Lewis, Traigh Na Berie

Broch, Traigh na Berie.

To the southeast of Valtos, along the south shore of Loch Roag, is a fine stretch of sands, known as Traigh na Berie. Extending southwards from here into a rocky piece of country is a grassy flat, rising only about 25 feet above sea-level, near the western side of which, and 400 yards from the shore, are the remains of a circular dun. Immediately to the west of the site a reedy lochan intervenes between it and the hills, while to the east is a stretch of level grassland about 200 yards across, probably once a marsh. All that remains of the dun is a stony mound, rising at most 4 feet above the surrounding level and showing the outer foundation course of building in position for a considerable part of the circumference. The only measurement obtainable is the external diameter, which is 55 feet. The wall has been at least 10 feet thick, and the entrance, which is quite destroyed, has been from the north-east.

RCAHMS 1928, visited 20 June 1914.

OS map: Lewis xvii (unnoted).

NB13 3 BEIRGH ('Berie', 'Traigh na Berie 1', 'Loch na Berie', 'Riof', 'Reef')

NB/1034 3516

This slightly aberrant ground-galleried broch in Uig, Lewis, stands on flat, marshy ground south of Traigh (‘beach') na Berie and 400m from the shore (visited July 1990). Before excavations began in 1985 all that could be seen was a low, stony, grass-covered mound in which the outer wallface could be traced in places, giving an overall diameter of 16.5m (54.1 ft) [2]. This site is another interesting example of how misleading surface indications can be (see NB13 2 above). The Commission's investigators clearly thought that there was little left, and that the entrance was “quite destroyed” [2]. However the excavation showed that in places the broch wall still stands at least 3.00m (9.8 ft) high under the accumulated silt and rubbish [3, fig. 27].

Excavations have occurred in two spells, from 1985-88 and 1993-95, under the direction of Prof. D W Harding of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. However this account of the work has to be a partial one for several reasons. In the first place the work is unfinished; the primary Iron Age floor inside the broch has not been reached and our knowledge of the beginning of the occupation of this site is therefore almost non existent. At the time of the final revision of this entry (September 2005) there appeared to be no prospect of it continuing. Secondly only vol. 1 of the report has appeared – concerning the structures and stratigraphy found [3] – and this contains very little about the sequence of material culture found. Thirdly, much of the site sequence which was unravelled falls into the late Iron Age, or “Pictish” period, so is not directly relevant to the main themes of this study of brochs. The account here is therefore a summary except for the description of what has been exposed of the broch itself.

1. The structures and stratigraphy

1.1 Introduction

Almost certainly the site was originally on a rocky islet in a loch, now silted up and covered with reeds [3, Plate 1]. The 1957 OS 1 inch map shows a small loch here but the information used was probably out of date even then. A causeway runs across the reedy bog immediately west of the broch (towards the hills) but it seems to be modern and built with looted stones; however it may replace an older one. The site is still extremely wet; at the time of the author's visit the water was standing in the broch almost up to the level of the lintels of the ground gallery – and that must be about 1.5m at least above the primary floor. The water must therefore have risen at least 2m since Iron Age times.

An important aspect of this broch is that the gradual silting up of the loch around it, and the rising of the water level, seems to have been going on since Iron Age times with the result that the earlier levels are waterlogged. If and when these are ever reached, well preserved organic material will doubtless be found, as in the underwater site at Dun Bharabhat (NB13 2). These wet deposits can be seen inside the lowest gallery which is only about half full of debris [3, Plate 51].

The phasing system adopted to describe the history of the site runs, counter-intuitively, from recent to earlier instead of from the beginning to later horizons; the reason of course is that the oldest levels have not yet been uncovered and their number is therefore uncertain. Thus Phase 1 is the latest horizon and eleven more have been defined going back to the building and first occupation of the 'Atlantic roundhouse' or broch (Phase 12). Since the description of the material culture sequence at the site is reserved for another volume the cultural context of this broch and its secondary buildings cannot be adequately described here apart from those few aspects of it which have been published (section 4 below). A simple diagram of the main phases of occupation is in the report [3, figs. 4a and 4b] and the author has attempted another version trying to integrate the site sequence with the local sequence of material culture.

