Islets through Time: The Definition, Dating and Distribution of Scottish Crannogs

ABSTRACT. Crannogs are ancient artificial islands found in Scotland and Ireland, which typically had some sort of dwelling place constructed on them that served variously as farmers' homesteads, status symbols, refuges in times of trouble, hunting and fishing stations, etc. Substantial research has been carried out for similar sites in mainland Europe, which has demonstrated that they were lakeside settlements, mostly dating to the Neolithic period and not built over open water. In contrast, the Scottish and Irish sites were built in open water, clearly separate from the shore. In Perthshire, some prehistoric crannogs were originally timber-built roundhouses supported on piles or stilts driven into the loch bed. Today, these crannogs appear as treecovered islands or remain hidden as submerged stony mounds. Until recently, there were few radiocarbon dates for these structures and so the sites appeared as a homogeneous group. Not only did this make it impossible to examine them in subgroupings but it also inhibited research, as they did not fit into known periods or architecturally distinct sub-groups, except that they were surrounded by water. Recent work in Loch Tay has resulted in ,4 C dating of the timber piles from 13 of the 18 crannogs in the loch, allowing them to be fitted into different classes. A major group was constructed in the Early Iron Age around 400-800 BC, with smaller groups constructed around 200-300 BC and 0 BC/AD. There is also evidence of repair/ reoccupation of some of these crannogs in the 6th-9th centuries AD. A number of the sites were also known to be inhabited into the recent past, with one, Priory Island, occupied until the 17th century. The dates of construction also raise important issues relating to the loch-level changes that have taken place. The ,4 C results will be discussed in relation to the periods of origin and habitation of the crannogs.

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“…More recently, several studies have added to the discussion (Barber and Crone 1993;Henderson 1998;Dixon 2004). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Dating of the Crannogs of Loch Tay, Perthshire (Scotland)

Dixon

Andrian²,

Garety

et al. 2007

Radiocarbon

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“…Over 500 of these artificial islands are known (Lenfert, 2012), and are frequently encountered as small islands or submerged mounds in lochs. In Scotland, the known distribution of crannogs, which sees high densities of sites in western regions and very few sites in eastern areas, has been viewed as significant and linked to wider interpretations of crannogs' date and function (Munro, 1882: 248-9;Henderson, 1998Henderson, : 240-2, 2009Cavers, 2010: 26-36;Lenfert, 2013). The understood distribution has informed research strategies which have regularly targeted regions with a wellestablished crannog resource (e.g.…”

Section: Drainage and Impacts To The Archaeological Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this work has greatly increased our understanding of the site-type in the region, the degree to which these datasets are applicable to other regions is unclear, and making wider interpretations of the artificial island dwelling phenomenon in Scotland problematic. Most notably, the assertion that crannogs were predominately a phenomenon of western Scotland in later prehistory has been made (Henderson, 1998(Henderson, , 2009Cavers, 2006Cavers, , 2010Henderson, 2009;Lenfert, 2013). If crannogs are recognised as being a building tradition constructed nearly ubiquitously wherever suitable loch conditions existed in Scotland in the first millennium BC, then interpretations based on a western distribution of crannogs must be reassessed.…”

Section: Re-constructing Lost Lochs and Implications For The Archaeolmentioning

confidence: 99%

The lost lochs of Scotland: tracking land-use change and its effects on the archaeological record

Stratigos

2016

Journal of Wetland Archaeology

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This paper examines how loch drainage in 18 th and 19 th century Scotland has shaped the archaeological record, with particular reference to lake dwellings known as 'crannogs'. The analysis uses the Roy Military Survey of Scotland (1747-55) as a base-line for charting changes to lacustrine environment through time. The work is unique for its scale which examines all of mainland Scotland, and the results have revealed unrecognised patterns in the timing and intensity of land-use changes that have impacted lacustrine environments. These patterns are linked to the development of archaeological investigation in Scotland demonstrating that the current distribution of crannogs across the country is an artefact of loch drainage and antiquarian investigation and not representative of the past distribution of these critical sites. This paper presents one way in which we can begin to account for these historic changes to land-use and their impact to our understanding of the archaeological record.

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“…Since the discovery of Eilean Domhnuill on North Uist it has been considered a possibility that lake settlement forms in Scotland have been in existence since the Neolithic (Armit 1996), while in Ireland the existence of related lake ‘platform’ structures dating to the Mesolithic has been established (O'Sullivan 1998; Fredengren 2002). However, closer analysis of the dating evidence for crannogs has indicated that the majority of sites belong to the ‘Later Prehistoric’ period, broadly taken to be the period 1000 BC to AD 500 (Crone 1993; Henderson 1998). The aim of this paper is to identify the evidence for the origins of lake settlement forms in Scotland and Ireland, considering the likely origin of the concept of the ‘crannog’, as well as the physical evidence for the structure of early lake settlements and their relationship to contemporary terrestrial settlements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Bronze and Iron Age Lake Settlement in Scotland and Ireland: The Development of the ‘Crannog’ in the North and West

Cavers¹

2006

Oxford J Archaeology

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This paper considers the evidence for the origins and development of the lake settlement tradition of Scotland and Ireland in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Considering a crannog 'event horizon' around the mid-first millennium BC, dating and structural evidence are compared and contrasted, and the evidence for non-domestic activity including ritual and votive deposition is contextualized. It is argued that the concurrent appearance of crannogs with the flourish of domestic monumentality in Scotland and Ireland can be seen as a consequence of the fusion of ritual and domestic spheres of life in the later first millennium BC, integrating the themes of architectural monumentality and the Iron Age reverence of water.introduction The longevity of the chronology of crannogs has been known for some time (Morrison 1982). Since the discovery of Eilean Domhnuill on North Uist it has been considered a possibility that lake settlement forms in Scotland have been in existence since the Neolithic (Armit 1996), while in Ireland the existence of related lake 'platform' structures dating to the Mesolithic has been established (O'Sullivan 1998;Fredengren 2002). However, closer analysis of the dating evidence for crannogs has indicated that the majority of sites belong to the 'Later Prehistoric' period, broadly taken to be the period 1000 BC to AD 500 (Crone 1993; Henderson 1998). The aim of this paper is to identify the evidence for the origins of lake settlement forms in Scotland and Ireland, considering the likely origin of the concept of the 'crannog', as well as the physical evidence for the structure of early lake settlements and their relationship to contemporary terrestrial settlements.The archaeology of lake settlement in the late second and early first millennium BC is better documented in Ireland than in Scotland, where so far the earliest dates for a fully developed 'crannog' structure come from Loch Tay, from the contemporary sites at Oakbank and Fearnan Hotel that may be as early as the ninth century BC (Dixon 1982). Lake settlement in the Later Bronze Age is well represented in Ireland, and several large-scale excavations have meant that the nature of this early horizon of lake and wetland habitation is relatively well documented. Besides a range of sites which have been demonstrated to have been constructed, inhabited and abandoned in the Later Bronze Age (e.g. Cullyhanna, Hodges 1958; Lough Eskragh, Collins and OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 25(4) 389-412 2006

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Islets through Time: The Definition, Dating and Distribution of Scottish Crannogs

Cited by 22 publications

References 3 publications

Radiocarbon Dating of the Crannogs of Loch Tay, Perthshire (Scotland)

Radiocarbon Dating of the Crannogs of Loch Tay, Perthshire (Scotland)

The lost lochs of Scotland: tracking land-use change and its effects on the archaeological record

Late Bronze and Iron Age Lake Settlement in Scotland and Ireland: The Development of the ‘Crannog’ in the North and West

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