Ancient past uncovered

‘We have been able to see how densely settled parts of Arran were’

Our understanding of Arran’s ancient archaeological past has been dramatically expanded thanks to a ground-breaking project that has revealed around 1,000 previously unknown archaeological sites on Arran.

Redefining our ability to survey the environment and to trace ancient monuments on Arran, the project undertaken by archaeologists at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), used airborne laser scanning, also known as lidar, to document the land surface in 3D.

The survey is the largest of its type so far in Scotland and it has doubled the number of ancient monuments previously known to be on the island.

Previously unknown ancient archaeological sites which have been discovered include prehistoric settlements and medieval farmsteads, as well as a Neolithic cursus monument – an exceptionally rare find on the west coast of Scotland. Cursus monuments are Neolithic structures which are some of the oldest prehistoric monumental structures of the Islands of Britain and Ireland and relics found within them show that they were built between 3400 and 3000 BC.

Dave Cowley, Rapid Archaeological Mapping Manager at HES, said: ‘This survey has shown us that there are double the number of ancient monuments on Arran than we previously knew about.

‘This new 3D technology has allowed us to undertake a rapid archaeological survey, over weeks rather than months or years, and allowed us to discover sites that might even have been impossible to find otherwise. We have been able to see how densely settled parts of Arran were, and the medieval and post-medieval shieling sites that were discovered have told us how upland areas were used by shepherds.

‘This is an exciting time to be involved in the development of remote sensing and archaeological mapping. We are exploring the benefits of new technology and new datasets to record Scotland’s historic environment and inform our knowledge of the past. As a result, we are enriching the information through which we tell Scotland’s story. And Arran is just a first step. As this technology become more widely available, we expect to find tens of thousands more ancient sites across the rest of Scotland – working at a pace that was unimaginable a few years ago.’

The lidar data is available from the Scottish

Government Remote Sensing Portal.

Shona Nicol, Head of the Geographical Information Science and Analysis team said: ‘It is great to see HES making such exciting use of the increasing amount of remote sensing data becoming available which will help to play a part in keeping Scotland at the forefront in this field.’

The survey on Arran was carried out in 2017 and 2018 and, along with airborne laser scanning, involved fieldwork where six archaeologists discovered 152 sites solely through field investigation with the assistance of orthophotographs and ordinance survey maps.

The survey results are available to view on Canmore – Scotland’s National Record of the Historic Environment.

An aerial view of Arran’s coast and mountains in the north west of Arran.

Below: The ruinous footing of a small shepherds’ hut in Blenlister Glen, looking down towards Holy Island.

A newly discovered group of shieling huts in Glen Iorsa which are probably of medieval and post medieval date and which would have been used by shepherds during the summer.

A more recent site is the Barite mine in Glen Sannox which was first mined in 1840 and which petered out in 1938. This visualisation from the airborne laser scanning data shows the holes in the hillside, the trolley-way and the quarry waste on the north side of the glen.

A round house with an outer enclosure was discovered near Dougarie on the west coast of the island.