Did Vikings drag ships over land to avoid choppy Scottish waters?

Tantalisingly, wood was ploughed up at West Tarbert by a farmer in the 1990s. The longest piece is almost 5m (16ft) long.

Archaeologists hope new technology will determine whether it dates to the Viking age, and potentially formed part of a portage system for moving boats.

The wood is being analysed by specialist Dr Anne Crone and Prof Derek Hamilton at Glasgow’s Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre.

The institute’s Prof Alex Sanmark said hauling boats over land on Scotland’s west coast would have made sense.

She said: “The seas can be wild and the boats were rowed or sailed, and in Scotland the tides are very strong.

“Even though a portage may have taken a few hours to do and at great effort – you had to get everything out of the boat and then put it back in – in terms of safety and time saving that seemed to have been worth it.”

The project has also investigated Viking use of inland waterways and where they set up beacons and observation posts along the west coast.

The team is to publish its research next year.