Monument record 12072 - SOUTH UIST, LOCH A' CHOIRE

NF 767 145 A survey of Loch a' Choire, an inland loch at the S end of South Uist, resulted in the recovery of flint and pottery from the shore of a natural peninsula on the N side of the loch. At the top of the peninsula there are two pre-clearance rectangular buildings, one large and one small, which flank an area of lazy beds, but in the area where the finds were recovered no obvious structures were visible.

Eight 1 x 1m trenches were excavated to identify the source of this material. Four of these produced artefactual remains, including pottery (119 sherds), flint (42 pieces) and pumice. Most of this material was recovered from the base of the topsoil, but in the most productive trench the finds came from a thin dark layer flecked with charcoal.

The pottery assemblage includes five decorated sherds - two body sherds, two carinated sherds and a lug. They are decorated with shallow grooves which form a herringbone pattern on one of the larger sherds. Although the material is in poor condition the style of decoration and the lug suggest a Neolithic date. The flint from the peninsula includes several retouched pieces. Diagnostic tools include two scrapers and a small and rather poorly made leaf-shaped arrowhead.

The context of the Neolithic material from the peninsula is as yet uncertain. The absence of a significant cultural layer in the excavated trenches and the poor condition of the finds suggests the material is not in situ.

Sponsor: University of Cardiff.

C Henley 2000.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2000, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41184.