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MHG40107 - Cairn w finds, Tote

Summary

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Type and Period (2)

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Full Description

In autumn 1922 a large grass-grown cairn on foreshore at Tote was excavated by T C Lethbridge. The cairn was about 40ft in diameter and about 8ft high. In the top was a cup-shaped depression which may have been caused by robbery for wall-building, or by a secondary burial. At ground level in centre of cairn was a short cist containing upwards of 150 flint and other flakes and two rude scrapers. There was no trace of bone, although charcoal was abundant. (T C Lethbridge 1920) The secondary burial was about 1.5ft below surface of depression on top of cairn: it was composed of fine sand in which were a few fragments of a human femur and burnt bones. Associated with the burial were an iron axe (with remains of handle), a bronze penannular broach (with fragments of leather still adhering to it), a bone bead, a hone, a piece of wood, 2ins long, a great number of rusty pieces of iron attached to fragments of wood - probably the remains off a shield, but also described as boat rivets, (A O Curle M Olsen and H Shetelig 1954) and several small iron fragments. The finds are in the private possession of T C Lethbridge (S Grieg 1940).
The flints from the cist are listed as mesolithic survivals and described as a remarkable series of buchite, or vitrified shale, artifacts found in two (sic) Bronze Age cairns. They include fairly large fine blades, some retouched, a few cores, one apparently having served as a scraper, and a steeply dressed trimming-flake. An abruptly edge-blunted microlith, made on a narrow blade, very probably cut by micro-burin technique, constitutes most northerly example of kind in British Isles (A D Lacaille 1954).
T C Lethbridge 1920; S Grieg 1940; A O Curle, M Olsen and H Shetelig 1954; A D Lacaille 1954.

This cairn, situated at NG 4097 4975 a few feet above high water mark on the E side of Loch Snizort, now measures 19.0m in diameter and 1.2m in height. The central excavation is very obvious with the stones lying loose; the remainder of the cairn is turf covered.
Visited by OS (C F W) 24 April 1961.

The site is referred to in Graham-Campbell and Batey's 'Vikings in Scotland'. <1>

Finds from the secondary burial are within Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. These are listed in the catalogue under Acc. No. 1951.1058.1-22 and described as an iron axe with a fragment of wooden haft, fragments of iron rings and buckles which are probably the mountings of a shield with fragments of wood adhering and also a possible stone axehead (likely the hone referred to above). <2>

See link below to ARCH's Site of the Month feature of the site.

Sources/Archives (6)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 4096 4974 (6m by 6m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG44NW
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	SNIZORT

Finds (7)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Investigations/Events (0)

External Links (2)