Viking Coastal Occupation Sites Of Western Britain

[Mannin]

I have been metal datecting ,field walking ,historical research and been involved in archeological excavations for 35yrs in
Isle of Man and i thought a usefull project for Scotland would be to check bays or creeks (wicks) without any recorded
archeological sites...Its apparent that in isle of man that wicks were probably used for flat bottom boats and had occcupation nearby with a small chapel ,burial ground ,field system,houses and some times a little fort ,depending on
landscape....A lot of wicks have no known archeological sites nearby but i think its down to lack of research and i think surveys of such areas might prove fruitful ....My first throw on the this site and well done BAJR ...:face-approve:

[BAJR]

Thanks Mannin. indeed the best place to look for new sites is where there are no sites Archaeology is often biased towards recording the known. ( little we can do about that really)

The shorewatch project in Scotland http://www.shorewatch.co.uk/index.htm would be best placd for that. And - correct me if I am wrong, - the best evidence for Ships being dragged up onto a shore would be the ship iron nails or "cleats" ( please correct me for the right term) - Have you carried out detecting to 'detect' these sites. Where could we find more on this work in IOMan

A good first throw. and a project worth considering, as many of us are moving to 'Predicitve Terrain Analysis' to prospect for sites to fill in these gaps.

This story may indeed be of interest, about a RCAHMS discovery.
http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/ar...ish-island

[Mannin]

Ships nails( clench)? do not usually preserve unless they in boat burials of the Viking pneriod and we have a few in I.O.M........I wonder if shore watch is looking at even the smallest bays for a boat community in sense of a small occupation situated around the bay?.....Trying to get a project to look every bay(alot of our bays have viking names)in I.O.M ....

[BAJR]

Clench! thats the one! Keep us informed about any project you can get going. THis sounds like an excellent idea.