CIfA 2021 A Guide for Clients

PROFESSIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY | A GUIDE FOR CLIENTS 2021 27 CASE STUDIES | INNOVATIONS: NEW WAYS TO DELIVER SOCIAL VALUE THROUGH ARCHAEOLOGY this connection was also in need of repair. A project is now under way to lay a new, double-armoured cable in a nearby new location, away from intense fishing activity. SSEN is consulting with local communities, local businesses, elected members and other key stakeholders to help minimise disruption. But the company wants to achieve more than a consensus on how to approach the project; SSEN is taking the opportunity to talk to people on Coll about what life is like on the island and form an audio library of local experience. The project has been delayed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the community’s experience of the pandemic will now also form part of the stories the project seeks to tell. Katy Urquhart, Subsea Projects Environmental Manager at SSEN says, ‘A lot of utilities, civil engineering and construction companies parachute into a community, build the project and leave again. We wanted to create a programme that will not only benefit the community for generations to come in terms of a reliable power source, but will also build our relationship with the community, bringing people together to celebrate their historic and proud island traditions.’ Revealing Coll’s rich heritage This oral history project sits alongside SSEN’s efforts, working in partnership with WSP, to uncover, and share with the public, new archaeological insights about Coll, as well as other island communities. Kevin Mooney, Principal Heritage Consultant at WSP, explains: ‘Many of the archaeological remains that the team discovered as part of the cable replacement project speak to the sustainable and unique way of life in this part of the world, which centred on crofting. ‘The northern portion of Coll is an emotive landscape with very few inhabitants in it and dispersed, isolated communities. Crofting as a way of life is dying out, but there is still a small crofting community on Coll which is situated around the Bay – where the cable emerges from the sea. It’s important that any project recognises this and minimises its impact on this traditional way of life. ‘Evidence of a rich crofting tradition on Coll was very clear,’ says Kevin. ‘We know that in prehistory – six or seven thousand years ago – the inhabitants of Coll were harvesting and processing grains and vegetables. Our investigations also show there has been very little development in the area, which means the land has not been disturbed much over the centuries.’ Archaeological discoveries Interesting discoveries to date include ‘byers’ (small kelp kilns), and two small ‘nausts’ (boathouses). WSP also uncovered a small number of previously unrecorded cairns located on hills across the assessment area. These are wayfaring piles of stones (now grassed over), which potentially allowed the crofting community to navigate their way around the area. They may have also helped the crew of fishing boats along the bay to work out and triangulate where exactly they were. The archaeological team also uncovered a ‘fish trap’ – a small wall of stones on the coast used to trap seawater (and fish) when the tide came in. While it has not been possible to date the structure, it is possibly prehistoric and was in use all the way up to the medieval period and beyond. Mull ©WSP