Table Of ContentTHE CAVES OF
MID ARGYLL
an archaeology of human use
by
Christopher Tolan-Smith
IF'/,II conrriblfliolls /1'0111
I.indsay Allason-Joncs, Ewan Campbell, Gordon Cook, Louisa Gidney
and Christopher Young
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND
MONOGKAPH SEKIES NUMBER 20
EDINBURGH 2001
SOClI'T\" OF ANTIQuARIES OF SCOTLAND
.\lONOGRAPI-i SERIES
SERll'S ]-:J)ITOR • ALEXANDRA SHEPHERD
VOI.U,\\E EDITOR • ANNA RITCHll'
British l.ibrary Cataloguing-in-Puhlication Data
ml'
A catalogue record for this publicatiun is rl\'aibhlc from British I.ibrary
ISHN 0903903 20 2
Produced by Short Run Press Ltd, Exeter, Devon
Printed in Great Britain
CONTENTS
Preface
\"111
[.is! of contributors ix
Acknowledgements x
Foreign language summarit'S xi
[.is\ of illustrations
List of tables
Ca\"(' archaeology in Argdl
I.! Introduction
.1 Prc\"ious rcscan:h 1
.2 Tho.: an:hul.'oiogical ca\"es of Argyll 4
1.2 The Mid Argyll Can: and J{ockshdtn Surn:y 1985-8 11
.1 Introduction 11
.2 Surn:y crikria and dassitil::'Hiull 13
.3 Gazetteer 14
.3.l Silo.:s with eyidencc of human usc 15
.3.2 Sites with no evidence of human usc 21
.4 Analysis and synthesis of field survey data 23
,
-,
2 SI f:olumbu's C:wc, El1ary ,.
-,
2.1 imroduction
2.2 The CXcu\",Hions at SI Columba"s Can.. ' , [')59-\976 29
.1 The SCqUl.:1K'C of l'XC3\"ations '0
2 Summary of the stratigraphy 35
2.3 The finds 37
.1 Introduction to the recording sysh.:m 37
.2 Artefacts 38
.2.1 Ulilisl'd stones 38
.2 2 struck flint 43
.2.3 struck quartz 44
.2...1 u:ramio;.:s 46
.2.5 S];lg, furnacc debris .md lar 5-1,
,-
2.6 glass
.2 7 day {()b:KCO pipcs 53
.2.8 mClalwurk 53
.29 shale box fragmenl 58
.210 shell arlcfao::\s 59
2 II worked bone and anlkr 60
.2.12 miscellane()u~ small linds 68
.2 13 concluding comments 011 the artefa<.:ts from St Columha's Ca\'C 68
.3 Faunal n:mains 69
.3.1 species identification 69
.3.2 hutdlery traces 69
.4 Human remains 70
2.-1 Sl Columba's Ca\"C, archaeology and history 71
.
.1 1:lbry Boulder Cll\',,: lind I{,Kkshdtl.T 7.3
.1.1 Introductioll -73
3.1 Thl' CXC.l\·ati(ln~ ~lt l:lIar~' Bnuld.:r Ca\'<,:
. 1 Thl' ~l'4Ul'IKe "I' eXGl\'ati(lIlS -
-"
.1 Summary of Ihl' ~tratigraphy
3.3 The fimh R9
.1 intf<.lUUClion to the recording ~yqern Sl)
.2 AncJacts 91
2.1 utilised ~t,Hll'S 91
2.2 u'ramil's 91
2 ..1 slag 96
1.-1 glass 96
2.5 cby tUb~ll'l'U pipe~ 98
2.(j ml'tal\\'ork 9S
1.'" !lin\' pilch~tone and quartz IOU
1.8 h,)J1l', ;1I111cr and horn 108
1.9 miscell:lI1l'olls items lOS
.3 F:nlllal r,'rnain~ 111
T 1 rn~lrine mollusc~ 111
3.2 ti~h W
3.3 allllna! bl1tKS W
3,-1 I iUrllan U~l' of till.' Ellary BOllkkr C;l\',' 1.Ui
.1 Surf:Ke trampk and Ihe 19(jl 'I'cst Pitllng IT
.1 Llltl'r pn'-.l-rnedic\·al occupatil,tl 128
.3 Latc medi'-.'\·al and earlicr pOSI-tl1l'dil'\ul uccupatilltl 1.11
.-J Later prehistoric u'-.''-.'uplItion 136
.5 Early prdlisloric occupation U9
.1.5 The excayations;1t Ih'-.' 1':l1<1ry Kocksheltcr I ••
1 The stratigraphic sequence 1.8
.2 Ilumiln usc of The FlIary Rockshdtcr 1.8
-I The Tinkkr\ Cll\'C, 1.I\Chgilplll'ad 1.9
-1.1 Introduction 1.9
-1.2 'I'he sTraligraphic ~equence 151
1 Phase III 151
2 Phasl' 11 154
.3 Phase I \".;;
-L 3 Th,' fimb 1':;-
.1 Ancfacl~ l~
1 1 utilised statk'S I ~-
1.2 '-.'eramKS 1:;9
1.3 day tuha'-.''-.'o piPl'S 1 5l)
1.-1 l11elal\\'ork 159
1.5 !lint and quartz 1(j0
1.6 bone and ;tntkr 160
.2 Faunal r'-.'tllains 161
.2.1 marine molluscs 1( j 1
.2.2 fish bones 162
.2.3 ;lI1imal and bird bom's 163
-1,-1 Conclusions 1(j-l
5 Till' human usc of ca\'cs in south-west S'-.'oth11ld 165
5.1 Introdu<:tion 165
5.2 'r he early Stone I\gl' s'-.'tllement of south-wcst Scutland 1( j5
5.3 Thl' human usc of ows in Argyll 168
C:ONTE:-:TS . ""
Appendices
I Calendar of papers rdaling 10 11K' \;X\;<I\";Hions <II Sl Cnlumba 's Cave 17 J
II Radiocarbon dales 174
Refercm:cs 176
Index lRl
PREFACE
R..:atkr~ uf Ih..: reports published in this \"olum..: may lind th..: fulluwing h;KkgrounJ comments helpful in
