314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 11, 1929. II. LAND MOVEMENTS IN SCOTLAND IN PREHISTORIC AND RECENT TIMES. BY J. GRAHAM CALLANDER, P.S.A.ScoT., DIRECTOR OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OP ANTIQUITIES. On the 16th of November last (1928) Mr H. M. Cadell of Grange informe y telephonb e m d e tha e truna ttre th parf eo f k o whict h had something of the appearance of a dug-out canoe had been exposed Fig. 1. Map of the Kinneil district showing positions of Kitchen-middens. on the right bank of the River Avon just before it falls into the Firth arranges ofwa Fortht i dd thaan , I shoult d visisitee th t . d Thidi I s dayw fe s a later wit r CadelhM d Captaian l . RoynoE n n Jones, R.N., Marine Superintendent of the Forth Conservancy Board. visi y Forte e timm th tth f eho t A Conservancy Board were engaged in operation foreshoree th reclaio t sn o d mstretca extendinmu f ho g to about 310 acres to the west of Bo'ness. In doing so a reclamation LAND MOVEMENT SCOTLANN I S PREHISTORIN DI C TIMES5 31 . bank was being built due west from an old reclaimed area at Kinneil e Avon t meanderi th s f a o , d be swithio t e througyard0 th n10 f o s h the muddy flats on the south side of the Firth (fig. I). From this point bane th k strikes west-south-west til t meeti l e north-westh s t corner of the old reclamation dyke built in 1774, when the Carse of Kinneil was enclosed. Half-way between the new western bank and the channel of the Avon, and about 300 yards from the north-western reclamatiow ne cornee th f o nr e spoareath ts i ,wher e tree-trunth e k Fig . Sit2 , Kitchen-middef eo n near Kinneil, Bo'ness. A, Channe f Riveo l r Avon , Kitchen-middenB . , AntlerC . s found here. overlyind DMu , g Kitchen-midden , Tree-trunkE . came to light. It lay under 3 feet of mud, on a bed of shells measuring 1 foot thick, its position, as I was informed by Mr Cadell, being about e Ordnancth e datum line (fige . shell-be Thus welth 2) .a s t s a i ls dwa covered by the tide for several hours twice each day. No signs of human workmanship could be detected on the trunk of the tree after it had been freed from its bed of silt, and we had to s bein it e ide f th givg o a canoe p u e . However, there remainee dth question whether the shell-bearing layer consisted of kitchen-midden refus r simplo e f deao y d shell e tidesth drifte.y b Oyste n i d r shells, generally of large size, predominated, but there was a sprinkling of mussel d cockleoccasionan a an s d an s l dog-whelk. Som fee0 e2 t from the tree-trunk I noticed what looked like the end of a small branch of a tree projecting about 3 inches out of the shell-bearing layer. On 316 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 11, 1929. wading through the mud and pulling the object out it proved to be the deerd antlere ,a sawf ro n of fshora t distance abov burre eth , apparently by a metal tool; the points of two tines had been removed in similar fashion, and that of the third by cutting and breaking. About 6 feet distant from this antle I rpicke mucs parp du f another wa o th t i t bu , decaye showed dan signo dn humaf so n wor. it Fro n kappearanco e m th e antlero presence tw shelle th o e th fd s th embeddesan f eo d amongst them I think that there can be no doubt that we had located a genuine kitchen-midden. Had there been only one antler it might have been argue dbeed thaha n t i tbrough t dow e Avonnth r fro o ,highee mth r reaches of the Forth, by the stream, but it is extremely unlikely that o antlertw s could have been deposite o closs d e togethe y naturab r l agencies t i maythae e occurrencs B a .th t , f shelleo antlerd san t sa this place, under 3 feet of mud, more than half a mile from what would be high-wated reclamatiool e th r r nfo mar t dykebu k , indicatea s considerable chang f conditiono e e soutth n h o s e Firt shorth f f o ho e Forth sinc e shellth e s were deposited s plainli t I .y evident thaa t distinct sinking of the land has taken place between the time of the kitchen-midden people and the present day. Deposits of oyster shells are to be found in