To walk among the sand dunes at Findhorn is to walk in the footsteps of a Mesolithic hunter–gatherer, a Neolithic farmer with axe in hand, a Bronze Age herds-woman, perhaps an Iron Age child, and a soldier training for the D-day landing. This is not immediately obvious, since so little of the material culture of our predecessors survives. And the further back we go, the less there is. But the evidence is there if we look closely enough.
The main dunes site (FDS) near the back shore, east of Findhorn village.
I began to take a interest in the local archaeology back in 2002 or so, when during a conversation about local history and archaeology, Johnny Bichan, of Cullerne Farm, mentioned to me that he knew of a site in the dunes east of Findhorn Village where people had found flint in the past. I decided to go and have a look, and before long was finding not only flint tools and debitage—the waste material created during their manufacture—but also pot sherds, beads, copper alloy objects, burnt bone, and the remains of a midden, which contained sea shells and animal bone. Perhaps the star finds were the fragments of turquoise faience beads, a material long associated with Egypt. Analysis of similar beads found in Findhorn village and on Culbin Sands suggests that they may have been made locally. It’s now clear that at least one Bronze Age cremation burial took place here. One explanation for this may be that the site is in a liminal place—at a boundary between worlds: land and water; this world and the next. What we assume to be ritual deposits into water were common in the Bronze Age. This may be why it was used as a place for burial at that time.
A sherd of decorated pot—probably a Bronze Age beaker.
Two Iron Age beads found at the main dunes site (FDS): photo Alison Sheridan.
A 2 cm fragment of faience bead found At the main dunes site (FDS) and probably included in a Bronze Age cremation burial. Numerous similar beads were found in another burial uncovered in Findhorn Village.
In the years since I have made numerous visits to the site and over time accumulated objects from multiple periods ranging from the Mesolithic to the second world war. In that time I also made the transition from interested amateur, to archaeology student, to full-time professional field archaeologist. Even though my work takes me far and wide in the UK, I continue to explore the dunes for new archaeology.
The above-mentioned dunes site (FDS for short) that I have been investigating is very close to the shore and a few hundred metres east of the Dunes Road. Here there is a very extensive spread of fire-cracked stone and, until I picked them up, the objects mentioned above. It seems it was first used by hunter gatherers, likely between 7,000 and 9,000 before present (BP), at least as a temporary camp while harvesting local resources, and would have been one of many such sites along the coast, many of which have been lost to coastal erosion. We have lost 45 metres of coastline in the region of the Findhorn beach huts since the last war alone. These sites were predominantly piles of seashells, but sometimes also contained animal bone. Fire-cracked-stones tell us that they were building fires and probably cooking food. As with the main site on the Findhorn back shore, these middens sometimes include material from later periods, such as the Neolithic (5,500– 4,300 BP), the Bronze Age (4,300–3,000 BP) and Iron Age (3,000–1,550 BP).
Another similar site, but seemingly only containing fire-cracked-stone and a few Mesolithic flints and worked quartz, is located just north of Wilkie Woods. If you keep your eyes peeled while walking among the dunes, you can spot the fire-cracked-stone almost everywhere, though typically in small quantities, and widely scattered. I have yet to find a definite explanation for this. The main contender is a tidal wave sweeping through and scattering the remains of prehistoric hearths and camp sites. One such wave is known to have swept across the North Sea from Norway about 8,200 years ago, and is known as the Storegga tsunami. Mesolithic hunter gatherers are known to have been inhabiting the area at this time, and occupation deposits overlain by sediment from the tsunami have been excavated in Inverness and elsewhere in Scotland. It’s generally thought that this event also had the effect of finally cutting Britain off from mainland Europe, by permanently inundating the area known as Doggerland, off the east coast of England.
Hammer stone and a fragment of a mortar from the Cullerne midden site.
Flint tools found at the main dunes site (FDS).
A neolithic axe found 150m north of Wilkie Woods.
Evidence of occupation of the Findhorn area by the first farmers to arrive from the continent in the Neolithic only appeared recently when I learned from a specialist that the grey coloured flint found at the FDS site was likely brought here by these early farmers all the way from Yorkshire. More evidence came in May of this year when I found a small Neolithic axe on the surface about one hundred and fifty metres north of Wilkie Woods. The vegetation may have been quite different back then, and perhaps the farmer was looking for a particular type of wood. It’s possible that there were still remnants of woodlands containing elm and lime, among other tree species, which would later largely disappear from Scotland due to changes in the climate. Pollen from both of these species has been found as far north as Caithness and Orkney, but from thousands of years ago.
