31553: LSFH 24.2 Loch na Muilne – FIELD BOUNDARY

Summary:

FIELD BOUNDARY (Early Prehistoric – 500000 BC to 4001 BC)
WALL (Early Prehistoric – 500000 BC to 4001 BC)
FIELD SYSTEM (Early Prehistoric – 500000 BC to 4001 BC)
Neolithic stone walls

Location:

NB 27497 17696

Full description:

"Running from beneath the peat on the eastern side of Loch na Muilne, these linear stone features can be traced for approximately 8 metres before they become submerged beneath the loch surface. Four such walls are visible spread across 10 metres of the shore at 2.5 metre intervals. They consist of fragmentary lines of boulders no more than one course high." "This series of sub-peat walls can be seen along the eastern shore of Loch na Muilne. Their general location close to the bottom of the peat horizon or immediately above the glacial till suggests an early prehistoric (Neolithic) date, which is broadly supported by their form which is narrow fields (ca 2.5-3 metres wide) arranged radially across the landscape so that the walls are all broadly running down the slope." (Burgess 2004, 34)

References:

Chris Burgess, Northamptonshire Archaeology. 2004. Northamptonshire Archaeology Archaeological Survey and Evaluation of Eilean Chalium Chille and the Putative Site of the Seaforth Head Castle. Part No Loch Seaforth Head Gazeteer.

Acknowledgement:

Information provided by Western Isles Council Sites & Monuments Record, January 2006.