Fabulous Finds: the Artefact Assemblage
“So, what have you found?” is surely the question most frequently asked by visitors to archaeological excavations. Artefacts help us piece together the story of those who came before, giving us little glimpses of past lives. 224 individual small finds were logged during excavations at Clachtoll, many of which comprised groups or clusters of ceramic […]
Within the walls: the Entrance Passage, Cells and Stairwell
Our posts so far have focussed on the broch’s interior, but now we turn our attention to the walls themselves and the features within. Intramural cells and galleries are characteristic of brochs, and Clachtoll displays a range of these. Excavating inside these cavernous spaces was quite an experience for archaeologists and volunteers alike, and you […]
Fire! Sampling Traces of the Broch’s Last Moments
The occupation surfaces and hearth sequence described in our earlier posts were sealed by an event that seems likely to mark the end of significant occupation within the broch: a thick layer of charred debris covered nearly all of the interior. This debris contained a range of materials including large roundwoods, burnt heather and grasses […]
PUTTING THE STORY BACK INTO HISTORY
Monday 26 March, 8pm, Lochinver Community Room, FREE event, all welcome Come to an evening of stories with historical novelist Margaret Elphinstone, Lewis story teller and author Ian Stephen, and raise a glass for the launch of The Walrus Mutterer, a new novel set at Clachtoll broch, in the Iron Age, by local author Mandy […]
Fields of Barley: the Knocking Stone
In the north-east quadrant of the broch interior, immediately above the ‘souterrain’ structure (detailed here), a spread of compact brown-orange clay over roughly-set flagstones formed a floor into which a large igneous boulder had been set. This boulder was a mortar or ‘knocking stone’ with a central V-shaped hole c. 0.25m deep, used for threshing […]
Fire and Water: the Final Hearth and a Stone Tank
At the centre of the broch we excavated a series of three hearths lying one on top of another. As the second hearth (detailed in our earlier post) became unusable, it was levelled with a thick deposit of ash and rubble and a third hearth complex was built over the top. This was composed of […]
Keep the Fires Burning: a Second Central Hearth
One of our earlier posts focussed on the lowest – and earliest – of three hearths laid one of top of the other in the centre of the broch interior. In this post, we’ll look at the second of these hearths. The earliest hearth was covered over with mixed debris to level it before a […]
Going Underground: a Souterrain within a Broch?
In our last post we looked at the earliest hearth, found in the centre of the broch. Today we turn our attention to an unusual design feature: integral to the broch’s internal layout was a drystone-lined lower passage. This feature was formed by the bedrock shelf on one side (see earlier post for more on the […]
Early Days at Clachtoll
Our previous post examined evidence for the construction of the broch. Today we move onto evidence relating to the earliest phase of occupation of the broch. At the centre of the broch were the remains of three successive hearths, layered on top of one another. The earliest surviving hearth had been constructed on a thin […]
The Beginnings of the Broch
In the summer of 2017, Historic Assynt and AOC Archaeology Group undertook a major programme of structural conservation and archaeological excavations at Clachtoll broch, Assynt. In a series of posts over the coming weeks, we’ll share with you the preliminary results of the excavations. Conservation works were concentrated on the south wall, an area previously […]