Small-Scale Evaluation of a Post-Medieval Blackhouse at Bereiro, Lewis, Western Isles of Scotland

Abstract

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 The results of the dating program are considered alongside historical documents, which record the social history of the village within the context of the long-standing research questions regarding blackhouse villages.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.

The role of geoarchaeology in the interpretation of fragmented buildings and occupation surfaces: The case of coastal settlements in northeast Scotland

“…The positively correlated elements of PC1 appeared to capture localised anthropogenic enrichment associated with the visible extent of occupation deposit 106 (Figure 10). The suite of variables included elevated magnetic susceptibility, loss‐on‐ignition, EC and plant macronutrients (P, Ca and S), which suggests the presence of soil‐rich organic deposits, such as peat or turf, that decomposed/burnt in situ, or that was spread or trampled across the interior of the structure (Nesbitt et al, 2013, p. 14). However, micromorphological evidence for burnt peat or turf was lacking, as only trace amounts of rubified fine material were present in thin‐section BHF16‐C (see Section 4.3.1).…”

“…The magnetic enhancement of this area indicates the presence of soil particles, pebbles and/or iron nodules that were affected by heating (Milek & Roberts, 2013, p. 1853). This suggests that heated soil material from the base of the hearth may have mixed with ash residues, and perhaps also signals the use of soil‐rich fuel sources such as peat or turf, though micromorphological evidence for this was limited (see Section 4.5) (Milek & Roberts, 2013, p. 1853; Nesbitt et al, 2013, p. 14).…”

“…This appeared to represent the remains of a decomposed burnt turf wall and/or an organic floor that may have had soil‐rich ash spread across the structure interior. The practice of spreading ash is known from 10th‐century Iceland (Milek & Roberts, 2013), post‐medieval Scottish crofts (Nesbitt et al, 2013; Smith, 1996) and 19th/20th‐century ethnography (Fenton, 1978, p. 195; Milek, 2012), where the floors of turf houses were treated to absorb moisture and odours. Recent evidence from a comparative geoarchaeological study at Lair in Glen Shee (central Scotland) suggests that this was also practiced on 7th‐ to 9th‐century Pictish farmsteads (Reid et al, 2023).…”