History / Archaeology volunteers rescue ancient artefacts from coastal erosion
Volunteers worked at several sites in Shetland, and found a rare sherd of pottery dated back to over 4,000 years ago, as well as a mysterious stone box
VOLUNTEERS helping to record the effects of the climate crisis recently uncovered pieces of Shetland’s past before they were lost to the sea.
The items were reportedly precariously close to being lost forever when they were discovered.
A sherd of rare Shetland Beaker was discovered by volunteers at Whalsies Ayre on Burra, the site of an extensive prehistoric landscape that is currently being eroded by the sea.
Volunteers found it poking out of the crumbling coast edge, where it could have been swept off in the next high tide.
A drone survey of the area revealed a prehistoric landscape that is slowly vanishing, with pottery being dated to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. One 4,000-year-old Haa house is already half-submerged by rising seas.
Volunteers from Archaeology Shetland were working with Ellie Graham, a PhD student from the University of Aberdeen researching climate change impacts on coastal sites.
Graham stressed the importance of continually investigating coastal areas for new exposures while maintaining known sites at high risk of being “washed away by the sea”.
She added: “Shetland has a rich heritage of archaeological sites. They are all now increasingly threatened by accelerated erosion driven by climate change.”
According to Scotland’s Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion Trust (SCAPE) Whalsies Ayre is one of Shetland’s highest priority coastal sites at risk.
Joanna Hambly from SCAPE said: “To have results suggesting it could be a Neolithic house is very exciting, and provides valuable information about past sea level change. Current and future sea level rise in Shetland will put Whalsies Ayre and many other similar sites in increasing peril.
In Yell, on Gossabrough beach, a stone ‘box’ was discovered in the sand by an eagle-eyed member of Archaeology Shetland who is local to the area.
The team rescued it from the sea, where it was already being destroyed because of the tide as one side had collapsed.
A local was walking by and noticed that stones were jutting out from the sand dunes in front of the old Haa house, which later became a shop. The box is made from thin flat slabs and looks like it may have been built from recycled roof tiles with small circular holes to secure them.
While the purpose of the box is a mystery, theories have included an underground cold store for a shop before fridges were commonplace, a socket for a post and wire fence, or a hiding place for smuggled contraband.
Stephen Jennings, from Archaeology Shetland, said members of the group see the real-time damage rising sea levels are causing, and added: “In the span of a few months from discovery until we visited with Ellie it had already begun to collapse.
“A few months more and it would likely have passed unnoticed. This is how quickly things are changing.”
Archaeology Shetland is a community-led group that is dedicated to researching and recording Shetland’s rich heritage. It holds talks and fieldwork events throughout the year that are open to anyone who wants to get involved.
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