1.2. The broch

It is not altogether clear how the features of the basal storey of the broch have been identified since most of that level is still buried by the unexcavated deposits in the interior. Presumably it was possible to see the intra-mural galleries – and the tops of the doorways from these to the central court – by peering under the lintels of the former. Sometimes the report gives the mis-leading impression that more is known about the primary levels than is the case. For example some readers might easily conclude that the plan of the broch at ground level with the inserted roundhouse is showing the roundhouse floor at its primary level; the plan shows paving and other features which suggest the original floor and which appear to be linked with the roundhouse wall. However we know from the sections [3, fig. 21] that excavation inside the broch has nowhere reached more than about a metre below the level of the scarcement so there must be up to another metre of deposits below the floor level shown. Of course a careful reading of the text (and the sections) reveals this [3, 50] but the plans should have been labelled to make this quite clear.

Broch Level 1 (Phase 12). The main building is a very well preserved, almost ground-galleried broch which still stands to above scarcement level all the way round; the lintels roofing the ground level galleries are in position [3, figs. 15 and 16]. The report [3] is accompanied by a folder which contains large-scale plans of the various superimposed buildings at a scale of 1:75.

Beirgh is a relatively slim-walled structure with overall diameters of 16.7m (54.8 ft) east-west and 17.1m (56.07 ft) north-south [3, fig. 16]. The corresponding internal diameters are 10.2 and 10.7m (33.4 and 35.1 ft) and the average wall proportion (the percentage of the total diameter (d) occupied by the two wall bases on it. (b1 and b2); this can be found with the simple formula: % = (b1 + b2) x 100 / d. A more useful figure – but one more difficult to obtain – would be obtained by working out the proportion of the area of the central court to that of the broch as a whole) would thus be 38.2%. The classic ground-galleried broch Dun Mor Vaul on Tiree has a wall proportion of 42.2% – slightly more massive (NM04 4). The entrance passage faces almost due east and its lintels, including a large and thick outermost one, are in situ; the passage is 3.3m long with built checks for a door 1.2m from the outside. There are several 'niches' in the sides of the passage just below lintel level but any bar-hole and socket for the door-frame are still buried. A lintelled guard cell opens from the left side of the passage, behind the left check.

At 7.30 o'clock is the doorway to an oval mural cell (“Gallery 2” in the report) 2.25 m long and also lintelled. There is a similar doorway to a similar cell at 9 o'clock but in this case the length is 4.1 m. A third doorway at 2.30 o'clock leads to a long gallery which, on the left, extends clockwise back to the cell just mentioned for a distance of some 13.8 m. To the right it leads to the intra-mural stair the first exposed step of which appears after 2.0 m; the rest is still buried so the flight must start much closer to the doorway. Thus at this site, as at Dun Mor Vaul (NM04 4), there is no stair-foot guard cell as such, only a long gallery.

At 4.30 o'clock is the fourth doorway which leads to the same stretch of gallery but behind the stairway; that part to the left of the doorway is called “Gallery 6” for some reason and that to the right – some 2.9m long – is “Gallery 7”. Both Gallery 7 and the anticlockwise end of Gallery 4 are in effect long cells because of short projections from one wall which give the impression of an internal doorway. The entire intra-mural space is roofed with lintels most of which are intact although they do not form an even surface [3, Plates 40 and 41].

Two examples of secondary masonry were found which appeared to antedate the insertion of the roundhouse (below) [3, 54-5 and figs. 25 and 26].

