Loch Migdale Loch Migdale is a freshwater loch (Lake) near Bonar Bridge, in Sutherland, Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom. The loch contains a Crannog (artificial-island home) dating from Iron Age Loch Migdale, near Tain in the Scottish Highlands, contains a rocky island that is a suspected crannog, or man-made prehistoric feature. The island and surrounding landscape, which is littered with intriguing lumps and bumps, belongs to Rob Jones and Cara Flanagan who invited Time Team to try to make sense of it all. The crannog: Excavating underwater, the Team call upon crannog expert Nick Dixon from the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology, who also runs the Scottish Crannog Centre. He has to carefully remove sections of the rubble mound, outlined by scaffold poles, which act as guides for the limits of the trenches. The Team concentrates on two areas – one about a metre underwater on the perimeter of the site, and the other just centimetres beneath the surface on the main crannog platform. Waterlogged samples of timber planks and stakes are discovered, which are later dated to the Iron Age and, together with charcoal and bone finds, indicate settlement activity. The Henge: Further excavation on the shore indicates the site of a small ritual henge monument. Complete with entrance facing the loch, the henge contains a stone marker to align the entrance with a landscape feature in the distance where two hills meet. It was later calculated that this point on the skyline would mark the position of the rising sun on the spring and autumn equinoxes.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 13:35:22 +0000