PotboilerGairloch Museum Potboilers are commonly found in Iron Age sites. They are usually smooth beach pebbles which have been used to heat water for a variety of purposes. The stones were heated in the fire and plunged into the cold water. Eventually, the dramatic...
FirelighterGairloch Museum Fires can be difficult to light, especially when your kindling is wet. This reusable fire lighter would have been invaluable for getting the flames going. It is made of a very absorbent stone similar to pumice. The stone would be dipped in...
Rope TwisterGairloch Museum Rope was an essential commodity, used for everything from fishing to thatching to simply tying things together. Before the days of man-made fibres, rope was made from natural materials such as straw, marram grass, horsehair, or hemp....
Paraffin LampUllapool Museum In the 1840s, coal was distilled to make kerosene, known as paraffin, as a substitute for whale oil for lighting. Later made from petroleum, paraffin was commonly used during the second half of the nineteenth century. Many of these lamps...
Mesolithic HarpoonWest Highland Museum This object is made from bone and is over five thousand years old. Found by a school girl washed up on the beach near Arisaig, this harpoon would likely have been used by hunter-fisher-foragers walking the shores of Arisaig...