The inserted roundhouse (Phase 10). At some stage a secondary wall 1.0 to 1.5m thick was built against the north half of the inner face of the broch wall; in the southern half the added wall was not continuous, leaving the original wall exposed in places. On either side of the entrance (which evidently remained open, though half full of debris) were two radial piers which create two ”perimeter cells”; that on the right looks like a new guard cell for the passage. The doorways into Galleries 2 and 6 remained accessible although the others – including that to the stair – seem to have been blocked. The occupation deposits of the roundhouse (the deposits of which are still largely un-excavated except in the north-east quadrant [3, 51]). had been sealed in by a layer of laid peat which was the most distinctive horizon in the internal stratigraphy [3, 42]. The text has to be read carefully to find out just how little of these lower levels are known, though the situation is clearly set on p. 56 [3]; the detailed plan of the secondary roundhouse can give the casual reader the false impression that it was completely explored.

Judging from the section drawings [3, fig. 21, etc.] the roundhouse appears to have become partially filled with occupation deposits over a long period, and then with what looks like fallen rubble mixed with soil strata. Some idea of the complexity of the later floor levels can be gained from the excavators’ descriptions [3, 50-1]. On top of these stony deposits, and about level with the broch scarcement, was the peaty horizon noted earlier and on which was built the first 'cellular structure' of Phase 9; this is the start of the occupation of the site in what is termed the Pictish period [3, fig. 13] but these later horizons are not discussed in detail here. Whether Pictland proper really extended so far west from its heartland in the north-east main-land is debatable. They can be studied through the excellent series of plans accompanying the report.

An underground cellar, or souterrain, was inserted into the floor of the roundhouse at a late stage. A single C-14 date was obtained for what was inferred to be later roundhouse occupation – from material resting on the lintels of the ground level gallery which included standard decorated Iron Age pottery [3, 63]. The date is –

GU-4923 1760 +/- 50 bp

which calibrates to AD 220-338 at the 68% confidence level. At least part of the first floor gallery was still intact and roofed when these deposits accumulated because lintels from a higher level were found on them. This implies that the broch was standing to a higher level – and perhaps was still a completely intact tower – when this debris accumulated.

Broch Level 2 (Phase 12). The chamber over the main entrance, opening to the interior, is partly preserved and several courses of its inner part are in position above scarcement level. Its floor (the lintels roofing the passage below) has been exposed [3, Plate 42] and presumably joined the scarcement by means of the innermost lintel, now vanished. Likewise the outer part of the wall presumably formed the outer end of this chamber but this has all disappeared apart from the massive outer lintel (which itself had to be reset in position [3, Plate 35]). This chamber connected with the Level 2 galleries on either side of it [3, fig. 15].

A fine ledge scarcement, some 30cm in width, is on the interior wallface at an unknown distance above the floor [3, fig. 15]. The only gaps in this ledge are at the main entrance (where the bridging lintel has evidently disappeared) and at the Level 1 doorway at 2.30 o'clock where the twin capstones are several centimetres lower than the scarcement. This ground level door is described as “first floor level” [3, 56] which is slightly confusing as the term usually means first raised floor. Presumably there was a low void here over the lower doorway the upper lintel of which (forming the sill of the raised doorway) has disappeared. The excavator says that this raised opening provided the only direct access to the Level 2 gallery, the similar doorway at 3 o’clock (below) being unsuitable because of the stairwell [3, 57]. However the inner end of the chamber over the entrance would have provided much more commodious access.

There is also a gap at 3 o'clock where a doorway in Level 2 leads to a short landing in the stair; a few steps of the second flight survive to its right. Here the sill of the doorway is evidently slightly higher than the ledge. The large-scale plans of the area [3, figs. 14, 15 and 16] does not show all these details but the structures are shown in Plate 44 [3]; the small plan of the area makes all clear [3, fig. 25]. To the left of the pole are the few remaining steps of the second flight of the stair, with a few flat slabs of the landing visible in front of it (a large paving-slab had been exposed here when the photograph in the report was taken). To the right of the pole is the raised doorway to the interior, which emerges there, as noted, slightly above the scarcement.

