Firth site throws light on ancient history

A TREASURE trove of archaeological discoveries at a site near Muir of Ord are shedding light on the lives of settlers in the Highlands more than 6000 years ago.

The site, which was first opened up last year, has thrown up impressive finds – including some tools so rare only three or four other examples have previously been discovered in Scotland.

A narrow strip of land at Tarradale is the main focus of the excavation and archaeologists have uncovered tools made from red deer antlers including a harpoon which may have been used to hunt seals and wildfowl on the mud flats which now form part of the Beauly Firth.

The site is a narrow strip of land, an old raised beach about nine metres above the present coastline and it’s backed by a steep stone slope leading to the next raised beach.

The land had escaped ploughing because agricultural machinery could not get access thus preserving the treasures that lay before the surface to the present day.

Last year’s excavations uncovered an extensive shell midden – remains of shellfish which provided sustenance for dwellers on the land during the Mesolithic age – a period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age.

Archaeologists believe the items recovered were disposed of when the settlement dwellers abandoned their homes as sea levels rose.

The finds were made by members of Tarradale Through Time: Community Engagement with Archaeology in the Highlands which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland.

Dr Eric Grant, the chairman and project director of Tarradale Through Time, said: "The most important antler tools we discovered were two large axes made of red deer antler and each had a hole drilled through them in order to take a wooden shaft. Antler is very hard but also resilient and makes a surprisingly effective axe. We are not sure what the axes were used for but they were certainly capable of chopping up large pieces of meat (from whales, seals and deer) or skinning bark of trees and digging up roots.

"These antler axes – called T-axes because of their distinctive shape – are very rare finds and only three or four have been discovered in Scotland before."

Launched last year the project is programmed to run for the next three years. And, as Dr Grant explained, it has thrown up interesting evidence of life at the key moment when people began to stop foraging and instead farm the land.

Carbon dates of some of the finds date back to between 4231 and 3643 BC, "right at the end of the Mesolithic period and into the following Neolithic period which saw the arrival of the first farmers."

He added: "[It] would suggest that the site is at the interface between the end of the Mesolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period, a very interesting situation if that is really the case."

The team also found that the site had more than one layer of occupation.

Anyone interested in helping future excavations should email tarradalethroughtime@gmail.com