1 | |
WHEELHOUSE; MIDDEN; CIST | |
Iron Age | |
10026 | |
Na h-Eileanan Siar |
Remains of what appears to be a wheelhouse, exposed by coastal erosion, are situated at A' Ceardach Ruadh (the Red Smiddy) on the west side of Baleshare Island where the machair ends in a sandy cliff above the beach. Cists and skeletal material have been recovered form this site. Coastal erosion had removed 7-8m of the beach front in the 1990s. No wheelhouse was visible at this location though there was some stone lying on the beach. A piece of human skull and a sherd of pottery were collected from the beach at this point. The midden identified at site 637, continues along next to this site. 22/09/2014 ShoreUPDATE: A 2-3m thickness of midden material comprising peat ash with frequent marine shell, bone and pot exposed along 50-60m of eroding dune face. A small amount of stone, just appearing appears to be laid horizontally. No sign of other stone structures yet. They may survive in the mound of which the midden forms the seaward side. This is almost certainly the beginnings of the erosion of a further wheelhouse; part of the settlement of which wheelhouse 9609 c. 200m to the north is part. January 2015 Images sent in by David Newman from December 2014 and January 2015 show that erosion has continued during the winter storms of 2014-15. As well as removing the sand from the adjoining beach, the dune face has been scoured exposing the midden deposits already revealed, including much redder coloured midden material to the south. The stones recording in the September 2014 update are still visible in the January images. Further south another long section of midden around 1m high has been revealed extending the site almost to the trackway evident in the satellite image. To the north a new stone structure has been revealed at the beach level around 10m north of the existing stone features. August 2016 Erosion continues, some stock damage noted. |
Site visited as part of a UHI archaeology course on November 27 2021. The midden exposure appeared very fresh. 11 March 2024. This very extensive midden is visible for over 40m in the coastal section, and has been for at least 10 years. Considerable slumping of the coast edge here has taken place over winter of 2023/24 |
77617.00 | |
861608.00 | |
27700 | |
57.5293388 | |
-7.3884339 |
Image | Date | Caption | User |
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11/03/2024 | View from the coast edge on top of the midden section, looking north | joannahambly | |
11/03/2024 | View from the top of the midden section looking west | joannahambly | |
11/03/2024 | General view of this extensive midden exposed in the section | joannahambly | |
11/03/2024 | General view of extensive midden exposed in section. Recent slumping to the right of the image | joannahambly | |
27/11/2021 | Midden face | Nigel Buckly | |
27/11/2021 | Midden face detail with cockle shell | Nigel Buckly | |
27/11/2021 | Midden face | Nigel Buckly | |
25/05/2018 | May 2018: aerial view of eroding coast edge with extensive midden desposits | EllieSCHARP | |
25/05/2018 | Jan 2019: Midden deposits visible in eroding section | Tom | |
25/05/2018 | Jan 2019: Stonework visible at base of section | Tom | |
07/08/2016 | Aug2016-View from SW | DavidNewman | |
22/09/2014 | General view, May 2016 | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | General view of site, May 2016 | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | Detail of stonework visible at base of section, May 2016 | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | General view of coast edge at site, May 2016 | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | Coast edge in January 2015 | DavidNewman | |
22/09/2014 | Coast edge in December 2014 | DavidNewman | |
28/01/2015 | Northern structure | DavidNewman | |
28/01/2015 | Angled | DavidNewman | |
09/11/2014 | Detailed view | DavidNewman | |
09/11/2014 | General view | DavidNewman | |
22/09/2014 | View of whole exposure, looking E | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | Relative location in coast edge of of Site 9612 to south and Site 9609 to north, looking NE | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | The site, looking North | training1 | |
22/09/2014 | Closer view of midden material, note horizontally laid stone. | training1 | |
Update id | Date | User | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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4722 | 11/03/2024 | joannahambly | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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3632 | 27/11/2021 | Nigel Buckly | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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3326 | 25/05/2018 | EllieSCHARP | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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2721 | 07/08/2016 | DavidNewman | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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1788 | 22/09/2014 | training1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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