Most of the lintels flooring the Level 2 gallery (and roofing that of Level 1) are still in position [3, Plates 40 and 41]. As one would expect these are missing immediately clockwise from the stair, obviously to make a stairwell to allow people to go up and down it [3, fig. 15]. Occupation debris had accumulated on these but there was an empty space of varying depth below them, and on top of the still largely unexplored deposits in Level 1 [3, figs. 26 and 27]. The excavator suggests that, before they became the receptacle for midden material, there was a floor of beaten earth on these lintels (which by themselves make but a rough and irregular surface). This implies that the Level 1 gallery was used regularly when the tower was intact.

The first floor gallery meets the chamber above the entrance on both sides to form an unusual “cross-shaped” pattern, the gallery coming from the left widening to a wedge shape as it overrides the lintelled guard chamber below. This situation contrasts with that in many other brochs in which this chamber is either isolated except from the interior or has one gallery connecting with the chamber. Dun Carloway used to be the only obvious parallel to Beirgh here (NB14 1) but Dun Telve (NG81 2) is now known to be another as may be Loch an Duna (NB24 1).

Broch Level 3. There are a few signs that Beirgh had at least three superimposed galleries in its wall. Some lintels fallen from the floor of the third gallery were found lying in the second, and under these slabs was found middle Iron Age midden material resting on the lintels of the ground level gallery. The pottery here was highly decorated and a long-handled bone comb was another find. Presumably this midden material was dumped in the gallery during the roundhouse phase of occupation.

The beginning of the second flight of the stair also implies that there was a third level in the wall, though whether this was an open gallery running round the wallhead or a closed one cannot be determined now. The slimness of the broch wall suggests that it was never really tall.

1.3 The later structures (Phases 9-1)

Very briefly described, the post-Roundhouse occupations inside the ruined or demolished broch (and founded on deep deposits which had already accumulated therein) fall into two groups, the first being a series of 'Cellular structures' (Phases 9-5) which mark a complete change of style from the period of the Iron Age roundhouses. These are unusual buildings in the Western Isles, having what look like a series of irregular, open-fronted cells peripheral to a clear central area. They recall to some extent the 'courtyard houses' found in the late Bronze Age levels at Jarlshof in Shetland (HU30 1) and which have so far seemed to be a phenomenon confined to the Northern Isles. At Gurness (HY32 2) too there is evidence of the very late survival of this type of dwelling.

The 'cellular structures' were followed by another fundamental change of style in which a series of 'Figure of Eight' buildings was erected (Phases 4-1). The inner wallfaces of the first of these were formed of vertical slabs revetted against older midden material; in other words this was partly a dug-out structure, inserted into material already accumulated in the interior of the broch. However some of these slabs rested against the broch masonry, or the secondary facing against this, with an air space behind them. There was a central hearth with a second peripheral fireplace.

The layout of all these buildings is shown, Phase by Phase, on the commendably large-scale and detailed plans [3, figs. 5-11].

Radiocarbon dating: four C-14 dates were obtained for the occupation of the 'Cellular structures' which followed that of the Roundhouse. The calibrated dates AD are given in brackets below each entry, to a 68% level of confidence.

1. GU-4927 1700 +/- 50 bp (ad 150)

(AD 253 – 406)

2. AA-23724 1650 +/- 55 bp (ad 300)

(AD 340 -433)

3. AA-23723 1595 +/- 60 bp (ad 355)

(AD 400 – 542)

4. GU-4926 1580 +/- 60 bp (ad 370)

(AD 411 – 549)

No. 1 comes from the peat layer laid down at the start of this period, so presumably also dates the end of the Roundhouse occupation to the late 2nd or the 3rd century AD. Nos. 2-4 are for samples from the occupation levels and they all fall rather neatly into the late 3rd and 4th centuries. No such dates were obtained for the figure-of-eight buildings but some characteristic artifacts from those horizons are datable (below).

1.4 Artifact dating

A detailed study of the artifacts has yet to be published but some indications of the results are given in the first report [3, 63-7]. A number of unusual artifacts were found in the post-broch 'Cellular phase' occupations and these help both with dating and with assigning the phase to a more general cultural context. Particularly important is the bronze-working debris found dumped mainly in Cell 7 in the earliest of these levels. This included slag, crucible fragments and mould fragments, the last providing the evidence for the artifacts made on site. There were two-piece moulds for undecorated hand-pins (a late form of ring-headed pin) and proto-hand-pins; the former type is usually assigned stylistically to the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries, and the prototype form perhaps to the 3rd and 4th centuries.

