Template:Wp-Arisaig-History

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Realignment of a 6 km section of the A830 road in Arisaig led to archaeological investigations in 2000–2001 by the Centre for Field Archaeology (CFA), the University of Edinburgh, and Headland Archaeology Ltd, which found a Bronze Age kerb cairn, turf buildings and shieling huts. The shielings were repeatedly reused through the medieval and post-medieval periods, but themselves were on top of Bronze Age remains.

Analysis of peat cores has revealed a history of continuous, but gradual decline in woodland, starting in about 3200 BC and continuing to the present. The same analysis found that people were likely to have been in the area constantly from 2500 BC, but in low numbers. From 500 BC onwards the area underwent more intensive grazing activities.

Further improvements to the A830, led to excavations, again by CFA, in 2005 of a burnt mound, the first such feature to have been excavated in this part of the Highlands. The mound was radiocarbon dated to period from 2550 to 1900 BC, the early Bronze Age. The purpose of burnt mounds are unknown and they have been hypothesized to have been used as cooking places, saunas or breweries and, unfortunately, the Arisiag burnt mound did not provide an answer to the question of their purpose(s).