Archaeology Notes
Date - 1977
Event ID 698115
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/698115
NR89SW 1.00 8365 9356.
(NR 8370 9356) Dun Add (Fort)
Well Trough (NR)
OS 6" map (1900)
NR89SW 1.01 8365 9356 Rock: Sculptured; Ogam
The Neolithic carved stone ball (NMS GP 220) is of greenstone, 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter, with six projecting discs. It was found on the rock close to the inside wall of the fort, on its SE side, and about 12 inches underneath the surface.
D Christison 1905
Dunadd: This Dark Age fortress stands on top of an isolated hill, once protected on nearly all sides by marshy ground. It is thought to have been the capital of the Scottish kingdom at Dalriada, founded by colonists from Ireland about A D 500. Excavations in 1904 and in 1929 confirmed that the site had been occupied in the Dark Ages but showed that there had been an earlier, Iron Age settlement here.
The layout of the drystone fort is sometimes described as nuclear with a central stronghold on the summit of the hill and two outer fortified enclosures on natural terraces lower down - a typical Dark Age plan.
One enters the lowest enclosure through a natural gully on the SE side; the massive outermost wall is well preserved in part. Above this is the second enclosure, reached originally through a small gateway at the SW junction of the two walls. The topmost fort, or citadel, is a drop-shaped enclosure at the W end of the summit ridge and measures internally 30.5m by 13.7m. It is possible that this was an Iron Age dun and that the lower enclosures were added in the Dark Age. Immediately in front (NE) of the citadel is another small enclosure and below this to the NW is a ravine outside the walls in which a midden had accumulated during the occupation of the site. On the rock ridge in front of these two uppermost enclosures are several rock carvings (see NR89SW 1.01).
These include a boar allegedly in the Pictish style and protected by a glass, two or three lines of ogham inscription, a hollowed-out basin ("Trough" on OS 6") and a footprint. The boar perhaps dates from AD 736 when the Scotic capital was beseiged and captured by Fergus, King of the Picts. The footprint and basin probably mark the site of the inauguration of new kings of the Scots. The well on the main terrace, on which huts are traceable in the NE sector, is covered by flagstones and paved round its head, the water being tapped lower down for a farm supply. Also, at ground level, almost at the foot of the cleft on the W side, a small trough of slabs on edge seems to be a blocked spring-basin. Leitch notes a St Columba's Well at or near Dunadd. Near the well, on the S side of a walled cleft, some 4'6" up, is a lightly incised animal with an erect fir-tree tail, dog-like head and a possible collar, about 9" overall. Artifacts ranging from the mesolithic to medieval period were found during the excavations. They are now in the NMAS and include micro blades and scrapers, a 6-knobbed stone ball, EBA halberd, bronze ring-headed pin, spiral ring, food vessel sherds, a jet armlet, Romano-British sherds, Samian fragments, glass and amber beads, a rotary quern with an incised cross, Rhineland pottery, an inscribed slate disc, etc.
C Leitch 1904; D Christison 1905; J H Craw 1930; M Campbell and M Sandeman 1964; K Jackson 1965; A S Robertson 1970; D V Clarke 1971; J M Coles 1971; E W MacKie 1975
NR 8366 9356. This fort is generally as described and planned. It is best preserved on the E where the wall stands four courses high and 2.4m wide. Within the wall at the SW of the second enclosure are traces of a possible cell, and within the main enclosure are the foundations of a rectangular building.
The animal near the well is faintly visible; the blocked spring was not located.
Resurveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (DWR) 26 April 1973
Dunadd fort is as described in the previous information. Apart from the possible cell at NR 8367 9355 and the rectangular foundations at NR 8371 9356 there are no traces of house sites to be seen.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (BS) 15 February 1977
