Dunion Hill
Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Site Name Dunion Hill
Classification Unenclosed Platform Settlement (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) The Dunion
Canmore ID 56889
Site Number NT61NW 3.01
NGR NT 6262 1915
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/56889
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Bedrule
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
NT61NW 3.01 6262 1915
See also NT61NW 3.00 NT 6255 1906 Fort; Roundhouses
(Centred NT 6262 1915) Settlement (NR)
OS 25"map, (1969)
There is an unenclosed platform settlement on Dunion Hill.
RCAHMS 1978
On the NE flank of Dunion Hill there are fourteen roughly circular scoops resembling hut platforms although their floors are not quite level. The best preserved is 13.0m in diameter with a rear scarp some 2.0m high. Where evident, the entrances are in the E or NE sides. Surveyed at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RD) 7 February 1967
The excavation at The Dunion was undertaken between 1984 and 1987 by the Central Excavation Unit of the Scottish Development Department (Historic Buildings and Monuments).
The Dunion, a hill formed by the eroded stump of a volcanic intrusion and now much reduced by quarrying, is situated c 3km SW of Jedburgh. The surviving remains on the hill, originally thought to be an unenclosed platform settlement, proved to be part of a fort (NT61NW 3.00) which had formerly been considered to occupy only the summit of the hill. The fort was tentatively identified as being of Dark-Age date. Later fieldwork, and the discoveries made by the CEU, have shown that the fort was much larger than originally thought, and, with a total enclosed area of between 6 and 6.5 hectares, was of a size comparable with the minor oppida of the Tweed Basin. A composite plan of The Dunion, based on many sources, suggests that the site started as a small fort on the summit, which later expanded in stages. The crude outermost 'rampart' on the NE side, and two houses outside the fort to the SW, suggested that the defensive nature of the settlement was of less importance towards the end of the occupation of the hill.
As well as the outermost line of defence and an inner rampart, the CEU investigated a total of seven houses and a small part of an eighth. Of the seven houses, six were built on platforms scooped into the hill slope. The platform-houses were all roughly oval in plan, occupying all the available platform space. None of the houses was identical but each shared several elements of construction and internal arrangement. The house walls were either of timber, bedded in shallow wall-trenches, or walls comprising earth cores faced with stone. The stone-faced walls were crudely executed and probably served as foundations for timber walls, and as reinforcement for unstable soil, dumped to level the front of the platforms, and back scarps. Three houses had internal post-settings, presumably for timber uprights to support the roofs. Internally, the houses appear to have had 'split-level' floors, with a raised back arc, a lower front arc (sometimes paved), and an intermediate central area. Running past five of the houses was a contemporary metalled road. Where this road met the outermost rampart there was an entrance with no surviving gateway structure. The finds assemblage was small and generally similar to assemblages from other forts in SE Scotland. By the end of the excavation, the limited artefactual assemblage suggested that the excavated part of the fort dated to the later first millennium BC. Nine samples of carbonized wood were submitted to the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre for radiocarbon assay. Of these eight were suitable for dating. The errors are expressed at the one sigma level of confidence.
Lab No. Date bp Date Context
GU-2171 1970+/-80 20+/-80 bc Soil under hearth of House 2
GU-2172 2080+/-50 130+/-50 bc Drainage ditch around House 1
GU-2173 1910+/-120 ad 40;/-120 Drainage gully around House 8
GU-2174 2090+/-150 140+/-150 bc Occupation layer in House 4
GU-2175 2120+/-50 170+/-50 bc Accumulation of soil behind rampart GU-2176 2120+/-110 170+/-110 bc Pit under House 6
GU-2177 5550+/-100 3600+/-100 bc Posthole in House 7
GU-2178 2000+/-55 50+/-55 bc Pit containing beehive quern in
House 2
J Rideout 1984; 1987.
Excavation (1984 - 1987)
The excavation at The Dunion was undertaken between 1984 and 1987 by the Central Excavation Unit of the Scottish Development Department (Historic Buildings and Monuments).
The Dunion, a hill formed by the eroded stump of a volcanic intrusion and now much reduced by quarrying, is situated c 3km SW of Jedburgh. The surviving remains on the hill, originally thought to be an unenclosed platform settlement, proved to be part of a fort (NT61NW 3.00) which had formerly been considered to occupy only the summit of the hill. The fort was tentatively identified as being of Dark-Age date. Later fieldwork, and the discoveries made by the CEU, have shown that the fort was much larger than originally thought, and, with a total enclosed area of between 6 and 6.5 hectares, was of a size comparable with the minor oppida of the Tweed Basin. A composite plan of The Dunion, based on many sources, suggests that the site started as a small fort on the summit, which later expanded in stages. The crude outermost 'rampart' on the NE side, and two houses outside the fort to the SW, suggested that the defensive nature of the settlement was of less importance towards the end of the occupation of the hill.
As well as the outermost line of defence and an inner rampart, the CEU investigated a total of seven houses and a small part of an eighth. Of the seven houses, six were built on platforms scooped into the hill slope. The platform-houses were all roughly oval in plan, occupying all the available platform space. None of the houses was identical but each shared several elements of construction and internal arrangement. The house walls were either of timber, bedded in shallow wall-trenches, or walls comprising earth cores faced with stone. The stone-faced walls were crudely executed and probably served as foundations for timber walls, and as reinforcement for unstable soil, dumped to level the front of the platforms, and back scarps. Three houses had internal post-settings, presumably for timber uprights to support the roofs. Internally, the houses appear to have had 'split-level' floors, with a raised back arc, a lower front arc (sometimes paved), and an intermediate central area. Running past five of the houses was a contemporary metalled road. Where this road met the outermost rampart there was an entrance with no surviving gateway structure. The finds assemblage was small and generally similar to assemblages from other forts in SE Scotland. By the end of the excavation, the limited artefactual assemblage suggested that the excavated part of the fort dated to the later first millennium BC. Nine samples of carbonized wood were submitted to the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre for radiocarbon assay. Of these eight were suitable for dating. The errors are expressed at the one sigma level of confidence.
Lab No. Date bp Date Context
GU-2171 1970+/-80 20+/-80 bc Soil under hearth of House 2
GU-2172 2080+/-50 130+/-50 bc Drainage ditch around House 1
GU-2173 1910+/-120 ad 40;/-120 Drainage gully around House 8
GU-2174 2090+/-150 140+/-150 bc Occupation layer in House 4
GU-2175 2120+/-50 170+/-50 bc Accumulation of soil behind rampart GU-2176 2120+/-110 170+/-110 bc Pit under House 6
GU-2177 5550+/-100 3600+/-100 bc Posthole in House 7
GU-2178 2000+/-55 50+/-55 bc Pit containing beehive quern in
House 2
J Rideout 1984; 1987.
Sbc Note
Visibility: This site has been excavated.
Information from Scottish Borders Council
