Divers are surveying a submerged forest in central Scotland that could be more than 6,000 years old.
Divers are surveying a submerged forest in central Scotland that could be more than 6,000 years old.
The Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology has been examining the 50 trees in Loch Tay, Perthshire, and trying to find any evidence of human life near the trees, which date back to 4270 BC.
Archaeologist Barrie Andrian said: 'When we took a sample of organic material - because that's one of the beauties of underwater archaeology, all the things are preserved very well underwater generally - we found a sample that had evidence of charcoal, bone and cereal grain. Potentially, we could be finding evidence of human impact on the environment from several thousand years ago.'
This brings to mind the late Marine archeologist Keith Muckelroy, who drowned in Loch Tay whilst researching crannogs, which were prehistoric dwellings on wooden stilts and are fairly common throughout the freshwater lochs of Central Scotland. He was very well known in Britain and beyond , working out of St Andrews University and a prize for work in this field, awarded annually, was set up in his memory
