Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of the Mesolithic Site at Bàgh an Teampaill, Toe Head Peninsula, Northton, Harris, 2011

Blake, E; Church, MJ; Nesbitt, C

Abstract

The wider research project investigating the Mesolithic of the Western Isles of Scotland (the ‘Outer Hebrides’) undertaken by Durham University has identified the third Mesolithic site in this region, at Bàgh an Teampaill, Toe Head Peninsula, Northton, Harris. Due to the international research significance of the site and its imminent destruction by coastal erosion, a full coastal erosion assessment of the site was undertaken in September 2011 by a team from Durham University led by Dr. Mike Church. No archaeological structural features were identified, but initial results have shown that the deposits contain abundant archaeological remains. Radiocarbon dating of a small number of carbonised hazel nutshell fragments has produced calibrated dates, as yet unpublished, of 5715 to 5386 cal BC. The site is currently interpreted as a series of buried old ground surfaces overlain by shell and/or ash-rich midden deposits, which forms part of the same early to mid-Holocene buried landscape that contains the Mesolithic site at Northton (Bishop et al. 2010; 2011; Gregory et al. 2005). Future work to be undertaken will involve further sampling of the eroding deposits and a detailed radiocarbon dating programme.

Citation

Blake, E., Church, M., & Nesbitt, C. (2011). Data Structure Report of Small-Scale Sampling of the Mesolithic Site at Bàgh an Teampaill, Toe Head Peninsula, Northton, Harris, 2011. [No known commissioning body]

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Oct 21, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2014
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1607834
• Additional Information: Publisher: Department of Archaeology, Durham University; Type: monograph; Subtype: project_report