Life and Death in Assynt's Past

Follow

As the day of digging the Badger Stone (also known as ‘The Ledbeg Lady’) approached, the weather got steadily worse. Whatever watches over the weather in these parts seems particularly averse to archaeological activity. True to form, on the day of the dig itself it rained and blew a gale but it would take a wetter, windier day than this to put off the intrepid explorers of Life and Death in Assynt’s past.

The dig was led by John Wombell, who started the day saying that it was 50-50 whether the big stone was formerly standing or not. At over 3 metres in length, 60cm in girth, it would be an impressive sight upright, especially located where it is, below the two neolithic chambered cairns, which are on two mounds and mimic the paps of Cul Mor to the south west. The site is in clear view of Loch Borralan, and clearly central to a key area of the neolithic landscape.

So we dug a 2 metre square, down to the clay, to see what we could find. The key question was whether there was any sign of a socket, in which the stone would have stood, if it stood.

We dug, splattering mud, desperately trying to channel water away from the deepening hole, eventually settling for a channel through one side of the hole into a drainage ditch. Occasionally John would murmur about changes in the texture of the soil, then decide it was a natural lens of different geology. We dug on.

By lunchtime the only sockets to be seen were tired shoulder and hip ones. Over sandwiches, John decided we should try at the other end of the stone, on the basis that it is not unheard of for standing stones to be narrower at the base than at the top. Given that this stone bears a remarkable resemblance to a human figure, with head, shoulders, even breasts, if you allow your imagination a bit of leeway, my mind boggled with the possibility that the Ledbeg Lady was standing on her head. A yogic stone!

The Ledbeg Lady aka The Badger Stone

By tea time this idea was crushed by no sign of a socket at the head end either, but the more soil we cleared from around her, the more ladylike she has become. But what was she doing, if she wasn’t standing?

John Wombell says it’s ‘very odd’. It seems clear that it was put there by people. It’s completely unlike any erratic boulders left by retreating glaciers, with no signs of ice weathering and if it were dropped by a glacier it would be embedded in the morrain. Instead it rests on a layer of soil.  It also appears to have some signs of working or shaping.

There are a couple of fractures in the stone. Was it destined to be raised, but dropped? Did auguries or portents put people off the idea of lifting it? Was it perhaps always intended to be recumbent – a sleeping goddess? Was it used ceremonially?

Some people brought it down from the slopes above, and left it. Who they were and why they put it there remains a mystery. All the more room for imagination!

Tomorrow we head off in Kenny John’s Tardis to discover more mysteries from the depths of Assynt’s past. The Tardis is not yet full (it’s a Tardis, after all!) Contact Gordon Sleight (01571 85207 or gsassynt@gmail.com) if you’d like to join us.