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Submerged
forest in Bressay Sound 
Dredging
is taking place in the north entrance to Lerwick Harbour in the channel between
the north corner of
Green Head Quay and Scottle Home. Water depth is ~7m removing about two
metres of sandy material to give a water depth of 9m. Dredged material is being
pumped ashore to reclaim land Greenhead and Scottle Holm. Among the sandy
sediment pumped ashore is a great deal of woody material, much of which is
covered in bark. With the kind permission of Lerwick Harbour Trust and
Westminster Dredging, samples of wood were recovered by Tom Jamieson and Allen
Fraser. From initial inspection the woody material appears to be sections of
birch trees. Bark covered samples will soon be dispatched to Dr Nigel Melton of
University of Bradford for 14C dating.
Similar woody material was found during a dredging on the Bressay shore in 1990.
A stone axe was found associated with that woody material. The axe has been
fashioned from serpentinite rock - almost certainly from Fetlar or perhaps Unst.
The 'spike end' has been cleaned to remove barnacles that why it shows the
'fresh rock' the rest of the axe is the dark 'patina' that Fetlar serpentinite
takes when it is polished. The axe has a slight 'waist' 13cm from the blade end
- presumably this was where it was hafted.
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