Scratching the surface: residue analysis on ceramic and steatite vessels
As part of the post-excavation analyses on the material retrieved during our excavations at Clachtoll, we arranged for analysis of a selection of potsherds and steatite vessels to determine whether absorbed organic residues were present. This can identify residues from food production, for example, helping us to gain a clearer picture of what people were […]
Stories of Lake Coring in Assynt and Coigach
We’re delighted to share a guest post from Lou, a PhD student who has been carrying out research in Assynt. Her work will contribute to our understanding of the past environment at Clachtoll, helping us to build up a clearer picture of the landscape through the millennia. I’m Lou and I’m a student at Newcastle […]
Experimental Workshop: furnishing a broch
Get Involved! Experimental Archaeology Workshops, 1st to 5th July 2019 Next week we will be carrying out experiments into how the interior of the Clachtoll broch may have been floored. We will be making wicker panels of hazel and willow, similar to those likely to have formed the upper floors and internal galleries of the […]
Cell 2: A Mystery Solved!
Today Jack and Dawn have been investigating some fragments of fired clay recovered from within Cell 2 of the broch. During excavation the presence of organic material was noted but it was unclear what this material was and how it had formed, and the function of the cell was unclear. As you can see from […]
Event in March: Putting the Story Back into History
A celebration of writing and storytelling about history in Assynt will be held on Saturday 23 March 2019. This day will be a sequence of free events, open to all, to give local people a chance to hear writers who look back into our past and bring it to life in words. The morning is […]
A Movie from Forge Photography
Many thanks to our friends at Forge Photography, who generously donated their services to make this wonderful documentary-style film about the project at the broch on behalf of Historic Assynt. Enjoy!
Reaping the rewards
We may have finished our excavations at the broch, but post-excavation work continues. Conservator Bethan has been working on the reaping hooks. These were discovered along with lots of other iron tools in a discrete area of the broch, suggesting that all the tools were stored neatly in one place. They are badly corroded from […]
Sparks flew in Assynt!
Assynt’s community sculpture to honour the Clachtoll broch project is well on the way to completion after a dramatic event at Glencanisp on Friday night. After dark, a furnace was set up in the pole barn by artist in residence Julia Cowie, who, with her assistant Uist, demonstrated Iron Age metal production with sparks flying! […]
Two public events coming up!
Historic Assynt’s 20th Anniversary Wednesday 14 November 7.30pm at Stoer Hall Broch Project update and more John Barber and Graeme Cavers of AOC Archaeology will review the whole of the Broch project to date, update us on the latest findings and also update us on the researches John has undertaken since the excavation of Loch […]
Under scrutiny: a rotary quern
Another peek behind the scenes at the post-excavation process and what it is revealing. This an upper rotary quern stone (below) made of a quartzite-rich sandstone was discovered during excavations at the broch in 2017. Fragments of at least nine quern stones were discovered during last year’s work. They were used for grinding grain: rotary […]