Site Event/Activity record EHG2889 - Geophysical and topographical surveys - site of St Donann's monastery, Eigg

Topographic and geophysical surveys (the latter comprising resistance survey) were carried by the University of Birmingham in 2008 in an attempt to identify the traditional site of the early Christian monastery reputedly founded by St Donan on the Isle of Eigg. Two sites were subject to the geophysical survey, the area immediately adjacent to and the south, east and west of the chapel which included the burial ground, and a headland to the southeast at Rudhana na Crannaig. Many of the graves in the main survey area posed considerable difficulties to the survey. A single 20m x 20m grid was surveyed at the headland site. Several anomalies were detected in both the main and secondary survey areas, both of high and low resistance type. Some were thought to be natural in origin, caused by the presence of bedrock and hydrological features. The topographic survey was limited due to time constraints and spot height data was only collected for four grids but it did provide a map on which to assess the geophysical survey results in a more useful manner. <1>