Coastal archaeology and complex societies: The maritime cultural landscape of south Argyll

This dissertation is the result of an archaeological survey of numerous areas of the coast of south Argyll, Scotland, originally designed to seek evidence for Early Medieval maritime trade. The intertidal foreshores and immediate backshores of areas considered likely centers of Early Medieval activity were examined for artifacts and features through pedestrian survey; aeolian sands associated with these areas were also investigated. Areas for survey were selected on the basis of known archaeological remains; placenames; and the presence of beaches, harbors, or other possible maritime amenities. While the fieldwork did not discover any artifacts or features that could be unequivocally assigned to the Early Medieval period, it did recover a broad range of artifacts ranging from the Mesolithic to the early twentieth century AD from these coastal contexts. A significant number of maritime features such as jetties, clearways, wrecks, and fishtraps were recorded as well. Since the archaeology of coastal environments beyond the Mesolithic is only just becoming an area of interest and concern within the discipline, the topic of this dissertation was shifted to examine the maritime cultural landscape of south Argyll across a broader chronological range. The Mesolithic was well-represented among the collections, of course, and significant quantities of unworked flint, which would have been a valuable resource in prehistory, were found in south Kintyre and the Rhinns of Islay. Artifacts from later prehistory had a more restricted distribution, coming almost entirely from the aeolian sands of the north Rhinns of Islay. Identifiably Medieval artifacts consisted of only two sherds of pottery found in the vicinity of castles of that period. The bulk of the collection consisted of eighteenth-twentieth-century AD ceramics and glass, whose distribution reflects domestic refuse disposal and the recreational use of the shore. This period has not received much attention in Scottish archaeology, and despite its lack of precise context, the collection provides a valuable insight into the material culture of this region during this time