Early in 2020, during the COVID lockdown, I came across another midden deposit, this time on Cullerne Farm, in a spot where sand and pebbles were being extracted. It contained fire-cracked-stone, charred wood, shells, animal bone, and hammer stones. There was also what appears to have been a carefully deposited collection of items in a small hollow at the very edge of the midden: these included a 32 cm hammer stone lying on top of a red deer antler, with a sheep or goat mandible and six cattle molars nearby. We know that Bronze Age farmers were not just growing barley and wheat, but also depended heavily on livestock for food and clothing. This deposit at the edge of the midden is a good example of how their beliefs were bound up in and expressed through ritual actions involving the animals in their care. Ed Bichan generously paid for a radiocarbon date, which told us that the red deer died somewhere between 3,200 and 3,000 years ago, placing it towards the end of the Bronze Age. Further excavations early in 2023 revealed several shallow pits and a large post hole containing a deliberately broken granite saddle quern, which would have been used to grind grain into flour. Excitingly, the post hole is likely part of a round house of Bronze Age date just next to the midden, and is yet to be completely uncovered.
Well it seems that middens are the gift that keeps on giving. In October of 2023 Jonathan Caddy informed me that a shell midden had been spotted on the site of the main sanctuary at the Park, where groundworks had commenced for the new structure. This was an opportunity to excavate what was probably a largely undisturbed Mesolithic midden. The deposit lies just next to a raised beach, or former shoreline, from a time when the sea level was several metres higher, and Findhorn Bay extended up through the lower caravan site, Field of Dreams, and on into Cullerne Farm. The midden contains two distinct deposits separated by a layer of blown sand. The lower deposit is dominated by cockles, while the upper one is mostly mussels. I was able to excavate the midden over five days, and kept several large samples which I will examine in detail, and may contain some of the microliths—fine flint blades—that were made and used by Mesolithic hunter gatherers. I also managed to collect some charred wood from both deposits which will allow dating of the site.
Although so much of the evidence of our predecessors on the land is now lost to us, it is there to be found. And I for one plan to keep on looking.
Michael Sharpe
Community Friend and Professional Archaeologist
18/10/23. (All photos by Michael Sharpe, unless otherwise noted)
Chair’s Report – Winter/Spring 2024
There have been times of strong winds, snow and ice on the land but now comes the start of some milder and longer days and a hint of warmer weather – spring full of the magic of bird song and new life is beginning to percolate through the air and our minds.
It seems an age since we were celebrating another Christmas tree event involving our traditional social gathering up at the Woodland Shelter where so many come to collect or go out and cut their Lodgepole Pine Christmas trees from the land. So many non-native trees are out there growing on the rare Dune Heath habitat but we realise we may not be able to carry on for the next few years offering this as it gets harder and harder to find trees worthy of taking home. We will keep you posted about this and intend to have a social time even though there may not be trees available next winter.
Another event that is starting to become a tradition and that also took place a long time ago was the Hub being used by the community as Santa’s Grotto in the woods. It was a great event for kids and adults alike that helped brighten up the darkest time of the year. Thank you Laura Passeti and team for organising this.
Winter is also usually our busiest time for our green burial team’s involvement in interments on our green burial site in Wilkies Wood. In actual fact it has been less busy this year although there was the well attended procession and burial of community member Dee Sunshine in November and more recently the burial of George Ripley. George was one of the well known characters of the Park Ecovillage Findhorn who gave much to the place making the impossible possible over the almost fifty years of his time here including being the main architect involved in the building of the much loved and admired Universal Hall which started in the mid 1970’s. He had a fine send off at the grave side and then a celebration of his life in the Hall led by Juanna Legard as a non denominational celebrant and part of the FHT burial team.
On Saturday 10th of February we had the last of four special work parties which included being hosts for asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East presently living in Elgin. This was a fantastic success bringing together these guests with many from our local community and with this work force of sometimes up to fifty people carrying out some transformative work on the land north of Wilkies Wood bringing back rare Dune Heath habitat which had been threatened by invasive Lodgepole Pines and gorse. This was a team effort with some funding to help with transport coming from the new local charity Moray Supports Migrants and Refugees, the Findhorn Foundation providing their bus to get the people here, the Action Earth Fund helping provide a small grant for new gloves and tools and so many offering their time, energy and goodwill.