The other important find was the mould for a bronze 'doorknob' spear-butt, primarily an Irish phenomenon (although the moulds have only been found in Scotland) and which is usually dated to the 1st and 2nd centuries (Raftery 1982). A recent re-assessment, based partly on the radiocarbon evidence from Beirgh, suggests a slightly later time span, lasting from about the 3rd to the 5th centuries (Heald 2001, 690) (this is important for the later chronology of Dun Mor Vaul – NM04 4).

A fragment of Roman Samian ware dating to the late 1st or the first half of the 2nd century (Drag. 18 or 18/31) was found in a deposit of the late Cellular phase. Clearly it must have been kept on the site for quite a long time after it arrived, and that arrival itself may have occurred some time after it was made. This Roman pottery is found fairly frequently in early broch levels, though rarely in the Outer Isles.

The finds from the 'late Pictish period' with figure-of-eight houses, and their implications for dating, are discussed in some detail [3, 64-7] but need only be alluded to briefly here. An important new artifact is the composite bone comb, several fragments of which were found. Plain pottery is the norm, and crucibles of Laing's Type 8 were also found. Two bronze penannular brooches found are of forms (Fowler's Types G and H) which are thought to date from the 5th/6th centuries and the 7th/8th centuries respectively (Laing 1993) [4, Illus. 6.22]. However they were in reverse order stratigraphically; in other words the earlier levels of the 'Later Pictish period' seem to be dated more accurately by the later brooch.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NB 13 NW 3: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 20, no. 69: 3. Harding and Gilmour 2000: 4. Harding and Armit 1990, 94-107.

E W MacKie 2007

...continued in Part 2 (Event ID 1039142).

NB13 3 BEIRGH ('Berie', 'Traigh na Berie 1', 'Loch na Berie', 'Riof', 'Reef')

NB/1034 3516

...contined from Part 1 (Event ID 587320)

2. Discussion

Until the excavations are continued down to the primary broch floor level all comments about the date of the primary structure, the design of its interior furnishings and the early history of the occupations that took place in it must remain tentative. Nevertheless, after a brief review of the original structure, an attempt is made here to set the Beirgh sequence, as it is known at present, into a wider context. This is done in the hope that such a preliminary scheme, even if it turns out to be mistaken in parts, may help with the development of a final synthesis.

2.1 The broch

In general Beirgh broch occupies a strong position on an islet in what was once a freshwater loch; that defensive considerations were important is suggested by the fact that the entrance is on the opposite side of the islet to the causeway to the shore [3, 68-9]. The broch is in a typical Outer Hebridean situation – between the cultivable ground of the machair (with the sea beyond) and the rough grazing further inland.

Beirgh is a good example of something close to a ground-galleried broch of classic Hebridean type. The solid, well-built masonry, the massive ledge scarcement and the way in which the stair has a landing giving access to a doorway to this raised ledge – and thus leading out on to the raised wooden floor which presumably once rested on that ledge – all suggest to the author that this is a hollow-walled broch tower skilfully and confidently built in the classic tradition. If further explorations occur they will surely reveal the ring of massive post-holes (perhaps with waterlogged post-butts in them) which will be all that remains of the internal wooden roundhouse – with its raised annular floor resting on the scarcement – which surely existed inside the broch during the first phase of occupation.

The long sequence of secondary occupations suggests that the site was of some importance over several centuries, presumably because it dominated the machair and other agricultural 1and around the modern villages of Cnip and Valtos. Yet one cannot rule out the possibility that – as with many other long-occupied brochs – the importance was due to the prestige of the founding family and to the new, relatively tall tower which they had erected for themselves and which must have seemed overpoweringly impressive when it first appeared.

