Fieldwalking in Sutherland Day 12: The final fields and a walk along the shoreline

One of the last fields to be walked in the project, with panoramic views over Loch Fleet, the Dornoch Firth and Moray Firth. (Photo: Aaron Watson)

The weather improved in the afternoon, so we went for a walk along the present day shoreline of Loch Fleet. This is sheltered from the modern storm beaches facing the open sea, and the pebbles may be representative of the kinds of stone which prehistoric people could have collected. We found materials here which seemed very similar to the worked stone in the ploughed fields, suggesting that the shoreline may have been used as a source. Further geological identification is required to be certain.

The sheltered estuary of Loch Fleet. (Photo: Aaron Watson)

Short film showing the landscape of the Loch Fleet. (Video: Aaron Watson)

Many thanks to Pat Scott and Dorothy Low for help with the project, the local farmers for their support, and to the Coffee Bothy café in Golspie for their hospitality and hot drinks.

Further information:

The fieldwalking project at Loch Fleet is a collaboration between Richard Bradley, Aaron Watson, Ronnie Scott and Annette Jack. It is part of a wider investigation into the role of marine transportation in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland. The Sutherland project develops upon a survey focused upon the Culbin Sands, near Findhorn, in 2014. For more details please see:

Maritime Havens in Earlier Prehistoric Britain, by Richard Bradley, Alice Rogers, Fraser Sturt, Aaron Watson, Diana Coles, Julie Gardiner and Ronnie Scott. 2016. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 82, 1-35.
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The Earlier Prehistoric Collections from the Culbin Sands, Northern Scotland: the Construction of a Narrative, by Richard Bradley, Aaron Watson and Ronnie Scott. 2016. In Ancient Lives: Object, people and place in early Scotland. Essays for David V Clarke on his 70th birthday, edited by Fraser Hunter and Alison Sheridan. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 233-43.
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