Highland loch’s island could be a rare medieval crannog settlement

Archaeologists are to excavate what they believe to be a rare example of a medieval crannog settlement in the Highlands.

Crannogs were built on artificial islands made of stone or timber in lochs.

The first of these sites are believed to have appeared about 6,000 years ago in Neolithic times, but few have been recorded from the Middle Ages, which ended about 500 years ago.

North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) and Nautical Archaeology Society are to examine the potential medieval crannog in Loch Achilty, near Contin, about 20 miles (32km) north-west of Inverness.

The small loch is in an area of birch and oak woods.

The excavation later this year will be funded by Scotland’s oldest antiquarian society, the 245-year-old Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Recent sampling and testing of underwater timbers already recovered from Loch Achilty by NOSAS revealed that part of the crannog was built using an oak timber dated to between 1046 and 1221, and another dated to between 1323 and1421.

It said those dates suggested the crannog was constructed or modified in the medieval period.

Richard Guest, project lead and amateur archaeologist with NOSAS, said: “Hopefully the excavation of more timbers will lead to more dates and therefore a sequence for how the crannog was used – more specific dates of sequences could help to provide the story of who built the crannog and who used it.”

Dr Helen Spencer, head of research at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, said crannogs contained some of the best-preserved evidence for life in the past in Scotland.