Sand is the site of a major archaeological excavation on the Inner Sound coast of the Applecross Peninsula in Western Scotland, to the north of the small town of Applecross.
A small number of shell middens were known as rare traces of Mesolithic settlement when a rock shelter and shell midden at Sand, Applecross on the coast of Wester Ross, Scotland, was selected for detailed excavation as part of a study of shell middens in the area around the Inner Sound between the Skye and the mainland.
The Scotland’s First Settlers project (SFS) investigating the relationship of early inhabitants with the western seaboard chose this area which had known sites at An Corran in Staffin, Skye, and at Redpoint and Shieldaig in Torridon. Their surveys in 1999 and 2000 found 104 previously unknown sites, mostly caves and rock shelters with 21 "lithic scatters" and 9 open shell middens. A proportion of these sites will be more recent, but test pits at 4 sites found Loch a Sguirr on Raasay and Sand in Applecross to be Mesolithic. The indication is that there are many more surviving sites than had been expected.
The rock shelter site at Sand on the Applecross peninsula, just to the north of Applecross itself, faces out across the Inner Sound westwards towards Skye and Raasay. Around 7,500 years BCE the first users of the rock shelter had worked antler and stone to make tools. As well as using local stone for their tools they had obtained distinctive stone from the island of Rùm, 30km (19mi) to the south, and Staffin on Skye, 10km (6.2mi) to the west, showing that they were able to cross open sea.
Gradually a large pile of shells, mainly limpets, built up into a large midden. Abundant fragments of stone "pot-boilers" and bevel ended bone tools indicate that the shellfish were being cooked and the contents scooped out. There were also bones from red deer and birds and an antler harpoon for catching a wide range of fish, including cod, mackerel, haddock, herring and salmon.
Fine beads had been made from seashells, while ochre pigment and a particular species of dog whelk that may have been used for the extraction of purple dye suggest concern with decoration.
Naval base
There is a British Naval Base at Sand that monitors underwater activity around this part of the west coast. The BUTEC establishment tests marine weapons. Submarines can often be seen in the waters between Applecross Peninsula and Raasay.
Raasay or the Isle of Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is most famous for being the birthplace of Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish Renaissance.
Rona, sometimes called South Rona to distinguish it from North Rona, is a small inhabited island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It lies between the Sound of Raasay and the Inner Sound just north of the neighbouring island of Raasay and east of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. It has a total area of 930 hectares (3.6 sq mi) and a population of 3.
Scalpay is an inhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland which has a population of 4.
Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or further afield, but focusing on this particular geographical area sheds light on the origin of the widespread remains and monuments in Scotland, and on the background to the history of Scotland.
Trotternish or Tròndairnis is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Its most northerly point, Rubha Hùinis, is the most northerly point of Skye.
Wester Ross is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to the west of the main watershed of Ross, thus forming the western half of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The southwesternmost part of Ross and Cromarty, Lochalsh, is not considered part of Wester Ross by the local tourist organisation, Visit Wester Ross, but is included within the definition used for the Wester Ross Biosphere Reserve.
The Crowlin Islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. They lie between Skye and the Applecross peninsula on the mainland.
Applecross is a peninsula north-west of Kyle of Lochalsh in the council area of Highland, Scotland. The name Applecross is at least 1,300 years old and is not used locally to refer to the 19th century village with the Applecross Inn, lying on the Applecross Bay, facing the Inner Sound, on the opposite side of which lies the Inner Hebridean island of Raasay. The monastery of Applecross was established by St Maelrubha, in the 7th century. A sculptured stone is the only relic of Maelrubha remaining, who built a chapel there. The Applecross peninsula is a peninsula in Wester Ross, Highland, on the north west coast of Scotland.
The Inner Sound is a strait separating the Inner Hebridean islands of Skye, Raasay and South Rona from the Applecross peninsula on the Scottish mainland. The Inner Sound is the location of BUTEC, a Royal Navy submarine sensor and emissions range.
Horr's Island is a significant Archaic period archaeological site located on an island in Southwest Florida formerly known as Horr's Island. Horr's Island is on the south side of Marco Island in Collier County, Florida. The site includes four mounds and a shell ring. It has one of the oldest known mound burials in the eastern United States, dating to about 3400 radiocarbon years Before Present (BP). One of the mounds has been dated to as early as 6700 BP. It was the largest known community in the southeastern United States to have been permanently occupied during the Archaic period.
Loch Carron is a sea loch on the west coast of Ross and Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands, which separates the Lochalsh peninsula from the Applecross peninsula, and from the Stomeferry headland east of Loch Kishorn. It is the point at which the River Carron enters the North Atlantic Ocean.
Pabay is a Scottish island just off the coast of Skye. The name Pabay is derived from an old Norse word meaning "priest's isle" and there are the remains of a 13th-century chapel.
Eilean Mòr is the largest of the Crowlin Islands in the Inner Sound off the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
This timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland. Prehistory in Scotland ends with the arrival of the Romans in southern Scotland in the 1st century AD and the beginning of written records. The archaeological sites and events listed are the earliest examples or among the most notable of their type.
Fiskavaig or Fiscavaig is a picturesque crofting settlement on the north-west shore of the Minginish peninsula, Isle of Skye in the Highland Council area.
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
Staffin is a district with the Gaelic name An Taobh Sear, which translates as "the East Side", on the northeast coast of the Trotternish peninsula of the island of Skye. It is located on the A855 road about 17 miles north of Portree and is overlooked by the Trotternish Ridge with the famous rock formations of The Storr and the Quiraing. The district comprises 23 townships made up of, from south to north, Rigg, Tote, Lealt, Lonfearn, Grealin, Breackry, Cul-nan-cnoc, Bhaltos, Raiseburgh, Ellishadder, Garafad, Clachan, Garros, Marrishader, Maligar, Stenscholl, Brogaig, Sartle, Glasphein, Digg, Dunan, Flodigarry and Greap. The Kilmartin River runs northwards through the village. From where it reaches the sea a rocky shore leads east to a slipway at An Corran. Here a local resident found a slab bearing a dinosaur track, probably made by a small ornithopod. Experts subsequently found more dinosaur prints of up to 50 cm, the largest found in Scotland, made by a creature similar to Megalosaurus. At about 160 million years old they are the youngest dinosaur remains to be found in Scotland.
Eilean Meadhonach is the second largest of the Crowlin Islands, located in the Inner Sound off the island of Skye, Scotland.
The discovery of artefacts at two excavation sites in 2010 revealed human settlement at Monmouth in the Mesolithic period. The artefacts uncovered by archaeologists at St James' Square and Wyebridge Street included charcoal, flints, and bone fragments. The discovery has led to the conclusion that the site of Monmouth, adjoining the confluence of the rivers Monnow and Wye in south east Wales, was inhabited thousands of years earlier than previously believed.
The Bockstein Cave, German: Bocksteinhöhle is part of the Bockstein complex – a White Jurassic limestone rock massif. The 15 by 20 m rock shelter, among small peripheral caves is situated around 12 m (39 ft) above the Lone River valley bottom, north of the towns of Rammingen and Öllingen, Heidenheim district in the central Swabian Jura, southern Germany. Several small openings, that are the actual entrances to the site, lead to various cave sections. The large frontal opening is of modern origin, created during the first excavation works in the late 19th century.
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