Judging by the example of Dun Mor Vaul on Tiree (NM04 4) the building of the secondary wall around the central court (the Roundhouse) could imply that the upper stories of the galleried wall of the broch were demolished at some stage in the middle Iron Age. Perhaps however it was not reduced immediately to its present level as the pottery and artifacts which accumulated in the Level 1 gallery imply that the latter was still roofed (its lintels fell in later). The stone round-house should also imply that the complex primary wooden roundhouse, perhaps having several storeys, was dismantled; this demolition of the woodwork could support the idea of the demolition of the upper works of the tower at the same time. The original high roof would also then have been replaced with a new low one, doubtless resting on the secondary wall. Harding has come to a similar conclusion and suggests that the tower may have been pulled down even before the stone roundhouse was inserted – exactly as at Dun Mor Vaul.

A sharp change in building tradition – involving the final abandonment of the long-lasting roundhouse tradition and the laying of a sterile layer – occurred at the end of that phase but this seems to have occurred while the middle phase of the local Iron Age material cultural sequence was still flourishing (below).

2.2 Material cultural sequence

Some remarks about the material cultures discovered at various post-broch levels help us to get a preliminary overall picture [3, 64-66]. However the absence in this report of any published drawings of pottery from the pre-'Pictish' levels hinders any attempt to assess the cultural relationships of the site's middle Iron Age inhabitants. Fortunately there are two very useful drawings of potsherds from the site in another of Harding’s publications (2000, figs. 9 and 10).

The excavators' accounts of the site have so far emphasised three major and distinct Phases of occupation, namely (1) the Iron Age stage with the broch (or Atlantic roundhouse) and the roundhouse that was inserted into it, (2) the 'early Pictish' period with a sequence of 'cellular structures' and (3) the 'late Pictish' period with figure-of-eight buildings. Thus one gets the clear impression that there is a fundamental cultural break between the broch and the roundhouse on the one hand and the sequence of ‘Pictish’ buildings which followed them on the other.

This terminology, because it is based purely on the local evidence, is at variance with that suggested by the author forty years ago (MacKie 1965, fig. 6), elaborated six years later (MacKie 1971, fig. 7). In this scheme, which is based on data from all over Atlantic Scotland, the fundamental difference in material culture between the 'age of the brochs' – or the middle Iron Age – and the following period is crucial (Stevenson 1955). This latter period – labelled V in 1965 and 'late Iron Age' in 1971 (this is the Early Historic period on the main-land)– is characterised by the complete dis-appearance of the middle Iron Age decorated pottery and associated artifacts and by the first appearance of ornamental-headed and hipped bone pins and by composite bone combs; these never appear in earlier levels.

Foster has shown that these pins and combs span the period from about AD 600-1100 (Foster 1990, Illus. 9.3). With the exception of the evolved Dun Cuier ware (which seems to have been made only at the very end of the Middle period) the great array of decorated middle Iron Age pottery styles evidently disappeared before this Late period.

At Beirgh this late Iron Age horizon is evidently that of the 'late Pictish' period; the 'early Pictish' period by contrast appears not to have these characteristic artifacts. In fact the latter yielded items which elsewhere are of standard middle Iron Age type, such as the spear-butt moulds. The pottery sequence will surely provide the key and – despite the appearance of the new Cellular buildings in the ruined broch – on the basis of the published evidence one would expect the middle Iron Age decorated wares to have continued in use throughout the 'cellular' phases and for these horizons therefore to belong to that period.

Although facts about the pottery sequence are sparse in the report – for example in the first ‘Pictish’ (or ‘Cellular’) phase we are told that there was indeed a “continued use of applied cordon decoration and short everted rims on pottery…” [3, 73] – much more useful information is given elsewhere (Harding 2000, 21-2 and Figs. 9 and 10). For example the potsherds from the immediately post-broch, or roundhouse, horizon are obviously of classic middle Iron Age forms, and very similar to the material from Dun Bharabhat (NB03 1). The classic large storage urns are present (‘Phase 10’, two at lower left), and are closely analogous to the Vaul ware urns from Tiree except in their decoration. There is also a classic Balevullin vase with geometrical incised decoration and a representation of a waist cordon (‘Exterior NE’, bottom).

