IV. ON THE RELATION BETWEEN A RAISED BEACH AND AN IRON AGE MIDDEN ON THE ISLAND OF LEWIS, OUTER HEBRIDES DONALY B . D BADEN-POWELD LAN CHARLES ELTON. INTRODUCTION1 . The problem of the geological date of the separation of certain parts e Britisoth f h Isles from each other has occupie r attentiodou r somnfo e time, and we decided that the Outer Hebrides possessed certain features which made this an important area in which to start investigations. Accordingly n 193i d 193, undertooe an 35w k field wor n capacitiei k s geologiss a animad an t l ecologist, wit e generahth l objec f discoverino t g as much as possible about the physiographical and biological history of islandse th , especiall Lewisf yo . Three papers have already been published (Elton, 1934 and 1936, and Hora, 1934) dealing with the parasites of certain Hebridean mammals, which are believed to be important as indicators of the Pleistocene histor f theso y e islands d anothean , n freshwateo r r animals (Elton, 1936) n thaI . e generat th par f o t l work which deals wit e morth h e recent history of Lewis, it became important to find out the con- nection between the periods of human occupation and the natural events, such as the formation of peat, river deposits, raised beaches, and ancient sand dunes, and during this part of the field work a raised beach was discovered and its relation to a kitchen-midden was proved. archaeologicae Th l objects fro e middemth n have been depositee th n di National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland at Edinburgh, the animal bones in the Royal Scottish Museum, and the shells from the midden in the University Museum at Oxford. The descriptions of the animal bones in the present paper are quoted from manuscript reports by Miss D. M. A. Bate and Miss M. Platt, and copies of these reports are kept at the Bureau of Animal Population at Oxford. 348 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1937. We are greatly indebted to the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland and to the officials of the Galson Estate for allowing us to carry out excavations alse W o .wis thano ht r GrahakD m Callande workinr fo r g out the pottery and implements; Mr A. J. H. Edwards for supply- s witu ha lisg f bone o in t s foun y himidentified b d an , y Professob d r James Ritchie; Miss D. M. A. Bate and Miss M. Platt for their careful investigation of the fragmentary animal bones found by us; and . Crai M r advic . gfo R r e D about condition Lewisn si . 2. THE GALSON SECTION. The site showing the connection between the raised beach and the kitchen-midde wese th tn coaso ns i Lewif to s opposite Galson Farm House, about 7 miles south-west of the Butt of Lewis. This is the site from which occupation layers, includin n earth-housega , were describey b d . EdwardH A. J . s s positio(1924)it d s alsan ,nha o been recordey b d r CallandeD e Reportth f n theo i r Royal Commission Ancientn o d an Historic Monuments f Scotlando e middeTh . (1928n9) laye. p , s i r exposed at intervals near the top of a high talus slope of sand, which occupie e coasth s t between moute TeampulNaomo th Cr d hn an h na l of the South Galson Burn, a distance of about 200 yards; the vertical height from the modern beach to the top of the slope is about 35 feet. On the western part of this slope—that is, towards the track from Galson' Farm to the sea—fine raised-beach shingle crops out about 25 feet above present high-water mark. It should be mentioned here that all heights were measured from high-water mark, which was taken as the highest poin t whica t h seaweeds were growine rocksth n o ;g measurement was mad meany eb smala f so l hand-level generae Th . l site statth e f eo before excavation consiste f thido s talus slop f sando e , wit n interha - mittent outcrop of the midden near the top of the slope, an outcrop of raised-beach shingle rather over half-way up the slope towards the west end. Four small excavations wero speciatw e s witu made l th hy b e objects of— (a) Discoverin e stratigraphicath g l relatioe middee th th f o no t n raised-beach shingle. (b) Collecting as many animal bones and archaeological objects as possible froe middeth m n e shorlayerth r tn i sou tim t a e disposal. Excavation A.—In the midden layer only, towards the eastern end e exposureoth f . Depth fee4 , inches2 t . RAISED BEAC IROD E MIDDENHAN NAG , LEWIS9 34 . Excavation B.