NMS Archaeology Object 3836: W.SFA 44 - Trough


Description

Summary


Oblong trough hollowed from one piece of wood, possibly for tallow or bog-butter, found at Loch Eport, North Uist


Accession Number


W.SFA 44


Other references

Register Number

HAAC Register number
1954.692
ME 993
A.1896.375

Original description

An oblong wooden dish hollowed from one piece of wood; found in June 1896 at Loch Evort [Loch Eport], North Uist; described, with photo., in "The Reliquary", vol. II (1896) pp. 241-3; the R.S.M. label states that it is made of Scots Fir and that "A dish exactly similar to this one was dug up some years ago at Trumisgarry, North Uist, full of tallow or bog-butter". Trevor Cowie notes, 28 February 2013: R J Mowat suggests incorrectly that this may be the vessel from Cunnister, Shetland (see Mowat 1996). However his description correctly matches that of the Loch Eport trough - Mowat records " a vessel measuring about 0.64m in length by 0.25m in breadth and 0.16m in depth... worked from a length of gnarled and knotted timber which is roughly-square in section ....split in places; the shaping of the exterior has been minimal and the light weight of the piece appears to confirm the proposed timber identification. Internally, the piece is roughly squared at the ends and rounded in section to produce a cavity of roughly cylindrical form measuring about 0.48m in length by 0.19m in breadth and 0.11m in depth; the volume thus appears to have been about 1 litre. No lid appears to survive and there is no indication of one having existed. Toolmarks of indeterminate form are visible within the interior, and there appears to have been some rotting of the timber." References: Earwood, C Domestic wooden artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times, Exeter 1993, 276; Macadam, W I 'Notes on the analysis of additional samples of bog butter found in different parts of Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 23 (), 433; Mowat, R J C The logboats of Scotland, with notes on related artefact types, Oxford 1996, 84, 122, 145, no. A13 tabs. 1 and 11;

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

Royal Scottish Museum
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1896-11-06

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Part, O.E., 1896 (fl.)

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image

None

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