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Publication Account

Date 1985

Event ID 1018851

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018851

The fort occupies an isolated rocky boss which rises from a flat surrounding valley that must in earlier times have been very boggy. The upper terraces of the boss are defended by four lines of walling on different levels, and, on present evidence, it seems likely that most of the visible walls date to the middle and later 1st millennium AD. The site has been excavated on no less than three occasions: in 1904, in 1929 and in 1980-81, and it is not until the results of the most recent campaign are known that a full account will be possible. The small finds from all the excavations, however, show that the site was indeed an important one in the mid 1st millennium AD, and it is thus likely that Dunadd was one of the main centres of the kingdom of Dalriada at this time.

The site is a confusing one to visit. The main approach to the lowest terrace of the fort is through a narrow rocky defile, at the end of which would have been strong wooden gates doubtless with adjoining stone or wooden towers; the wall of this lowest terrace is unusually well preserved, perhaps partly reconstructed in modem times, but the outer face on the west is still an impressive expanse of drystone construction. There is a carefully lined well near the north end of the terrace. Several rectangular foundations were discovered in the course of excavations situated to the east of the entrance, but there is as yet no dating evidence. The twin summits of the rock now beckon, but only the western summit is defended, and as the ascent is continued, a second, but very denuded line of walling is crossed.

The summit fort and a smaller walled outer work to the east are remarkable not for the preservation of their walling, but for a series of carvings on a slab of rock situated at the south-west end of the lower enclosure. Today the original carvings are covered and protected by a glass-fibre replica. Here there is the carved figure of a boar, several lines of ogams inscription, the outline of a footprint, and a hollowed-out basin. Ogam is a way of writing, of Irish origin, using groups of strokes at angles to a base-line, though at Dunadd the natural fissures in the rock have been used as a base-line. Unlike Irish ogams, however, the inscription cannot be translated, and it thus has more in common with the enigmatic inscriptions of Pictland. The boar too has aspects of decoration that might suggest a Pictish origin, but more tellingly it lacks several features that would make such an attribution positive. The basin and the footprint have been interpreted as being part of the rituals of royal inaugurations of the kings of Dalriada.

The most recent excavations have shown that there were certainly two phases of construction of the topmost fortification, but there is as yet no evidence of the date of the earlier. Most of the finds from the site belong to the 6th to 9th centuries AD, although both earlier and later finds have been recovered; some of the most important finds indicate that metal-working of a high order was being undertaken-several hundred mould fragments have been found-and many beautiful brooches must have been produced.The finds from the early excavations are displayed in NMAS.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Argyll and the Western Isles’, (1985).

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