Loch Achilty in Easter Ross set to host underwater excavation to unveil mysteries of medieval crannog

An underwater excavation at an Easter Ross loch aims to fill gaps in a “critically important part of Scotland’s settlement history”.

The research is set to take place at Loch Achilty in September at a crannog, an ancient dwelling on one of the loch’s artifical islands.

Crannogs are dwellings found on artificial islands over water and were often composed of brush, stone or timber mounds. They are thought to have been first built around 4000 BC in the Neolithic period and continued to be constructed into the 17th century.

The North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) and Nautical Archaeology Society joint project hopes to ascertain the chronology of the Loch Achilty site from first construction to abandonment.

Thanks to the £2,415 grant, they will record the underwater features of the crannog to learn more about the construction method and signs of occupation, find additional timbers for radiocarbon dating and, if suitable, dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) to allow for more precise dating.

They will also look for organic material such as charcoal to be sampled for paleoenvironmental analysis, which could reveal more about the environment around the loch centuries ago.

Richard Guest, Project Lead and amateur archaeologist with NOSAS, said: “At the moment, we have dates spanning almost 400 years for a structure on the island.

“Hopefully the excavation of more timbers will lead to more dates and therefore a sequence for how the crannog was used - more specific dates of sequences could help to provide the story of who built the crannog and who used it.”

The excavation is being funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and will be carried out by volunteers.

Dr Helen Spencer FSAScot, Head of Research at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, said:

“Crannogs contain some of the best-preserved evidence for life in the past in Scotland and are a critically important part of our settlement history which is one of the reasons why we were so excited about this application.

“We are especially grateful to our thousands of Fellows across the globe, whose subscription fees enable us to distribute these grants each year. If you’d also like to support our work, please consider becoming a Fellow to help cover the cost of high-quality research into Scotland’s past”.

Recent sampling and testing of underwater timbers already recovered from the site by NOSAS has revealed that part of the crannog was built using an oak timber dated to AD 1046 – 1221, and another dated to AD 1323 – 1421.

These dates suggest the crannog was constructed or modified in the medieval period; however, it’s unclear if it was originally constructed earlier. It is currently unknown whether the crannog was used for centuries or just a short time, if it was reused, or when it was finally abandoned.

Known crannogs from the medieval period are rare and therefore very few of them have been studied. There is also minimal knowledge of how Highland crannogs throughout history were constructed or how and why they were used. Suggestions range from dwellings of community leaders and symbols of power to ordinary farmsteads of extended family groups set out on water for protection.

According to the University of Aberdeen’s Dr Michael Stratigos FSAScot, “due to the incredible preservation of this type of material, crannogs store exceptional evidence for what the wider environment and climate was like. As we face the challenges of anthropogenic climate change (i.e. climate change originating in human activity), the information stored on crannogs represents a unique opportunity to offer a long-term perspective on our present situation and how people at different times have coped with climate change in the past”.

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland supports high-quality research and publication relating to Scotland’s past by making several grants and awards twice each year.

This round awarded a total of £19,793 to 12 projects researching an aspect of Scottish history or archaeology, including replicating a rare Bronze Age horsehair hat from the Highlands, and investigating the Society’s links to slavery in the 19th century through Fellow Robert Halliday Gunning.

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