EHG5621 - Watching brief - road improvements Staffin Harbour and slipway

An archaeological watching brief was carried out by AOC Archaeology Group in 2022, commissioned by the Staffin Community Trust, in advance of works to improve the slipway road to Staffin harbour and development at the harbour itself in Staffin on the Isle of Skye. The work followed on from an archaeological evaluation carried out on the site (see EHG5620). The slipway road runs northeast from the A855, rounding An Corran and proceeding southeast to Staffin Harbour. The proposed improvement works included the expansion of existing passing places, road widening, and parking areas. The immediate area was rich in Mesolithic and later activity and several significant prehistoric sites were known in close proximity to the road. The archaeological results from a preceding phase of test pit evaluation (see EHG5620) had informed the locations targeted for the archaeological watching brief and were concentrated along the northwest to southeast stretch of the slipway road. The monitored works focused on the stretch of road between the Stenscholl River bridge to the An Corran headland. The works included: the excavation of a narrow 0.5m-wide trench along the roadside to widen the road; the extension of existing passing places; the addition of new passing places; and the extension of a parking area for use as a laydown area. One pit containing charcoal, possible burnt hazelnut shell and burnt bone fragments was uncovered within the road-widening trench. An assemblage of struck lithics and possible coarse stone tools was recovered from the works from both an in situ deposit below the peat / topsoil and from re-deposited material deriving from drainage ditching works. A programme of post-excavation work was recommended, and a watching brief on the dismantlement on the boat nausts remained still to be carried out. <1> See EHG6188 for the work associated with the boat nausts. Post-excavation analysis was undertaken by T B Ballin on the lithic assemblage retrieved during the fieldwork. <2> Radiocarbon dating was also carried out at SUERC on samples of charcoal and hazelnut shell. One sample of charcoal produce a date of 896calAD, and another of 4352calBC. The hazelnut shell returned a date of 5294calBC.