Archaeology Notes

Event ID 656617

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/656617

NF77NE 5 7694 7619

(Area : NF 771 761) Bac Mhic Connain is a round-house discovered and excavated by Beveridge in 1919. It is situated on a sand-covered hillock on the tidal islet of Vallay, about 180 yards N of the bay at Saltam, in Vallay Sound, and a quarter-mile NW of vallay House.

Occupation over a long period was attested by the finds which included objects of stone (including some casting moulds), iron, bronze, bone and deerhorn, in addition to pottery which included a small fragment of Samian. A knife handle of cetacean bone bore an Ogham inscription which may be provisionally dated AD 6th to 8th century. The buildings had been extensively reconstructed during their use, and recently quarried: the plan should be regarded as tentative. (J G Callander 1932; L Scott 1948) Various finds are in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS).

J G Callander 1932; L Scott 1948; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1922; 1923; 1929.

The mutilated remains of this round-house, generally as planned by E Beveridge, are at NF 7694 7619.

Most of the internal diameter and five piers of the main building can be traced as wall-footings barely 0.3m high. The inside face of the second circular structure still stands to a height of 1.0 m. and the thickness of the walls cannot be ascertained. The adjoining passages and rectangular structure are too amorphous for survey.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (J T T) 22 June 1965.

The Samian is possibly 2nd century AD.

A S Robertson 1970.

Bone dice found at unstated location; RMS GNB 65. Numbered 3, 6, 4, 5. Dots enclosed by circles. 33 x 9mm.

D L Clarke 1970; E W Mackie 1971.

Hanging-bowl escutcheon.

L Laing and J Laing 1986.