—A. trial hole was put down in the talus slightly farther east than Excavation A, starting from the level of the base of that section. Thi suns depta fee7 swa o k t f tho without strikin raisede gth - beach shingle. It is possible that the shingle is missing, both here and vertically under Excavatio. nA Excavation C.—A vertical section was cut through the midden at a point much nearer the western end of the exposure, and was continued down through underlying dune sand unti e shinglth l founds a d ewa an , HEI6HTS SAND ABOVE MIDULN H.W.M. RAISED BEACH TALUS •yi 10" 28' 2' 25' 8" 2or 4 FEET1 2 1 0 1 8 2 6 4 Fig . Sectio1 . t Galsona n raised beach. volume of midden layer, 3 feet 8 inches thick, was removed over a horizontal area measurin feeg4 inche 6 tfeet 3 y .sb Excavation D.—A trench was also cut a few yards east of Excava- tion C through the talus and sand at right angles to the direction of e exposures taketh wa n d e surface raised-beacdowan ,th th o f t no e h shingle at its base. A general section through Excavation shows i D fign . ni d 1 . an sC The raised beach at the base consists of fine, well-rounded beach shingle, with practicall interstitiao yn l sand therdoubd o n an ,s ei t that this deposit is continued under undisturbed dune sand as well as under the talus. Unfortunately, no fauna was found in the raised beach; but this is not surprising, considering how rare shells are on a pure shingle beach at the present day. No artefacts or pottery were found. 350 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1937. The dune sand consists largel f comminuteyo d shell fragmentsd an , no stones or whole shells or any archaeological objects were seen in this deposit. In this it differs from the sand making up the talus, which contains large angular stones, animal bones, shells, fragments of pottery, and in one case a small worked piece of flint. All of these objects have slipped down from the midden above. The midden layers consis f hearto t he sand th site n ,i s mixed with refuse wil d describee b an l, greaten di r detail below t seemI . s thae th t human occupation of the site began in the middle of the period of dune formation proves botd wa t an Excavation ,ha t di C tha d t an ther sA e were at least 2 or 3 feet more dune sand 'which accumulated after the site had been evacuated. 3. THE GALSON MIDDENS. The two sections, A and C, which were cut through kitchen-midden materia t connecteno e continuoua ar l y b d s outcropseparatee ar t bu , d wid a covere p y eb ga sandy db y talus alreads . wa Thi p existencn yi s ga e Edwards'r e timM th f eo t a s excavation suggeste h d an , s (1924 . 186p , ) that either the removal of the sand was "for some utilitarian purpose or the effect of a severe storm." As the archaeological objects found by us were not quite identical in .sections A and C, they will be described separately, but in Dr Callander's opinion there is no great difference in age, either between the two sections or between the top and bottom of each section. Excavation A. layere Th s expose Excavation di 1933n (i nA ) wer follows:s ea — Thicknes f Layersso . Feet. Inches. Blown sand, with impersistent lin sea-shellf eo s 3 0 Layer of large stones ...... Hearth layer, brown earthy sand towards the top, black toward bottoe sth m .... 0 8 Blown sand ....... 0 6 Thin black laver ...... Blown sand, base not seen ..... RAISED BEAC IROD MIDDENE HAN NAG , LEWIS1 35 . Metal Objects.—Three small rusted piece f iroo s n were e founth n i d top part of the hearth below the layer of large stones. One of these is describe r CallandeD y db smala s a r l iron knife iroo N n . objects were blace loweseee th th kn nhearte i n rparsectioni e th parr f th o tf h no o t . One bronze pin inche3 , s long s founwa , d abov e hearteth h layer (fig. 2). Bone Implements.—One borer made from a splinter of bone, length just unde well-polishee inches2 ron d an , d bone pin, just unde inche5 r s long, were both e hearthfounth n di layer. In the same layer there was also found an object described by Dr Callander as a "bone whorl, of domical shape, made froe epiphysimth n animal'a f o sg bone le s , 1-| inc diameten hi jd f an rinc height.n hi " Miss Bats eha also examined this objechumaa d considere b an tn o t t i s bone: "There is one human bone in the collection from the hearth; this is the head of a femur which had not yet become completely fused to the shaft of the bone.