Find Spot record 1300 - MANISH STRAND, ENSAY

NF98NE 7 9737 8674.

At NF 9737 8674, on the sandy machair of Ensay, a stone cist was excavated and removed by an archaeologist in 1967-8. No details of the cist or contents are known locally. The find-spot was pointed out by Mr. D Mackenzie.
Surveyed at 1/10 000.
Visited by OS (N K B) 5 July 1969.

There are records of 3 excavations on Ensay.
1. As recorded in Martin Martin (written 1695) that "there was lately discovered a grave in the West of the island in which was found a pair of scales and a little hammer". (See NF98NE 5).
2. In 1967 & 8, D D A Simpson of Leicester University excavated a cist 400 yards NW (Sic) of the burial ground (See NF98NE 6).
3. Excavation of burials by Prof Miles (See NF98NE 6) (Prof Miles's identification of Simpson's excavation spot puts it in the Atlantic Ocean, therefore Mackenzie's is to be accepted as the more accurate). Information contained in letter from A E W Miles to OS 5 August 1971.

Simpson's excavations revealed that the site was a Bronze Age midden, with two pit burials, one of which was stone-lined, discovered dug into it. A rich array of pottery and animal bone and a small number of worked bone and lithic artefacts were also recovered during the excavation. The pottery combines features of Late Beaker and Food Vessel type pottery; as such, the pots may represent a transitional phase, dating to the latter part of the Early Bronze Age period. This is a rare discovery and places the Ensay midden as an important site in the prehistory of the Hebrides.
Murphy & Simpson 2002, 1

Eileen Murphy & Derek Simpson, Ensay Bronze Age midden: Excavations 1965-1968, Data Structure Report (Unpublished document). SWE41036.