Boat bailer

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This wooden boat bailer of driftwood was found during peat cutting at Cheese Bay at Lochmaddy on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It was made sometime between 190 BC and 100 AD.

The boat bailer is in good condition, although some of the wood shrank and cracked when it dried out. The wood is either larch or spruce, probably larch, and it may have drifted across from North America.

Driftwood was a valuable source of timber in areas such as the Western Isles where few trees grew.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-043-961-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IP 3
• Date: Between 190 BC and 100 AD
  
• Material: Wood, picea sp. or larix sp. (probably latter); proportionately small handle; quite good condition; part of handle possibly flaked off
  Scoop
  
• Dimensions: 290 mm overall L; scoop 200 mm L; 13 mm W
  
• What: Scoop
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Inverness-shire, North Uist, Lochmaddy (5 Cheese Bay)
  
• Event:
• Description: Wooden scoop, probably of larch, from Cheese Bay, Lochmaddy, North Uist
  
• References:
  • Close-Brooks, J. 1984 'Some objects from peat bogs', PSAS 114 (1984), 578-81 
• Translations:
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