Manor Bridge: one of the oldest sites in Scotland!

A recently processed radiocarbon date from Manor Bridge, just outside of Peebles, shows that the site is one of oldest in Scotland. The date, which was obtained from a charred fragment of hazelnut shell lies somewhere between 8300 and 7960 BC - roughly 10,000 years ago, and dating early in the Mesolithic period. Only two sites in Scotland are older: Cramond, on the shores of the Forth outside Edinburgh dates to 8600 - 8100 BC, and Daer Reservoir, Lanarkshire excavated under the direction of Tarn Ward, dates to 8550 - 7950 BC. Manor Bridge, along with Daer, shows hunter-gatherers present in the interior of Scotland soon after our first evidence of their arrival in the country.

The site at Manor Bridge lies on the small rocky outcrop on the north bank of the Tweed, immediately downstream of its junction with the Manor Water. Bob Knox identified the site in the early 1980's. Bob's sharp eyes spotted stone tools (chert and flint) eroding out of the popular footpath along the river. In July 1998 Graeme Warren, then of Dept of Archaeology, Edinburgh University and Bob excavated a small number of test pits on the rocky outcrop above the river junction and in the field above this. The excavations on the outcrop showed evidence of structural remains including a stone setting and a pit or scoop - from which the carbonised hazel nuts were recovered. Much of the evidence from the site is in the form of stone tools, of which nearly a thousand have been found. Small amounts of flint and larger amounts of local deposits of chert were used to manufacture blades and microliths. The stone tools are similar to those found at Shiplaw in the Eddleston valley, and discussed in an earlier edition of PAST.

The Manor Bridge date lies about 1300-1600 years after the end of the last Ice Age, and the landscape surrounding the site was dominated by light woodland - with birch and hazel particularly important. Plant remains from Manor Bridge include hazel, birch, willow, oak and Pomodieae (rowan/crab apple family). The location of the site, above a popular fishing location, seems to imply that salmon may have been an important resource, although without faunal remains it is difficult to be certain about the nature of the economy. It seems that hazelnuts played a part - as they did on many other mesolithic sites in northern Europe. Further work is needed on the Manor Bridge site, and on others in the region, to better understand the character of human settlement at this time. At the moment only one fragment of hazelnut has been dated - and confirmation of this age will be important. In the meantime, however, the site shows that the Peebles area has long been a focus of human settlement in Scotland!

Author:  Graeme Warren, Dept of Archaeology, University College Dublin