Desk Based Assessment
Date 18 June 1976
Event ID 881210
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/881210
NS 087 532. The craggy site at Little Dunagoil resembles, on a small scale, the class of citadel or nuclear forts exemplified by Dunadd (NR89SW 1). Excavations in 1958-61 showed that it was occupied from the Late Bronze Age up to the 13th century. At 'A', in the SW, between outcrops, there is a steep grassy slope, pitched with stone walling. Excavations revealed post holes and a layer of occupation material. Finds made included a Late Bronze Age mould for a socketed axe, Iron Age pottery, and a comb fragment, probably Norse, 12th - 13th century. Behind the post-hole area and above the occupation layer were the remains of a much- robbed, later wall. At 'B', a little down the hillock is a flat, sheltered area. The space between two crags has been filled by a wall, similar to that at Dunadd. A single course remains at 'BB'. Though the area had been extensively occupied, no regular plan of huts could be made out. 'C' is divided from the rest of the complex by wall. 'Y': No evidence of occupation was found, and this area is thought to have been a cattle enclosure, with wall '00' to guide the animals. At 'D' and 'E' are 12th - 13th century long- houses. 'D' was 42 x 22 ft; two sherds of Samian pottery were found there, as well as other pottery of 5th - 7th, and 13th century date. 'E' was 45 x 22 ft; a stone, 3 1/2 ft high, in its E wall, has two cup marks on its inner face. A shell midden and a hearth were found in cave 'F'. A row of stones set into the ground at 'H' could not be explained. Traces of walling 'K' run round the S quadrant of the summit and over its highest point. Rampart 'R' partly encloses the complex of hillock and longhouses; the entrance may have been from the S. 'S', an outer rampart, runs parallel to 'R' for 24ft.
Information from OS (IF) 18 June 1976