Plans are still afoot to get involved in our biggest work on the land yet under the banner of our Dune Restoration Project. Sean Reed our local professional Ecologist has written a more comprehensive update in this quarter’s newsletter. I am sure he will be mentioning all the twists and turns involved in getting this off the ground, our excellent contacts with similar projects with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Butterfly Conservation. Including our visit to the RSPB Old Bar project back in November, the productive meetings with Findhorn Dunes Trust trustees and the Park Ecovillage Findhorn Sunshine Room Presentations which has just happened.
How we deliver the work and how we go about it might have changed but all seems to be on track thanks to Sean’s meticulous planning with a smaller pilot project to be delivered next winter and subsequent work to be carried out over the next three to five years. A huge thanks to all that contributed to the Go Fund Me appeal that ran over Christmas, which brought in important seed money for the project of over £2000.
EXCITING NEWS! We have been successful in qualifying for the BigGive Green Match Funding appeal and they have found a champion to help us match fund up to £5000 any money given during the fundraising week from 18th to 25th April.. This means that if we are able to raise £5000 during that week we will have £10,000 which will pay for the whole pilot project this winter. The link to the appeal can be found here.
There will be further information presented about the Dunes Restoration project when Sean, Alan Watson Featherstone, Heather Paul and I give a short project introduction on Sunday 17th March from 2-3pm in the Sunshine Room. We will also be showing When the Bough Breaks film at 7.30pm on Saturday 16th March in the Hall. The film itself is a FHT fundraising event and is fascinating in that it presents the urgent case for rewilding with Alan’s work in Glen Affric prominently featured. Please come along, bring your friends and in this way help support the great work we do.
Smaller but important happenings have also been taking place such as new member woodworker Steven coming most Fridays from his home in Muir of Ord to help a small team with woodworking projects. At present an older FHT member has commissioned a couple of benches with backs to be located in prominent places on the high dune ridge firebreak above the Duneland Duneridge development to help old and young get out and enjoy walking and the fantastic local environment that we live next to. We have been using through and through cut timber that came from storm Arwen a couple of years ago and enjoying the art of working creatively with the freeform shapes of these pieces of tree. With Steven’s help we hope to offer a weekend workshop later in the year on bench making as part of our FHT educational offerings which are being planned right now and will include Ranger Roy offering several Sharing Nature with Children days, Kajedo our Land Manager offering a week long retreat and hopefully at least one day Sacred Ways of Nature workshop, possibly John Willoner, Martin Harker and I putting on a Beekeeping Weekend Workshop and Alan and Heather a day event on FHT Hinterland Biodiversity. Do consider joining one of these events and letting your friends know about them so they might learn from and enjoy them too.
Other happenings of note include the much appreciated contribution of Louna Kornobis, our long term volunteer who has been with us from September and leaves at the end of February having been the first person to set up home in our Shepherds Hut on the land. Her smiling face, open mind and helping hands will be much missed as she takes off to walk and explore Scotland a little more before returning to her native Switzerland to start studying for a university degree. She takes with her new thoughts and skills which will no doubt help shape her future life and leaves the land here a little more cared for and nurtured in many little ways. Blessings and thank you Louna!
A new initiative within the Park Ecovillage community has been to design and put on a Community Orientation Programme over a number of Saturday’s to introduce new community members to some of the background and practices of this settlement. Included is the opportunity to take part in practical work projects together and as such they came and gave a couple of hours clearing brash in a new glade Kajedo has been opening up on the south eastern side of Wilkies Wood. A lot of fun and good work was done by all and hopefully we will have more events like this in the future where people get to know and understand more about the land by being out there and interacting with it. A FHT camping retreat week ‘From the Edges’ is being developed and will be launched this summer to give participants deeper nature connection as well as connection to the larger Park Ecovillage Community – watch this space.
I am sure I could mention quite a few other things going on or planned but I think that is enough for now. From what I have just written you will see that the trust goes from strength to strength and continues to buzz with land and community based activity. I will leave you by mentioning to look out for the May Day Celebrations on the 1st of May which will be happening before the next newsletter.
Blessings and enjoy the spring which will be with us fully soon,
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
February 13th 2024