by Eric Grant
In 2017 the Tarradale Through Time project excavated a shell midden (known as site 2B) located on a raised beach terrace at the foot of a palaeo-cliff about 150 m south-east of Tarradale House, see previous blog post. In September to October 2023 the site was revisited by the Tarradale Archaeological Team in order to continue the earlier investigation. The original 2017 excavation trench was approximately 8 m x 6 m and revealed a complex sequence of marine shell midden deposits comprising mussel, cockle, periwinkle, oyster, whelk along with animal and fish bones. A number of possible struck quartz flakes and worked flint was also found within the midden but compared with shell midden excavations in other parts of Scotland, site 2B was lithic poor. Several significant worked bone and antler artefacts were recovered from the shell midden including the remains of two antler T-axes and a fragment of a biserial antler harpoon.
A series of radiocarbon dates from the 2017 excavations gave results between 4832 and 3643 cal BC. This range of more than 1000 years suggests that the site had been occupied, if not continuously, at least regularly, from the Mesolithic into the early Neolithic period. A number of stone settings was found within the excavated area and on the east side of the trench an underllying spread of cobbles and sandy gravel was interpreted as the original raised beach surface. Owing to lack of time in 2017, the western side of the trench was not excavated to the same depth, so the excavations in 2023 had the primary objective of removing the remaining shell midden deposits and evaluating the underlying deposits and any potential structures. It is apparent that the shell midden site had been disturbed through the ages by agricultural activity forming rig and furrow and the only reason that site has survived to the present is that it is bounded on one side by a fence and on the north by the palaeo-cliff, making it impossible for larger agricultural machines to plough the area. If this had not been the case the site would have been totally destroyed. Indeed, a considerable area to the south of the surviving site has been severely truncated by ploughing.
NOSAS Archaeology Blog 