Caves have always captured the imagination. This is no less true of High Pasture Cave on the Isle of Skye, whose publication represents the latest contribution to a growing corpus in British cave archaeology. Nestled under the slopes of the Cuillin Mountains and overlooking Strath Suardal, the 320m-long (1,050ft) cave system ‘would have to be known rather than seen’ (p.55). Nonetheless, deep anthropogenic deposits attest to engagement with the site since at least the Early Bronze Age and over 900 years of near-continuous visitation through the Late Bronze and Iron Ages.
It was discovered in 1972 by cavers, before Steven Birch and the late Martin Wildgoose’s led excavations (2004-2010) that are ‘the most extensive investigation of a cave and its environs in Scotland to date’ (p.4). The aptly named ‘Bone Passage’ was the focus for deposition inside the cave, yielding significant quantities of bone, shell, charcoal, and fire-cracked stone, together with burnt grain, worked bone, ceramics, stone tools, and metalworking residue. This wealth of material, preserved by the limestone bedrock and the cool subterranean temperatures, is otherwise rare in the acidic soils of Skye (and much of Scotland). While most of this material is characteristic of prehistoric domestic assemblages, the context of its deposition deep underground warrants alternative explanation.
Construction of three successive stone-built walkways and stairwells around the natural entrance to the cave at the south end of the Bone Passage provided access from an external precinct and created a multi-level ritual complex. Periodic remodelling of the precinct attests to enduring attempts to control access into (and out of) what was clearly perceived as ‘a liminal, powerful, potentially dangerous place’ (p.543). As the authors note (p.546), the sights, sounds, and smells of butchered animals, feasting waste, and craft activity would have been heightened by choreographed access to/from the relative silence and gloom of the Bone Passage between the crackling flames of two large hearths. Exceptional finds, such as a charred lyre bridge fragment, representing ‘by far the earliest example found anywhere in Europe’ (p.412), attests to musical performances, accompanied perhaps by dancing and storytelling.
