Croig Cave: a late Bronze Age ornament deposition and 3,500 years of coastal foraging in NW Mull, Scotland

Mithen, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3391-7443, Wicks, K., Austin, P., Black, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1396-4821, Cowie, T., Elliott, S., Ingrem, C. and Smith, S. (2012) Croig Cave: a late Bronze Age ornament deposition and 3,500 years of coastal foraging in NW Mull, Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 142. pp. 63-132. ISSN 0081-1564

Abstract/Summary

Activity within caves provides an important element of the later prehistoric and historic settlement pattern of western Scotland. This contribution reports on a small-scale excavation within Croig Cave, on the coast of north-west Mull, that exposed a 1.95m sequence of midden deposits and cave floors that dated bewteen c 1700 BC and AD 1400. Midden analysis indicated the processing of a .... 950 BC, a penannular copper bracelet a discrete ritual episode within the cycle of otherwise potentially mundane activities. Lead isotope analysis indicates an Irish origin for the copper ore. A piece of iron slag within later midden deposits, dated to c 400 BC, along with high frequencies of wood charcoal, suggest that smithing or smelting may have occurred within the cave. High zinc levels in the historic levels of the midden c AD 1200 might indicate intensive processing of seaweed.