Find Spot record 1645 - RIVER ARNOL, LEWIS

NB34NW 7 3007 4519

Carved dish of alder, found in 1988 near the River Arnol, held in Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway, and radiocarbon-dated to 850 +/- 80 ad (OxA-3011). Elliptical in shape, it has a flat base and a rim which has been carefully cut to project slightly from the sides. Internal toolmarks run obliquely across the bottom to produce a rippled effect which may have been deliberate.
C Earwood 1993.

This carved dish of alder was found in 1986 during peat-cutting near the River Arnol. It lay inverted at a depth of 0.6m; the exterior surfaces of the dish had become weathered. No contents were recorded but what was apparently straw was noticed in and around the dish.
The dish measures 0.57m in length by up to 0.277m transversely and is elliptical on plan with slightly protruding ends and a flat base. It is of fine construction and has been carved from a split half-trunk. Rippled toolmarks within the interior suggest the use of a small gouge, but cut-marks made with a knife probably result from use rather than manufacture.
The dish is held in the Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway, and has been radiocarbon-dated to 850 +/- 80 ad (OxA-3011); this determination may be calibrated to between about 910 and 977 cal AD.
R E M Hedges, R A Housley, C R Bronk and G J van Klinken 1992; C Earwood 1993; R J C Mowat 1996.

R E M, R A, C R and G J Hedges, 1992, Archaeometry, 144-5 (Bibliographic reference). SWE36547.

C. Earwood, 1993a, Domestic Wooden Artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking Times, 50, 102, 288 (Bibliographic reference). SWE28921.

C Earwood, 1993b, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 358-9, 361 illus 3 (Bibliographic reference). SWE30919.

R J C Mowat, 1996, The Logboats of Scotland, with notes on related artefact types, 104, 113, no. A63 tab. 1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE36202.