We have just finalised our digital report for the SAMPHIRE Project in 2014 and it is chock-full of over 50 exciting new maritime archaeological discoveries. We have been visiting coastal communities in the Highlands and Argyll, diving from a local converted trawler and spreading the word through local talks and conferences in Scotland and Europe. This year’s focus for research has been on the area around Skye and the Firth of Lorn and the majority of the new sites are in that area. We have everything from newly discovered and identified shipwrecks and Mesolithic flints to stone anchors and WWII flying boats, all part of Scotland’s rich maritime archaeological heritage.

Thanks to the valuable knowledge held within local communities we can now start to locate and understand these sites, in most cases for the very first time. We have made lots of new friends in these communities, particularly with divers, fishermen and others whose lives and work centre on the sea. We’ve been able to invite student volunteers and local community members to participate in diving investigations and to make new wreck discoveries and we’ve even recorded evidence of Scotland’s prehistoric past. The project continues to gain momentum and this year we have benefitted from a series of new partnerships with fantastic organisations including Flinders University and the Scottish Association of Marine Science.

You can see and download the new report at https://blogs.wessexarch.co.uk/samphire/downloads/ and also grab a copy of the report for 2013 and other resources.