many places on arable groune sout th e sit e westh Forte n he do th f th sid undeo to f ht o e r discussion, and the kitchen-midden discovered in cutting a road near Iriveravo d describe nan . r PeachB N .D y b d, F.R.S., lies abou mila t e a furlone south-wes th d an o t g sectioA t . (figf thio 1) n. s midden measuring 50 yards long by 20 yards wide was exposed to a depth of 8 feet without the bottom being visible.1 Remains of fireplaces were plentiful among the shells. The middens lay on, or at the foot of, the bluff that rises abov e shoreth t thiea s elevation parta t a , f abouno t 20 feet above Ordnance datum. Therrecoro n s f i eimplemento d r o s weapons having been discovered in these deposits, but presumably no special searc mads themhr wa efo . Suc ha discover kitchen-middes w thiya ne s n naturally raisee th s questio f relativno prehistorin i e a levelse f land o s dan c s timesa d an , I have had the opportunity of surveying a good many monuments of antiquity which exhibit clear evidence of considerable land movements since they were built I shoul, d lik drao t e w attentio themo nt , dealing with the question from an archaeological and not from a geological point of view. t e I takeseemb r grante fo o nt s y manb d y archa3ologistd an s geologists that the sinking of the land, which it is recognised has taken e southerplacth n i e n par f Greao t t Britain s beeha , n balanced 1 Memoirs Geologicale th f o Survey (Shee , Scotland)31 t . 54 . p , LAND MOVEMENT SCOTLANN I S PREHISTORIN DI C TIMES. 317 by a rise in the north, the fulcrum being about Yorkshire. Some of us in Scotland, however, since the discoveries of Azilian relics in the 25-to-30-foot raised beac t a hCampbeltown , Oban d Oronsayan , d an , e piloth ef structure t Dumbuca s Langband an ke Clyde th n o k, have had a strong feeling that the most recent land movements in the west of n Scotlandothei t rno partsf i , , have bee na considerabl e risinf go e lanth d followe a decide y b d d sinking, whic s stilhi progressn i l . There can be little doubt that the worked flints found in the 25-to-30- foot raised beac t Campbeltown,ha e stoneth d , an bone deer-hord an , n implement d fooan sd refuse discovere t Cnoa d1 c Sligach e islanth n di , of Oronsay,2 and in the caves at Oban,3 all of which are on the same beach, were deposited when that beac beins hwa g formed, because these relics were covered with sand gravedan e e seal th Th washe . y b p du claim that these artifacts were pre-Neolithif o s dispute e wa con y b d our greatest Scottish geologists argueo wh , d tha s Neolithia t c dug-out canoes had been found in the 50-foot raised beach, both in the Tay and e Clydth e areas humay an , n relics foune morth n edi recent 25-to-30-foot beach could not be pre-Neolithic.4 But the evidence of the canoes is not satisfactory. Certainl o stontw y e axee sai ar o havst d e been found Clyde th f eo canoese on n e othei , th but n r o , hand have recore w , eth d of another whicplata d f leaeo hha d perforated with nail-holes lying underneat. hit Since the above-mentioned discoveries were made another Azilian sits beeha e n locate de smal neath e easterf lo th r rockd nen y islef o t Risg n Loco a h Sunart, this bein e mosth g t northerl f theso y e sites which has come under my notice. It lay about the same level as the other Azilian sites, though not in a raised beach. Whe ture nw n sout fine hw d tha undoubten a t d typical Tardenoisian implement in the form of a small beaked graver, and many heavily patinated flints, have been found on the 25-to-30-foot beach at Bridge of Aird, near Stranraer, and an Azilian harpoon was picked up in the River Cree. Crossing to the east coast of Scotland examples of the blunt chisel-like objects typica o s e Oban, th f lo , Oronsay Risgd an , a sites, have been recovered from a kitchen-midden on Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth,5 but unfortunately the height above Ordnance datum was not re- tolm cordeda d I tha d e islan th tan ,s bee mucdha o ns h disturbed since the military nb y operations tha e sitth te identifiede cannob w no t .