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MHG11663 - Various Finds and Midden - Littleferry Links

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

NH89NW 2 814 966.

(Area: NH 814 966) Flint Implements in large numbers, Rude Pottery, Iron Slag & Scoriae, Sheel Mounds, Stone Hammers and Sculptured Stones of Pictish Period found here (NAT)
OS 6" map, Sutherland, 2nd ed., (1907)

Near the Meikle and Little Ferries many shell-mounds were observed about 20ft from shore. They were from 20ft to 100ft in diameter, heavily capped with grass-covered sand, and seldom more than 30ins thick (Tait 1871).
From sections exposed, artifacts of flint, quartz, and other stone were taken, and these are now in the NMAS. They are atypical and belong to a poor industry of utilised flakes and pieces with few crudely retouched forms. The situation of the refuse, which was composed of shells of the ordinary food molluscs and bones of wild animals, suggests an equivalent of culture of western Obanian strand-loopers. A well-made faceted flint implement, described as a spear-head, from one of these shell-heaps, may point to contact with the cairn-builders (Lacaille 1954). Four fragments of Pictish symbol stones have been found in this area in 1872, 1874 and 1880. All are in Dunrobin Museum (Acc Nos: 1872.3 and 4, 1874.3, 1880.10).
J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; RCAHMS 1911; L Tait 1870; 1871; A D Lacaille 1954. <1>-<4>

The stones described by authorities 3 and 4 are in Dunrobin Museum. No further finds were made in the area, it now being planted with conifers. Visited by OS (W D J) 4 May 1964.

(Name: NH 814 967) Mesolithic Flint Implements and Pictish Symbol Stones found (NAT)
OS 1:10,000 map, (1971)

Artifacts from this site which are in Dunrobin Museum comprise: Acc No - 1870.1: Butt end of a stone axe, donated by Rev G Gordon, Birnie; 1872.1: sherd of neolithic pottery; 1891.1: sherd; 1891.2: piece of slag found near Loch Unes, donated by Dr A Sutherland, Invergordon; X 10: leaf-shaped arrowheads; X 11: hollow-based flint arrowheads (probably from Ferry Links); X 14-19, X 22-3, X 34-5: flints, scrapers, knives, fabricators, rod, blade, flakes, points; X 20-21: Me type cores of flint; X 33: four microlithic type blades of flint; X 73: whetstone; X 82: sherds; X 86: chip of stone axe (probably from Langdale); X 12: fifteen barbed and tanged arrowheads, mainly from Ferry Links.
Information from TS of Catalogue of Dunrobin Museum, by A S Henshall.

No change to the previous reports.
Visited by OS (N K B) 5 December 1980.

Four Class I symbol stones showing :
Little Ferry Links 1 - part of a rectangle.
Little Ferry Links 2 - horseshoe and rod end.
Little Ferry Links 3 - a triple disc
Little Ferry Links 4 & 4a (two fragments of the same stone) : crescent and V-rod over ? Part of a mirror.
A.Mack 1997 pp.127 & 110 <5>

See MHG25224, 25225 and 11661 for findspots from this 'midden', including fragments of Pictish symbol stones. <6>

Photographs of the some of the lithics from this site, on display in Dunrobin Museum, were submitted to the HER by participants in a Community Timelines course, run by ARCH. <7>

Much material from Littleferry was noted during an inventory of Dunrobin Castle Museum's collection in 2019 by ARCH. This included at least 40 leaf shaped arrowheads, 12 barbed and tanged arrowheads, 5 barbed and tanged arrowheads with replica wooden shafts, a leaf arrowhead, a stone chip from an axehead said to be from Langdale (X86), butt end of a stone axehead (1870.1), 5 flint blades, 34 scrapers and other tools, prehistoric pottery sherds, a neolithic pot sherd (1872.1), a perforated weight, stone pot lid, perforated stone, possible medieval pot sherds, whetstones (X73), a qunatity of flint waste . This material is on display in case 30 shelf D, case 27 shelf B, case 29 shelf D, case 31 shelf D. This material was not individually checked. <8>

See MHG11651 for finds from Little Ferry Links in the NMS.

Sources/Archives (9)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 8139 9660 (14m by 14m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH89NW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	GOLSPIE

Finds (11)

Related Monuments/Buildings (3)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (1)