The Everted Rim jars have clearly arrived on the site by this stage and these include several rim sherds with internal fluting – the Clickhimin sub-style (‘Phase 10’, three at lower right); this is one of the rare examples of a middle Iron Age style which is found all over the maritime part of the broch province, and also found in early Iron Age levels in the type site (HU44 1). Also potentially important in this context is the clear example of an early Iron Age carinated vessel (‘Exterior NE’, top right) which, because of its late context, ought to be some form of heirloom. Similar finds in late contexts were made at Dun Mor Vaul and Dun Ardtreck (NM04 4 and NG33 2).

Samples of pottery from the early and late ‘Pictish’ phases - from the latter come fragments of plain pottery (associated, as noted, with composite bone combs) and this phase clearly belongs to the late Iron Age. However the sherds from the previous level (the ‘Cellular phases’) are classic middle Iron Age forms and they include fragments of cordoned vessels (which are almost certainly pieces of jars) and something very close to the Clettraval sub-style of the Everted Rim jar, so prominent on Tiree (bottom le ft). There are also two rim sherds of classic Dun Cuier ware (‘Cellular phases’, top left) with its characteristic long, slightly incurving and nearly upright rim. These appear to demonstrate the truth of the assumption that this is the final manifestation of the cordoned jars of the middle Iron Age (they were found without the earlier forms at the type site on Barra) and it would be interesting to know if any of these sherds were in fact found in the ‘late Pictish’ levels.

There is good evidence now from a few other sites that the complex middle Iron Age material culture (apart from the buildings) continued on at least until AD 500, possibly well into the 6th century, both in the west (Dun Ardtreck – MacKie 2002) and in Shetland (at Scalloway – site HU43 4). This great maritime Iron Age culture, with its origins in the late Bronze Age, evolved over more than fifteen hundred years to construct a large number of the most sophisticated domestic and monumental drystone buildings known anywhere in the world and to develop a remarkably sophisticated material culture and economy, and it is the disappearance of this that marks the great hiatus in the local archaeological record. Compared with this dramatic break the adoption of a new type of stone building in the later stages of the middle Iron Age is of minor importance and the term ‘Pictish’ for it is a complete misnomer.

Major periods in the history of an Iron Age site should surely be defined by the entire associated material culture rather than by a single trait like a house type. Indeed when viewed against the material cultural background there is almost a perverseness about the system suggested for Beirgh by its excavator, which also seems to reflect an obsession with stone structures rather than with the entire technology and economy of the site.

It must have been obvious from an early stage that the ‘Early Pictish’ period of cellular structures was yielding a material culture which was more or less identical to that of the previous broch period so why describe it as ‘Pictish’? This not only pushes aside, first, the clear evidence of a basic continuity with earlier times and, second, that for a sharp change in material culture in the ‘Late Pictish’ horizons, but also assumes without real argument a cultural identity with Pictland proper which hinges on only the handful of the characteristic carvings which are known in the Western Isles. Orkney too is on the periphery of Pictland proper and one may doubt that resemblances between any buildings there and in the Long Island constitute plausible evidence for the political subjection of the Outer Hebrides to the Pictish kingdom.

The four C-14 dates for the cellular structure mentioned earlier entirely support the allocation of this period to the later part of the Middle Iron Age. They indicate a time span largely within the first half of the first millennium.

3. Dimensions

The overall diameters are 16.7m (54.8 ft) east-west and 17.1m (56.07 ft) north-south [3, fig. 16]. The correspond-ing internal diameters are 10.2 and 10.7m (33.4 and 35.1 ft) so the average wall pro-portion would thus be 38.2%. Beirgh broch encloses one of the largest central courts known among brochs anywhere.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NB 13 NW 3: 2. RCAHMS 1928, 20, no. 69: 3. Harding and Gilmour 2000: 4. Harding and Armit 1990, 94-107.

E W MacKie 2007