of the loch. Absolutely beautifully made, and very delicate, but still robust after being lost for so long. The line has disintegrated, but all the brass parts, and rusted remains of iron features still there. Amazing find, and the last thing anyone expected!
Other workers have just exposed the start of the original causeway to the crannog in the last week, and its crazy when you think how long it has been since anyone saw it last!
This whole area was ideal for early settlers, with land never too far away when you travelled by sea, and lots of rivers providing access to the interior. There are literally hundreds of bronze and Iron Age earthworks if you study the landscape, and this is particularly visible from the sea, as I found by walking from Southerness point to Sandyhills bay en route to the dig two saturdays ago.
Im Buzzing with it!!!
Check out the site at www.sat.org.uk
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Latest reply: Jul 20, 2007
quarkafleeg
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