Professor Karen Hardy FSAScot has received a number of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland grants to carry out excavations at the nationally important prehistoric site at South Cuidrach on the Isle of Skye.

Very little is known of the occupation of Scotland before c. 8500 BC. South Cuidrach, Isle of Skye, is unique in Scotland for its evidence of repeated use over thousands of years during the earliest periods of human habitation of Scotland. It is one of several sites in the north of the Isle of Skye and around the Inner Sound with lithic (stone tool) evidence diagnostic of a human presence before the mid-Holocene. These sites currently represent a unique concentration of pre-Late Mesolithic sites in Scotland.

South Cuidrach contains a complex combination of evidence for a multi-period presence potentially extending through much of the duration of the late hunter gatherer occupation of Scotland from the late Pleistocene up to the mid-Holocene. There is abundant evidence here for a human presence in the Late Upper Palaeolithic Ahrensburgian period, between 12,900 – 11700 BP (10,800 – 9,800 BC) approximately. A late Mesolithic circular alignment, possibly the outline of a hut, lies beneath a late mid-Holocene raised beach that contains Late Upper Palaeolithic artefacts, most probably brought from offshore, with the beach. The site is in an outstanding west-facing spot above the current shoreline, a geophysical survey has revealed that an isolation basin immediately behind the site was a freshwater lake until at least the mid-Holocene and the River Hinnisdal lies approximately 100m to the south. A large charcoal assemblage, probably from the early-mid Holocene indicates the presence of willow, birch and hazel trees. There is a large lithic assemblage, primarily of baked mudstone from Staffin that is situated approximately 10 miles to the north-east, and assemblages of worked coarse stone and ochre artefacts from the Mesolithic contexts. Hairs recovered from Mesolithic sediments have revealed the presence of several now-extinct animals. South Cuidrach was abandoned in the mid-Holocene, most probably due to sea level rise, and there is no trace of any human presence here after this.

View of the site illustrating the slope from where the materials in trenches 5 and 6 are likely to have eroded down from.

In 2023, the field season took place from the 1 – 20^th July in temperamental weather. Tr 6 was opened and excavated to bedrock. This trench lies west (seaward) of Tr 4 and immediately north of and abutting Tr 5 and has the same suite of contexts. It was selected for excavation because of the heavy erosion here caused by animals, and the fact that LUP artefacts have been found near the surface in adjacent trenches in previous years. An abundant lithics assemblage was recovered, much of which is attributed to the Late Upper Palaeolithic including a tanged point, most likely from the Ahrensburgian period, several cores and other artefacts attributable to the Late Upper Palaeolithic, as well as some Early and Late Mesolithic artefacts. Most of the artefacts were on Staffin baked mudstone and no Rum bloodstone artefacts which we have established does not appear to be used until after the Late Upper Palaeolithic, were recovered.  A micromorphology study on kubiena tins taken in 2022 from the adjacent Tr 5, revealed the colluvial origin of the material in this trench, suggesting that much of the deposition of Tr 5 and 6 has a terrestrial origin (as opposed to the raised beach deposits in TT 3 and 4 that have a marine origin) and is likely to have moved downhill in a south-north direction.

A full topographic survey was carried out of the landscape surrounding the site. This will be incorporated into the ongoing project to reconstruct the sea level, the age, development and vegetation of the paleolake and the surrounding areas for the period of the Ahrensburgian occupation, that is correlated with the Loch Lomond Readvance. This project is still in progress with completion planned for 2024. It comprises diatom and pollen analyses from radiocarbon dated contexts taken from the paleolake cores that were taken in 2021. The early results of this project were presented at the INQUA Rome, in June 2023 and will be published internationally in 2024. This publication will also comprise a reconstruction of the entire landscape, including sea levels at the time, based on palaeoclimate modelling. A similar model-based shoreline reconstruction model has been prepared for the intertidal zone at Sconser and this will be prepared for a separate publication also in 2024.

South Cuidrach presents a fascinating conundrum in that it was occupied during the Loch Lomond Readvance and lies to the north of the reglaciated Cuillin mountains in central Skye, effectively sealing the north part of the island off. The climate and environment would have been very harsh, and the only alternatives are that either the inhabitants of South Cuidrach were cut off from the outside world, something that seems very unlikely, or used maritime transport to come and go.

Although most of the baked mudstone outcrop at An Corran was destroyed in 1994 (Saville et al., 2004), a small surviving piece of it remains. A small path leading up to this has been identified and imaged by drone. The lithic materials from South Cuidrach correlate with this outcrop and therefore this path, which stops here, may represent a relict survival from the Late Upper Palaeolithic, although it would have been reused for thousands of years afterwards to extract the baked mudstone. This work, which was independently funded, will be prepared for publication in 2024.

A linked study looking at the later archaeology of this very rich area was begun in 2023 during the field season (Littlewood et al., 2023). Test pitting and survey of a small number of sites at Cuidreach was undertaken. The future of this work is currently under discussion although it is expected to continue.

Publication

An article was submitted to PSAS in 2022. Although it was submitted before the deadline for publication in 2023, its publication date has been moved to 2024.

Future plans

In 2025, the focus will be on resuming small scale test pitting to the south and south-west of trenches 5 and 6, in an attempt to locate in situ deposits, based on the evidence from the micromorphology study. This is considered an easier option than looking offshore although ongoing collaboration with the University of Adelaide is planned in 2024. Further investigation into the approach to be taken regarding excavation of the Late Mesolithic site will continue.

Acknowledgements

A special thanks goes to the Martin family, the owners and working farmers on this land, for access to their farm and also for the support they have shown for our work. All fieldwork and analyses were funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and supported by Neil Gaiman who is kindly thanked. Thanks to Isobel Littlewood, Gayana Bexultanova, David Hu, Stuart Findlay Munro and Bushra Bibi for helping with the survey and excavation.