Littleferry, Sutherland
an earlier prehistoric coastal site in context
Keywords:
Arrowhead, Flint blade, pottery sherd, field-walking, scraper, mineral
Arrowhead, Flint blade, pottery sherd, field-walking, scraper, mineral
Location(s):
Littleferry; Golspie; Loch Fleet; Sutherland; Scotland; UK; NGR: 8059 9574
Littleferry; Golspie; Loch Fleet; Sutherland; Scotland; UK; NGR: 8059 9574
Period(s):
Neolithic, Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age
Neolithic, Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic, Late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age
Abstract
The paper considers the significance of one of the largest collections of earlier prehistoric artefacts associated with a Scottish dune system. It came from a narrow spit, formerly an offshore island, at the mouth of Loch Fleet and was dominated by large numbers of arrowheads dating from the Early Neolithic period and the Beaker phase. They seem to have been made there, and many were unfinished. The original findspots are inaccessible today, but a programme of field walking in the surrounding area confirmed their exceptional character. Perhaps this remote location was chosen as a production site because of the specialised roles played by the artefacts made there. The results of this project are compared with similar evidence from the Culbin and Luce Sands.
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References
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Bradley, R, Rogers, A, Sturt, F & Watson, A 2016, ‘Maritime havens in earlier prehistoric Britain’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 82: 125–59.
Bradley, R, Watson, A & Scott, R 2016 ‘The earlier prehistoric collections from the Culbin Sands: the construction of a narrative’, in Hunter, F & Sheridan, A (eds) Ancient Lives, 233–43. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Clarke, D V 2004 ‘The construction of narratives for Neolithic Scotland’, in Shepherd, I & Barclay, G (eds) Scotland in Ancient Europe, 45–53. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
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Reading.
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Dornoch Historylinks Image Library http://historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number 5687.asp. Accessed 9 February 2018.
Harding, A 1987 Henge Monuments and Related Sites of the British Isles. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series, 175.
Henshall, A & Ritchie, J N G 1995 The Chambered Cairns of Sutherland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Lacaille, A 1954 The Stone Age in Scotland. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
May, V J & Hansom, J 2003 Coastal Geo-morphology of Great Britain. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
Mercer, R 1981 ‘Excavations at Carn Brea, Illogan, Cornwall’, Cornish Archaeology 20: 1–204.
Mercer, R & Healy, F 2008 Hambledon Hill, Dorset. Excavation and Survey of a Neolithic Monument Complex and its Surrounding Landscape. Swindon: English Heritage.
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland 1892 Catalogue of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
Phillips, T 2002 Landscapes of the Living: Landscapes of the Dead. Oxford: British Archaeological Report, British Series, 328.
Pryor, F 1998 Etton. Excavations at a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure near Maxey, Cambridgeshire. London: English Heritage.
Tait, L 1870a ‘Notes on the opening of a stone circle at Craigmore, Strathfleet, Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 7: 473–5.
Tait, L 1870b ‘Notes on the shell-mounds, hut-circles and kist-vaens of Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 7: 525–32.
Tait, L 1870c ‘Notes on the shell-mounds of Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 8: 63–4.
Thomas, J 2015 A Neolithic Ceremonial Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduill 1999–2002. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Watson, A & Bradley, R 2000 ‘The Clava Cairns and the pattern of settlement. The results of field survey 1995–1997’, in Bradley, R The Good Stones. A New Investigation of the Clava Cairns, 184–201. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Whittle, A, Healy, F & Bayliss, A 2011 Gathering Time. Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Bradley, R 2017 ‘The beach as source and destination’, in Shaffrey, R (ed.) Written in Stone, 215–28. St Andrews: Highfield Press.
Bradley, R, Rogers, A, Sturt, F & Watson, A 2016, ‘Maritime havens in earlier prehistoric Britain’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 82: 125–59.
Bradley, R, Watson, A & Scott, R 2016 ‘The earlier prehistoric collections from the Culbin Sands: the construction of a narrative’, in Hunter, F & Sheridan, A (eds) Ancient Lives, 233–43. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
Clarke, D V 2004 ‘The construction of narratives for Neolithic Scotland’, in Shepherd, I & Barclay, G (eds) Scotland in Ancient Europe, 45–53. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Coles, D 2008 ‘Shining Water: Shining Sand. A Study of Neolithic Lithic Material from Two Sand Dune Sites in Northern Britain’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of
Reading.
Cowie, T 1996 ‘Torrs Warren, Luce Sands, Galloway’, Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 71: 11–105.
Dornoch Historylinks Image Library http://historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number 5687.asp. Accessed 9 February 2018.
Harding, A 1987 Henge Monuments and Related Sites of the British Isles. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series, 175.
Henshall, A & Ritchie, J N G 1995 The Chambered Cairns of Sutherland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Lacaille, A 1954 The Stone Age in Scotland. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
May, V J & Hansom, J 2003 Coastal Geo-morphology of Great Britain. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
Mercer, R 1981 ‘Excavations at Carn Brea, Illogan, Cornwall’, Cornish Archaeology 20: 1–204.
Mercer, R & Healy, F 2008 Hambledon Hill, Dorset. Excavation and Survey of a Neolithic Monument Complex and its Surrounding Landscape. Swindon: English Heritage.
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland 1892 Catalogue of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.
Phillips, T 2002 Landscapes of the Living: Landscapes of the Dead. Oxford: British Archaeological Report, British Series, 328.
Pryor, F 1998 Etton. Excavations at a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure near Maxey, Cambridgeshire. London: English Heritage.
Tait, L 1870a ‘Notes on the opening of a stone circle at Craigmore, Strathfleet, Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 7: 473–5.
Tait, L 1870b ‘Notes on the shell-mounds, hut-circles and kist-vaens of Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 7: 525–32.
Tait, L 1870c ‘Notes on the shell-mounds of Sutherland’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 8: 63–4.
Thomas, J 2015 A Neolithic Ceremonial Complex in Galloway: Excavations at Dunragit and Droughduill 1999–2002. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Watson, A & Bradley, R 2000 ‘The Clava Cairns and the pattern of settlement. The results of field survey 1995–1997’, in Bradley, R The Good Stones. A New Investigation of the Clava Cairns, 184–201. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Whittle, A, Healy, F & Bayliss, A 2011 Gathering Time. Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Published
30-11-2018
How to Cite
Bradley, R., Watson, A., Scott, R., & Jack, A. (2018). Littleferry, Sutherland: an earlier prehistoric coastal site in context. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 147, 17–28. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.147.1248
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