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St Kilda, Hirta, Clash Na Bearnaich
Quarry(S) (Prehistoric), Stone Working Site(S) (Prehistoric)
Site Name St Kilda, Hirta, Clash Na Bearnaich
Classification Quarry(S) (Prehistoric), Stone Working Site(S) (Prehistoric)
Alternative Name(s) Clais Na Bearnaich
Canmore ID 92181
Site Number NF09NE 16
NGR NF 09640 98822
NGR Description Centred NF 09640 98822
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/92181
- Council Western Isles
- Parish Harris
- Former Region Western Isles Islands Area
- Former District Western Isles
- Former County Inverness-shire
NF09NE 16 centred 097 988
Observation of extensive quarries in dolerite bluffs especially N of central 'chimney' with working debris on screes below, in part covered by soil and vegetation. Individual outcrops along the contour further N have been worked and stone-working debris and rough-outs found. Evidently the source of the numerous broken stone implements, to be found in walls and cleits in Village Bay area to E.
A Fleming 1994.
NF 097 988 Surface survey of the dolerite screes of Clash na Bearnaich ('The Chimney') produced implements, large stone mauls (originating on the beach), smaller beach-pebble hammers, and waste material from quarries located at high levels (c400ft, 130m) to N and S of The Chimney itself. The quarry faces have suffered from erosion and much of the quarry waste on the upper parts of the scree is now grassed over, though its locations are detectable.
Systematic survey of the structures in the Village Bay area produced numerous mostly broken dolerite implements, some used as wedges in cleitean.
A Fleming and M Edmonds 1995.
On the western side of Village Bay, on the island of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago, there are extensive dolerite quarries for the extraction of stone for production of 'flaked stone bars' or hoe-blades, which are closely comparable to similar tools found in Neolithic and Bronze Age contexts in the Northern Isles. Broken hoe-blades are widely distributed amongst the walls and buildings of the village abandoned in 1930. Their use was probably coeval with that of the irregular walled field systems in Village Bay and Gleann Mor. A viable community evidently occupied Hirta well before the Iron Age. These findings suggest that we should revise current views of the prehistory of Hirta and the roles of agriculture in the island's history.
A Fleming and M Edmonds 1999.
