Scotland's Heritage under threat from the sea

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 16 November 2001 Page Views: 822

by Jim Gilchrist of the Scotsman

Following completion, earlier this month, of the country's largest coastal protection scheme, at Dysart and East and West Wemyss in Fife, archaeologists have grave concerns that some of our earliest historical fabric remains at risk from coastal erosion. And the resources are not there to do anything about it.

"It is an unfolding crisis and, given the predictions for climate change, it's not going to get any better," warns Alison Sheridan, who has raised the problem with the environment minister, Rhona Brankin, on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Council for Scottish Archaeology and the Association of Regional and Island Archaeologists.

Coastal erosion and storms have been responsible in the past for uncovering sites such as Skara Brae in Orkney, but they are also destroying them at a great rate. Essentially a lot has been done and is being done and there are a lot of initiatives, but basically it's a funding issue.

Although this good work is going on, it could easily gobble up between £2 million and £3 million a year for a comprehensive excavation strategy and it's unlikely that such money will be forthcoming. Apart from the archaeological loss, Ms Sheridan points out the importance of such sites in terms of tourism and the rural economy.

Although recognised as a problem throughout the country, the erosion and loss of coastal sites - and any artefacts buried below them - is particularly an issue for Scotland's islands because of the greater ratio of coastline to land.

On the Orkneys, which can boast possibly the richest archaeology in Europe, hundreds of sites are vanishing into the sea, according to Julie Gibson, the Orkney Islands archaeologist.

She said: "They vary from quite small sites to multi-period sites, from the oldest stuff we know, such as chambered cairns and burial mounds from the Bronze Age, Iron-Age brochs, Pictish period ... There's a wee Pictish house , perched on Lambholm, and the outside edge is going at the moment. And I can think of several medieval sites going into the sea, Viking, post-medieval ... you name it. This is absolutely our worst problem."

One reason for Orkney's immensely rich archaeological heritage is that the structures were often covered by sand. Such was the case with the unique neolithic settlement at Skara Brae, uncovered by a storm in 1824. It is now protected by a sea wall but, says Ms Gibson, the sea is encroaching further every year: "Eventually Skara Brae, I suppose, will end up either having to be moved or will become an island.

Other Orkney sites at risk include the spectacular Scar Viking boat grave on the isle of Sanday, exposed by erosion in 1991. "You can find a site in the sand and it'll be gone with the next storm. The big problem is getting around them all."

Ms Gibson regards the budget for archaeological rescue throughout Scotland, standing at some £1.75 million and administered by Historic Scotland, as utterly inadequate and feels the government should give Historic Scotland more.

Meanwhile, in the Outer Hebrides, Dr Mary MacLeod, the archaeologist for the Western Isles, describes the problem as "acute - so huge that the resources simply do not exist to deal with it".

Asked what sites were giving her most concern, Dr MacLeod finds it difficult to highlight one: "There is probably one major settlement per township in the Western Isles eroding away, ranging from prehistory right up to medieval and sometimes a little later. We have, for instance, an eroding medieval keep at Dun Eistean, north of Port of Ness, Lewis, and on North Uist a site called the Red Smithy at Baile Sear, but there are literally hundreds of them."

On Taransay alone, she adds, the little island's celebrity status due to the Castaways television series is no bulwark against the erosion of four
coastal sites, the earliest dating back 5,000 years, the most recent medieval. "All of us working in archaeology in Scotland are having to prioritise what sites are being looked at. We try our best to record sites as they are lost, but it's an exception to the rule if they get excavated."

At Historic Scotland, Patrick Ashmore, who has organised rapid-assessment and other archaeological surveys of some 20 per cent of Scotland's coastline so far, identifies Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and parts of the west Highlands and Solway as the highest-risk areas. "There are big gaps in our survey cover, unfortunately, although there is an application pending for a Clyde coast survey, on which we'll probably look very favourably."

On the positive side, he believes there have been advances in recent years in terms of surveying high-risk areas and he is enthusiastic about survey
work being carried out in Argyll by SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Palaeo-Environment), and about the Shorewatch scheme, run by the Council for Scottish Archaeology and SCAPE, which records coastline archaeology.

So far as Historic Scotland's rescue budget on a national scale is concerned, Mr Ashmore isn't able to comment on priorities. However, he says, erosion remains a huge threat to coastal archaeology, and he estimates some 600 "really good" sites to be at risk throughout Scotland.

Story from the Scotsman newspaper

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