Crannogs in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland
Principal Investigators
Dr Alex Hale, Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Dr Rob Sands, UCD School of Archaeology
Funding
Historic Scotland
Funding in kind RCAHMS
Abstract
This ongoing project explores a series of sites in the inter-tidal zone along a stretch of the River Clyde mostly east of Dumbarton Rock,
Scotland. Examination to date has focused on the site of Dumbuck
Crannog with a full survey, targeted exploratory excavation,
environmental sampling and analysis.
The site of Dumbuck Crannog is remarkable not just for its archaeological value but also because it provided the focus of an investigation conducted in the late 1890's by the Helensburgh Naturalist and Antiquarian Society. This, in itself, was not unusual but the Dumbuck excavations had the added advantage of being recorded at the time in a series of sketches and watercolours, which gives us an unique insight into a 19th century excavation. The site is also of interest because the nature of some of the artefacts was considered to be suspect by certain members of the archaeological and antiquarian community. This controversy raged in the local and national press for many years, producing thousands of words in letters to the editors. Today the objects are generally considered to be fakes planted at the time of excavation but the perpetrator of the forgeries is as yet unknown.
