Diver helps locate ancient sites in Scotland

5,000 year-old pottery recovered from beneath a loch

Author: Pat
3rd February 2012

Pottery found at the bottom of a Scottish loch by a diver appears to be around 5,000 years old.

The find is one of several made in Scotland recently by fishermen, locals, divers and other water users, asked by experts to report what they have seen.

Study forms part of a project backed by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), in conjunction with WA Coastal and Marine and Historic Scotland.

It’s borne fruit. For example, archaeologists are salivating at a possible medieval fishing village located in the Western Isles of Scotland. Experts were alerted to the significance of the site after simply speaking to a local man, JJ MacDonald.

But under the water, scuba divers have turned up Neolithic pottery in Loch an Duna on the Isle of Lewis. And fish traps and evidence of settlers living south of Lochboisdale on South Uist have also been put forward.

Even just as amateur archaeologists, diving’s contribution to uncovering the historic past of UK shores continues.