EHG4855 - Environmental Survey - Freswick Links, Caithness

Situated on the eastern coast of Caithness, the site is subject to very considerable erosion along the sand dune terrace fronting the sea to the east (as well as from a large rabbit colony on the landward side). Collection of weathered-out artefactual material and observations of midden deposits in the cliff-faces prompted a major pilot survey in September 1979, funded by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Scottish Development Department. The aims were to collect further material, both artefactual and environmental, on a systematic basis, and to record the degree of coastal and other erosion. Prior to this, in July 1979, one of the authors took a sample column for environmental analysis from one point on the eroding cliff-face. The results of this initial sapling and the pilot scheme are detailed below and have led to the SDD funding a major survfey and excavation programme. This is the final report of the 1979 pilot environmental survey and indicates, in advance of all the major publications anticipated from the more recent work, the preliminary environmental results and conclusions and the site's overall potential. All documentary material relating to this final report is placed in the archives of the NMRS. <1> This pilot survey is part of a wider series of investigation on Freswick Links, subsequently published in Freswick Links, Caithness: Excavation and Survey of A Norse Settlement.