Monument record MHG6497 - Mesolithic shell midden at An Corran, Skye

NG46NE 19 490 685

Immediately S of An Corran and on a ledge to the west of the road leading to Staffin slipway is a shell-midden (Patella Vulgata and Littorina Litorea) together with burnt bone. A flint point and a chert flake were picked from the surface.
Visited by R Miket 12 May 1988. <1>

NG 491 684 Salvage investigation took place during December 1993/January 1994 of a ledge at the base of E-facing cliffs in advance of rock-blasting for road works. Disturbed upper levels contained the remains of numerous hearths and fires but the only datable finds were a mid 19th-century glass bottle and a bronze pin of Early Iron Age type.
An underlying shell midden contained a very important Mesolithic assemblage of bone and lithic tools, as well as abundant faunal remains. A radiocarbon determination of 7590 +/- 90 BP (OxA-4994) has been obtained on one of the bevel-ended tools, made on a red deer bone. The lithic industry, using locally available silicious and basaltic materials, included the manufacture of microliths by microburin technique.
About one-fifth of the rock-shelter deposits were examined, but the ledge itself has been preserved despite removal of the cliff.
Sponsors: Skye & Lochalsh District Council Museums Service, Highland Region Roads Department, NMS. <2>

Saville, A., Hardy, K., Miket, R., Ballin, T B, 2012, An Corran, Staffin, Skye: A Rockshelter with Mesolithic and Later Occupation (Text/Report). SHG27277.

<1> Wildgoose, M, 1988, An Choran (Kilmuir parish), shell midden, flints, 17 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG163.

<2> Saville, A & Miket, R, 1994, 'An Corran, Staffin, Skye (Kilmuir parish): rock-shelter' in Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1994, 40-1, fig 19 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG165.