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Islay, Ardnave

Enclosure (Period Unknown), Hearth(S) (Iron Age), Hut Circle (Bronze Age)

Site Name Islay, Ardnave

Classification Enclosure (Period Unknown), Hearth(S) (Iron Age), Hut Circle (Bronze Age)

Alternative Name(s) Ardnave 2, Islay

Canmore ID 37488

Site Number NR27SE 22

NGR NR 2899 7458

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

C14 Radiocarbon Dating

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/37488

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Argyll And Bute
  • Parish Kilchoman
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Argyll And Bute
  • Former County Argyll

Activities

Excavation (1977 - 1980)

NR 289 745. Settlement site. A "rosette" pin and a "P-shaped" brooch each dating to about the 3rd century AD were found during examination of a small stone hearth and an associated shell heap which had been exposed in the sand dunes by erosion.

RCAHMS 1977.

NR 289 745. Following observation that severe erosion was continuing within the sand-hills to the S of Ardnave Point, a small excavation was undertaken to locate any structure associated with the hearth found in 1977 (DES 1977, 52). This was unsuccessful, but about 20m SE of the site of the hearth a small house, apparently of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, was discovered; oval on plan, it measured about 4m by 3m with an entrance at the E end and a central hearth. Overlying a layer of blown sand which filled the house, there was a midden-deposit containing quantities of decorated pottery, animal bones and shells.

RCAHMS 1979

NR 289 745. The excavation of the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age house was completed (DES 1979, 30). The small house examined in 1979 was found to be sitting within an earlier and larger stone-built structure dug into the sand-dunes and measuring about 9m by 7m; beneath the floor-deposits there was a complex of post-holes. The site had been covered by blown sand, and there was a subsequent occupation-level represented by midden material and pottery. A hearth, possibly of Iron Age date, lay a short distance from this occupation-area, but no associated structural evidence was found.

RCAHMS 1980

Field Visit (19 June 1978)

NR27SE 22 2899 7458.

The hearth has been reconstructed, and is on display in Islay Museum. The brooch has been presented to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS), and a replica will be lodged in Islay Museum. Mr Black pointed out the precise find spot of the hearth in an extensive bunker in which a number of shell middens are exposed, but no structures can be recognised.

Visited by OS (N K B) 19 June 1978.

Field Visit (October 1980)

NR 288 745. Excavations in the sand-dunes 1.8km NE of Ardnave carried out between 1977 and 1980 revealed a house of Bronze Age date overlain by midden deposits, two hearths of Iron Age date, and a stone-walled enclosure, the date of which is not known. This account is a summary of the published report. (RCAHMS 1977)

This house had not been a free-standing structure but has been set in a hollow in the sand-dunes; the W side had been destroyed by erosion but the wall-face on the other three sides remained intact, the enclosed area measuring 9m by at least 7m. The wall stood to a height of 0.9m, built upon a foundation of massive boulders. The entrance had presumably been on the w side. A hearth, situated a little to the N of the centre of the interior and underlying a secondary wall, provided a radiocarbon date of 1730 bc +/- 65 (GU-1439).

Although there were many internal post-holes, no coherent pattern could be made out. The N third of the house was remodelled to form a smaller dwelling measuring some 4.5m by 3m; this made use of the N wall of the original house, but an internal wall was added with a pair of large portal-stones on each side of the entrance. Immediately in front of the entrance there was a pit, which contained a complete Food Vessel. Radiocarbon dates for material from the occupation levels within the smaller house range from 1737 bc +/- 60 (GU-1114) to 1375 bc +/- 80(GU-1274).

Subsequently the structures were engulfed by blown sand, but layers of midden material, overlying the sand and containing pottery, flint and bones, provided a radiocarbon date of 1280 bc +/- 120 (GU-1272), suggesting that occupation continued in the immediate vicinity of the house.

In 1977, at a point some 22m NW of the house, a hearth was uncovered; D-shaped on plan, it measured 0.85m by 0.68m within slabs that protruded up to 0.18m above the paved floor. It was associated with a bronze rosette-headed pin and a bronze brooch, belonging to distinctive types of 3rd- or 4th-century AD date. A second hearth, excavated in 1980 some 10m sw of the house, was found to have been disturbed, but two uprights and an area of paving survived, showing that it had originally measured about 1.2m by 0.7m; charcoal from it provided a radiocarbon date of ad 195 +/- 60 (GU-1443) for this occupation horizon.

To the W of the house the wall of a rectilinear enclosure can still be detected, the E part of which, however, has been destroyed; measuring 30m from N to S, the stones of the wall provide a slight revetment holding back the sand from the enclosed area. No signs of a cultivated land-surface were found inside and the date and purpose of the enclosure are not known.

The first hearth and some pottery vessels are preserved in the Museum of Islay Life, Port Charlotte; the remaining small finds are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.

Visited October 1980

RCAHMS 1984

References

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