John Sinclair House, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh, EH8 9NX Tel: 0131-662-1456 Fax: 0131-662-1477/1499 E-mail rcahms.jsh@gtnet.gov.uk
CAISTEAL NAN GILLEAN, ORONSAY CAISTEAL NAN GILLEAN 1; SEAL COTTAGE, SHELL-MIDDEN
Type of Site: Midden
NMRS Number: NR38NE 8
Location
Map reference: NR 358 879
Parish: Colonsay And Oronsay
Council: Argyll And Bute
Archaeology Notes
NR38NE 8 3582 8897.
(Area: NR 359 879) Caisteal-nan-Gillean: "Fort of the Young Men" - A mesolithic midden which was almost removed during excavation by Grieve and Wm Galloway in 1881. The excavation produced a variety of implements of stone and bone, Obanian in type, as well as shells, bones of birds, fish and mammals, and hearths with patches of ashes and charcoal and fire-reddened stones. Before excavation it was an almost circular, cone-shaped mound overgrown with bent-grass, measuring about 150' in diameter. On the eastern side it was about 30' high and on the west 21 1/2'. It had been formed on the links sloping towards the sea, and gave the impression of being artificial. Galloway's collection from the excavation was donated to the NMAS. Their work is continuing in 1972.
S Grieve 1923; A H Bishop 1913; A D Lacaille 1954; P Mellars and S Payne 1971; P Mellars 1971
NR 3582 8797 - A large sandy mound mainly natural, which contains a vast quantity of shells. The excavation trenches have been backfilled. Surveyed at 1:10000.
Visited by OS (DWR) 18 April 1974
Collection Summary
Photographs: 4
Drawings: 0
Manuscripts: 0
Other Material: 0
Bibliography
Bishop, A H
(1914 )
'An Oransay shell-mound - A Scottish Pre-Neolithic site',
Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 48, 1913-14, 54
Grieve, S
(1923 )
The book of Colonsay and Oronsay: forty-four years of research and discovery in early Scoto-Irish, Norse and Danish history [...],
2v, Edinburgh, Vol.1, 14-16
Jardine, W G
(1972 )
'Oronsay: shell mounds',
Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1972, 8
Jardine, W G
(1973 )
'Oronsay, shell middens',
Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1973, 9-10
Jardine and Jardine, W G and D C
(1976 )
'Oronsay: shell mounds: prehistoric and early historic settlement',
Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 1976, 14
Jardine and Jardine, W G and D C
(1984 )
'Minor excavations and small finds at three Mesolithic sites, Isle of Oronsay, Argyll',
Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 113, 1983,
Lacaille, A D
(1954 a)
The Stone Age in Scotland,
London, 211-18
Mellars, P A
(1987 )
Excavations on Oronsay: prehistoric human ecology on a small island,
Edinburgh, 153-5, 170-81
Mellars, P A
(1971 )
'Oronsay: shell midden',
Discoverey and Excavation, Scotland, 1971, 6
Mellars and Payne, P A and S
(1971 )
'The excavation of two mesolithic shell middens on the Island of Oronsay (Inner Hebrides)',
Nature {London}, 231, 1971, 397-8
Scott, J G
(1966 b)
South-west Scotland,
London, 13-14
