Recent excavation of Scottish Iron Age Brochs and wheelhouses enables new discussion of the development, dating and economic interpretation of these impressive structures. Here, Gilmour & Cook assess the work at Dun Vulan, South Uist, in the Western Isles.

The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract -This paper presents the results of the excavation of two dry-stone structures in the abandoned blackhouse village of Bereiro, near to the township of Crowlista, Isle of Lewis. The research was undertaken as part of a wider landscape project investigating human occupation on the Uig peninsula from prehistory to the post-medieval period (the Uig Landscape Project). The excavation aimed to collect dating evidence from the site to determine the date of construction and abandonment of one of the earliest structures in the village, in an attempt to establish the longevity of the blackhouse form in the vernacular architecture of medieval Atlantic Scotland. The results of the dating program are considered alongside historical documents, which record the social history of the village within the context of the long-standing research questions regarding blackhouse villages. These questions include the development of the agricultural field systems and continuity or change in the Hebridean landscape from later-prehistory to medieval times.

Summary The chance discovery of burials at the traditional site of St Trolla's Chapel, Kintradwell, near Brora, led to their rescue excavation and subsequent analysis. The results confirm that this was the site of a chapel in the Medieval period, with radiocarbon dates indicating the use of the burial ground from the earlier 11th to the 16th or 17th centuries. The skeletal remains reveal something of the personal histories of the occupants, with evidence for warfare, hard labour, injury through accident and a possible case of congenital syphilis. The site's association with St Triduana and the concentration of late Iron Age remains and Pictish sculpture in the vicinity together suggest an earlier, Pictish origin for the chapel.

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