Islay, Ardnave

NR287 730. A stone-walled structure, which became exposed by wind erosion in an area of sand-dunes 430m E of Ardnave, was excavated in 1976 (Burgess 1976) and has since been reburied by blown sand. The building had an internal diameter of 5.75m with its wall built against the outer edge of a 1m-wide construction trench cut into the slope of a sand-dune. The N arc of the wall, where the pressure of the sand was greatest, comprised a bottom course of orthostats angled against the thrust of the dune, and upper courses of drystone walling; elsewhere the wall was formed by orthostats with thin panels of water-worn pebbles between them. There was a gap 0.25m wide in the SW arc. Within the same quadrant there were two stone settings which may have supported posts (b on RCAHMS 1984 plan). The entrance, on the E, was approached by a short passage 1.5m long and 1.2m wide, the outer end of which was marked by two orthostats. The interior was level, with two areas of black carbonised material which may have been hearths. Two post-holes were found, one in a nearly central position and the other close to the inner face of the wall on the sw side (a), while their function was unclear, they may have been related to the roof structure. The date of the building is not known, the only finds being small undiagnostic sherds of pottery, a bone needle and a few animal bones. A secondary feature, consisting of a pit filled with limpets, had been cut through the floor of the house. Some 4.5m to the N of the building, a hearth, with some pottery sherds on it and some corroded fragments of iron nearby, was discovered, apparently unassociated with any structure.

RCAHMS 1984, visited September 1978