Iron Age occupation evidence from Port Lobh, Colonsay (Scottish Inner Hebrides)

Abstract

Evidence of a new Iron Age occupation site is presented from a site located at the southern edge of a former tidal estuary in western Colonsay. A radiocarbon date of between the 1st–2nd centuries BC is significant in a regional context, being the first of this period from the island. Recovered burnt occupation debris includes cattle bone, marine (limpet and periwinkle) shell and ceramics along with a terrestrial snail shell and carbonised macroplant assemblage. The site was identified from geophysical survey (magnetometry and resistivity) focused at an earlier 5th–4th millennia BC shell midden. The discovery highlights the value of alternative field techniques and looking beyond fortified sites to find more elusive settlement evidence.