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MacArthur's Cave

Oban, Obanian Caves, Argyllshire.

Raised beach sea cave.

A few years ago a cave of some interest (Distillery Cave) was found at the back of Mr. J. W. Higgin's whisky distillery at Oban. Recently (c. 1894) Mr. McArthur, while blasting rock on his property in Oban Bay, broke into another cave of great promise and interest (McArthur's Cave). [Abbott, 1895]

The MacArthur Cave has come to be regarded as the type-site of the Obanian culture. It was discovered towards the end of 1894 by quarrymen and was excavated by Anderson in 1895. Removal of the talus and fallen rocks which encumbered the entrance revealed a possibly artificial, barrier of rocks, behind which the infilling reached almost to the roof. The great majority of the implements recovered were of bone, 140 of these being found. Of the stone implements recovered, only eight of flint were definable. Finds are now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS, Accession no : HL 1-389). During the excavation parts of the skeletons of at least four individuals were discovered. The burials, however, cannot be associated with the mesolithic material from the cave, as they were found on top of and within the thick layer of debris that sealed these deposits. Their date is not known. [Canmore]

The cave opens to the northeast and at its mouth, is about 20 ft. wide; it extends back about. 30 ft. The roof was covered with stalactites, which, together with the overhanging rock, have all been cleared away, leaving the floor for examination. The mouth of the cave was artificially stopped by huge pieces of rock, which were placed right across it in the lower part, and subsequently occupied two-thirds of its width. The explorers have made two deep longitudinal trenches and one transverse one, and have removed some fifty cartloads of material. The excavations revealed- the following section:

1. Rock-debris and humus 3 ft. The extensive deposit indicates a considerable lapse of time since the deposition of the underlying shellbed. At the close of this period, a stray visitor appears to have crawled in and made the cave his last resting-place, as his skull is there to testify.

2. Shell-bed 12 to 26 in. The equivalent of ordinary Kitchen Midden material, since it consists of the shells of the limpet, quantities of the large Pecten so plentifully found in many of the Scotch glacial deposits, oysters, mussels, cockles, snails (Natica ?), winkles, crabs, and other edible species. The limpets are said to bear evidence of having been roasted before being eaten. The various species are often found in heaps, and not irregularly mixed with other shells as on a shore. Dispersed through this bed are also the bones of fish, birds, and mammals. The latter are in the hands of Sir Wm. Furness for determination: some of the deer antlers are of very large dimensions, suggestive of Megaceros. Bone and flint implements are also found here: the former are very numerous and include some beautifully double-barbed harpoons, one of which, 61-in. long, with nine barbs and a rounded pierced end, was probably used as a detaching harpoon; another, not pierced, which was evidently hafted, measures 4-1/2-in. in length and has four pairs of barbs, being very similar to a tool found in the Victoria cave. There are numerous fragments of these tools, and a quantity the use of which. is not quite clear; but the repetition of the same types determines their human origin however unable we may be to decide what was their use. Some of the bone tools are of chisel form and others are suggestive of arrow tips. So preponderating are these bone tools that one might assign the deposit to a "bone age," were it not probable that the extensive use of this material is to be attributed merely to the absence of flint in that part of the country, for in the Hastings Kitchen Midden reverse conditions have produced reverse results. Flint implements have, however, been found, and this is all the more interesting from the fact that the nearest locality for this form of silica is probably Mull.

3. Beach gravel 3 ft. This bed of beach-gravel is evidently of marine origin, and was deposited by the sea when it rose to this height, or when the land and sea had a relative difference of some 35 ft. as compared with the present configuration of the country.

4. Shell-bed 3 to 26 in. The succeeding shell-bed is another relic of human habitation; and although greatly affected and decomposed by the overlying bed and the conditions under which the latter was accumulated, it contains a large number of precious remains in the form of bone and flint implements, animal bones, and, above all, the bones of the men themselves. The human remains include one skull, two lower jaws and several limbs. Exact details concerning these will be impatiently awaited; it is, however, reported that the cephalic index of the skull from the upper layer is 75, while that of the skull from the lower bed is considerably less. During this tenancy it seems that the land was sinking and the sea rising; so that against the incursions of the tide the troglodytes endeavoured to build a wall right across the mouth of the cave. But their efforts were in vain, and man was driven forth from the cave, unable to return until after the re-elevation of the land and the deposition of three feet of shingle. How long a period this represents we cannot say until a full report has been made on the contents of beds 4 and 2 respectively; and it is to be hoped that every inch of the former will be carefully examined, for it may yield many more human bones.

5. Stalagmite. sand, bones, etc. 1 ft. 8 in. Even this lower stalagmitic layer contains treasures sealed up in it, and these may carry us back to a period of whose remoteness we have as yet no idea. This, however, we can say, that since man made the attempt to stem the incoming tide at Oban, that part of Scotland has been elevated some 35 or 40 feet.

6. Bed-rock at 12 ft. [Abbott, 1895]

Alternate Names: None recorded.

Notes: DNA breakthrough has found that two men laid to rest in a cave in the centre of Oban were immigrants from the Continent who settled in Scotland around 6,000 years ago and were most likely brothers. [Campsie, 2021]

The archaeological material recovered from Druimvargie Cave, now in the NMAS , is similar to that from the MacArthur Cave. [RCHAMS]

Excavation by J.W Higgin of Exploration Committee (owner of Oban Distillery), 1893.

Biserial antler barbed point (NMS HL 187) dated by radiocarbon to 4750+/- (OxA-1949), 4910-4590 cal BC. [Canmore]

Hydrographic Feeds: None

Hydrographic Resurgences: None