Raised Beaches and Dry Caves

In our search for evidence of early man on West Ardnamurchan, we've been trying to 'see' the landscape as it was when the first small groups arrived some 9,000 years ago. If sea level at that time was 10m higher than it is now, a walk along the north coast near Sanna should reveal shoreline features lying roughly along the 10m contour.

Just to the south of the fort which stands on the headland Rubha an Duin Bhain (grid reference NM450702), we found what we were looking for: a raised beach lying almost exactly on the 10m contour. It's an elongated mound of cobble-sized stones a metre or so high facing out onto what used to be a small, enclosed bay - a typical storm beach.

The above photo is taken standing on the fossil beach. In amongst the coarse grass in the foreground can be seen the cobbles of the storm beach. Beyond is the narrow entrance to the bay - the previous photo was taken from the top of the rocks to the right. The rocky hillocks beyond would have been a small island running parallel to the coast. Sadly, there was no sign of a midden - a man-made rubbish heap of shells - anywhere near.

The other thing we looked for were dry caves which might have offered shelter. This cave fits the bill. It lies at the back of the small beach south of Sanna Point, just above the 10m contour, so it would have been at the back of another enclosed, rocky bay, a perfect place for ancient man to have collected shellfish.

In our many walks around Sanna, we have never found anything that might have been a shell midden. A search like this is always difficult as we really don't know what a midden would look like: they're probably no more than low, grass-covered mounds. We've probably picnicked on one without realising its significance.