In June of the following year Mr. Mapleton gives a description
of stockaded remains discovered twelve years previously upon the
partial drainage of a fresh-water loch at Arisaig, in the parish of
Ardnamurchan, Inverness-shire. This loch was of an irregular oval form,
and lay in a comparatively level tract of land, with very low braes
at a short distance from its shores. It communicated with the sea by
a small burn. The crannog was of a rectangular shape (43 by 41 feet),
but owing to the surrounding mud it was impossible to ascertain how the
foundation of the crannog had been formed. "Outside of the building
is a range of sharpened posts, fixed in the bottom of the loch, and
inclining inwards towards the crannog, leaving a space of about 3 feet
of water between them and the building. These posts are beautifully
pointed, being quite round towards the ends, as though made by small
sharp instruments. We counted eight still standing on one side. The
crannog appears to have been formed altogether of very large round
logs, or rather of trees with the bark left on, and the side branches
neatly cut off. They are of various lengths: one that we were able
to measure being 29 feet long, and 5 feet in circumference, at about
2 feet above the base. Another log was closely fitted to this, so as
to extend through the whole breadth of the building. The ends did not
overlap, but had been neatly cut or worn off, so as to be placed quite
close to each other.
"We tried to dig down into the structure, and found at least four
layers of these large trunks placed very regularly across each other.
We could not dig deeper, as the water began to ooze in; but by using a
probe, we felt timbers at a depth of 8 feet below our digging. The wood
is chiefly oak, but there are some logs of birch.... On the surface
were several large flagstones, especially in three spots. These bore
strong marks of fire, and the logs on which they rested were much
charred. Beneath and around them we found charcoal, several small
pieces of calcined bone, shells of hazel-nuts, and one very small chip
of flint, together with several rough angular pieces of white quartz.
At each of the four corners of the structure there were two sharpened
stakes inclining towards each other and the building, leaving a small
space between them; and at one end (viz. the south-east) there was one
large log of oak 39 feet long, and 5 feet 6 inches in circumference
at the base. Two great logs were nicely rounded off at the end, and a
hollow was scooped out in the wood, about 2 or 3 inches deep, and 4
inches broad.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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