Getting ready to look for peattesting for peatDutch gougerRussian coringextract from a Russian corer

Environmental Assessment

As part of the Hidden Heritage project a presentation by Dr Ciara Clarke from AOC Archaeology in the Three Villages Community Hall, Arrochar provided community participants with provisional training in the sampling and assessment of deposits for specialist palaeoenvironmental analysis. Knowledge gained was consolidated through an afternoon programme of field walking, sediment probing and coring.

Participants enjoyed training in sample extraction with a Dutch gouge and Russian corer, which demonstrated that the soft sediments in two areas of potential palaeoenvironmental significance consisted of water lain clays. The potential of these deposits to contribute to understanding the vegetation history of the isthmus was considered low.

However, palaeoenvironmental analysis has been undertaken in adjacent areas, the closest of which is Dubh Lochan which is approximately 10km southeast of the isthmus, near Loch Lomond, yielding useful results. Fieldwalking in Glen Loin, at the lead of Loch Long adjacent to the Arrochar/Tarbet isthmus, suggests that peat may have accumulated within the palaeochannel/s in the glen and may provide a good repository of Holocene palaeoenvironmental information that could be used to towards reconstructing the vegetation history of the isthmus.

A fuller report can be downloaded here.