rhlcing the work discussed in conl<.::>.:1
.\ h)\'ing to my pn:s<.:nt academic pOSI from the Inspectorate of r\m:i<.:nt ,\ lotlulll<.:nts in ! 9S3 I decided to turn
my attention to initiating a programme of n:scan:h in an area which Iud 110\ n'cently recein'd much
attention. Ii was also the case that 198~ sa\\" lh..: puhlicHiull of John (:"Io.:s· accounr of his im"csligations III
the (:,1\"C$ of Argyll during the 1950s and early 1960s (198J). [n that publication Coks sp<.:{,:ial1~· cnjoin..:d
others 10 turn their attelHion 10 this important group (If SiH::S and. gin.:n a pre-existing intcrest in ca\'('
archaeulogy and tht, carly prehisTOry of \\'estern Britain. Ihis was an injulll:tion to which [ rcspondcd in 1985
with :I series of n:connaiss;mc..:: \'isit~ to CU\'l:S in Ihe region, '['his kd III 1986 to till" sah'age exca\'ations at Lh..::
Tinkkr's Can:, I.ochgilphead, reported in Chapter 4 Ill' Ihis volume. II also lcd, III the spring of 1986. to the
I!liti~ltion of a surn:y of can.~s and rockshelters in :\Iid Argyll, a projl'<.:t \\'hidl extemkd O\'LT three seasons
d()\m to Apri[ 1988 and rl'poTied in Chapter 1,2,
By the summer of 1986 my interest in the C<l\'e arch:lco[ogy of ,\Iid Argyll \\':1$ becoming widely known and
in June of that year I was im'ited by the SocIety of t\ntiquarie~ of Scotland to undertake the preparation for
publication of Ihe results of exca\'alions undertaken :It St Columba's Ca\'..:: hy Miss Marion Campbell and Dr
Christopher Young b(,t\\'(.'cn 1959 and 1976, This sile lay within my ,\Iid Argyll study 011'1 ..' ;] and I was pkased
10 accept the Society's im'itation. Thl' report on the exca\·atiom. al .'it Columba's Can.. forms Chapter 2 of
this \'olum..::,
The Tinkkr's Ca\'e and St Columba's Ca\'l' ar..:: hoth :-.iwaIL'd at th..:: head of the ,\Iam Rock Platform and any
deposits they containell \\'ill ha\'c post-dated the period of high se.l k\'e!s :It the time of th..:: .\ Illin PoStglal'ial
Transgression. In this region this c\'(:nt dated to ahout six-and-half thous:lnd years ago and the sites in
1:-'
question are unlikely to ha\'e pn.'sen'ed any depo:-.ih l'arlil'r than thl: :-..Jl'olilhic or Early Bronze Age. It was
also found to be the case during thc l'ourse ,)f Iho.! field sun'ey programme that the great majority of ca\'es
and rockshclters in the study area occupy ~imibr p,'Sil101lS, At un o.!arly stage il became clear that if the
projecl was to gain access to mfonnalion on human activity in til.: region in earlier periods it \\'ould be
necessary 10 im'estigate a site at a higha Ie\'cl This kd to the exca\,ations at the [lbry Boulder Ca\'e, a site
situated only a short distance from St Columba's Ct\"l' hUI in an lllbnd siTuation and at an altimde of 130m,
These l"Xc~l\'ations, carried out between 1987 and 1' )91, constituted line uf thl: major undertakings of this
project and they are reported on in C.haptcr 3_ The opportunity was also taken, in 1987, to excaV:JtL' the
nearhy Ellary Rockshe[ter, the meagre results of whid) arc desnih..::d in 3.5,
\,\lork on this projo.!ct was put in aht:yance in 1991 while other projects and an increasing administrative
burdl:n were gin:n priority, though reguhlr visits to Ill\: study area continucd, The major impems to the
completion of the projeci came in 1998 when I was granted a ye;lr's research It'ave and work on Ihe report
has occupied the greater part of my research lime since then. This has only been possible through the
support of the Arts and Humanities Reseilrch Board of thl' Brilish Academy, the University of Newcastle and
my colleagues in the Department of Archaeology who lOok on the bulk of my duti..::s in my ahscnce
The aims of the projeci arc set out in Chapter 1.1 and revicwcd in t..:rms of their fultilment in Chapter 5, As
always, views will v;]ry as 10 wha1 has been accomplished but unanimity Ill.ly b..:: hoped for on al least onc
