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Archaeology Notes
Event ID 660167
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/660167
NH19SW 6 1493 9008.
(NH 1493 9008) Dun an Ruigh Ruadh (NAT). Broch (NR) (rems of)
OS 6"map, (1968)
Dun an Ruigh Ruadh: The remains of a galleried dun according to MacKie, but a broch according to the other authorities, of which roughly a third of the NE arc has fallen over the rocky bluff on which it stands, but the remainder still stands to a maximum height of 9'6" over accumulated debris of about 4'. It measures c. 38' in diameter internally with walls c. 14' thick.
Excavations by MacKie in 1968 revealed a flattened circle on plan, the straighter side of which runs along the edge of the bluff. Here, the wall is thinner and less well built, lacking the intra-mural gallery visible elsewhere. The stairway to the first-floor level and part of the stair to an even higher level are discernible. The doorway in the E is checked. A scarcement is visible 4 1/2' - 5' above ground level. Within the central court are post-holes indicating a raised wooden structure resting on the scarce- ment and posts, which was later pulled down, and the dun used as an ordinary dwelling. The post-holes were filled in, cobbles laid on top of them, and a stone tank was sunk into the interior. Finds include several rotary querns, a stone pot lid, a jet counter, hammer stones, and a silver finger ring.
MacKie 1968b, 1969d, f; R W Feachem 1963; Calder and Steer 1951
Dun an Ruigh Ruadh, a galleried dun as described by MacKie.
Surveyed at 1:2500
Visited by OS (N K B) 25 September 1970
Surveyed at 1:10560
Visited by OS (N K B) 1 May 1968
(NH 1494 9009) The site is an IA stone fortlet, of the semibroch type and probably a prototype broch; it is only the second of its class to be excavated. Radiocarbon dates show that it was built in th 3rd or 2nd centuries b.c. and this early date is supported also by artefacts. The mainly aceramic material culture shows strong links with S Scotland but the fort itself is Hebridean, as are the three early potsherds found. The wall has an upper and lower intra-mural gallery and seems originally to have contained a roofed round-house with an oval of wooden posts and a central hearth. Later the wall was partly demolished and the IA occupation continued for a while. After a period of abandonment there was some Medieval use of the wall gallery and sheep dippers worked in the ruined fort in recent times.
E W MacKie, GAJ vol.7, 1980
