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MHG35897 - Rockshelter and Midden - Loch a Sguirr 2

Summary

A rockshelter and midden, adjacent to another, investigated by the Scotland's First Settlers Project.

Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

Created automatically by NMRS Register Utility
User: Admin, Date: Wed 13 Oct 2004
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NG65SW 6 6084 5286
The following site was recorded between January and September 1999 as part of the Scotland's First Settlers Project. A full report has been lodged with the NMRS.
NG 6084 5286 Loch a Sgurr 2 Rock shelter. + This substantial rock shelter, cut into a vertical rock face, lies above sea cliffs. Nine test trenches were opened, with trench 1 being the only one to produce significant anthropogenic material consisting of midden material and artefacts, including one bevel-ended and pointed bone tool and 79 lithics.
Note: + = containing visible midden
B Finlayson, K Hardy and C Wickham-Jones 1999

This site was investigated by the Scotland's First Settlers Project in 1999. It was a substantial rockshelter with a large platform above the sea cliff at the north-western edge of Raasay. The shelter was cut into the vertical rock face, which had distinctive coloured bands running through it. Inside the shelter, the floor was level, with some shell visible towards the back of the cave. 8 test pits were excavated within the shelter and on the platform in front. All but 2 test pits were archaeologically sterile. These 2 test pits contained 5 flaked quartz lithics, 7 sherds of coarse ware pottery and a small assemblage of bone and shell. The rockshelter contained only a very small area of shell midden towards the back. The remainder of the cave had shallow level deposits and it appeared that the rockshelter had been repeatedly scoured out by water so that the midden material is all that survives of former occupation. The pottery and lithics were undiagnostic, but the presence of a radiocarbon determination indicating activity at some time between mid 2nd century BC to the mid 1st century AD in the adjacent smaller rockshelter (SFS 8, MHG58707) may provide a rough indication of activity in the two shelters. The complete lack of early prehistoric material in this shelter was interesting, given what was found in SFS 8, but it may well have been lost through erosion. <1>

See link below to published Scottish Archaeological Internet Report 31 for futher information.

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 6083 5286 (20m by 20m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG65SW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	PORTREE

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