EHG5724 - Evaluation - lithic scatter site, North Barr River, Loch Teacuis

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by GUARD in 2010, funded by Forestry Commission Scotland, which sought to better understand the extent and character of a Mesolithic and later prehistoric lithic scatter at North Barr River, Morvern, and in order to inform land management plans. Previous inspection of forestry planting mounds on a raised beach terrace had identified a chipped stone assemblage associated with upcast deposits containing charcoal (see EHG3274). Evaluation methods included surface collection of lithic artefacts, including quartz, from all exposed mounds on the terrace, hand excavation of ten c.1m² testpits across the terrace and excavation of two hand-dug trenches to evaluate the extent and preservation of in-situ deposits and investigate the impacts of mounding and earlier site operations on any artefacts and deposits present. <1> The evaluation results, together with analysis of all the finds from the site were subsequently published in 2019. Following detailed analysis, the lithic assemblage was found to be predominantly debitage with some microliths and scrapers. The range of raw materials including flint, Rùm bloodstone and baked mudstone highlighted wider regional networks. Other elements, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead, belong to later depositional episodes. Two mid-second millennium bc radiocarbon dates were obtained from soil associated with some lithics recovered from a mixed soil beneath colluvial deposits. The chronology of a putative stone bank or revetment is uncertain but the arrangement of stone may also date to the second millennium bc. <2>