In July, August and September 2017, a major archaeological excavation was carried out at Clachtoll broch. Since the project is an integrated research, conservation and interpretation initiative, the project design is similarly integrated: the excavations aimed to help to determine how the conservation and subsequent presentation of the monument will be undertaken.
When limited conservation works were carried out in 2012, the interior of the broch was found to be filled with rubble, and the walls were cracked an broken in ways that suggest the monument had suffered a catastrophic collapse of the original tower. Charcoal from the broch scarcement ledge was dated to the middle Iron Age, probably in the first century BC or AD, suggesting that, unlike many other brochs excavated in Scotland, the interior had lain untouched since the Iron Age occupation. This made Clachtoll broch a very exciting prospect, because the original occupation layers lay untouched beneath the rubble collapse. We’ll continue to share details about the results of the excavation in on the news page. See below for a short film made while we were on site!
