Unst, Clugan
Grave (Viking), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Implement (Stone)(Iron Age), Slag (Iron Age), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Site Name Unst, Clugan
Classification Grave (Viking), Settlement (Period Unassigned), Implement (Stone)(Iron Age), Slag (Iron Age), Unidentified Pottery (Iron Age)
Canmore ID 105
Site Number HP60NW 6
NGR HP 6440 0646
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/105
- Council Shetland Islands
- Parish Unst
- Former Region Shetland Islands Area
- Former District Shetland
- Former County Shetland
HP60NW 6 6440 0646.
An Iron Age and Viking site lies on a structural bench some 10m OD and 50m inland at Clugan. The site was excavated by Sgt. B Beveridge RAF, and revealed two distinct horizons. The lower showed no structural remains but a large quantity of pottery, some iron slag, pumice, and stone tools. The pottery is clearly of the Shetland Iron Age type, probably of the immediate post broch period. Section evidence suggested that the site had been systematically cleared and levelled before later structures were built. The only structure on the upper horizon on the area so far excavated was a Viking cremation burial with no grave goods. The stones at the eastern end are still in situ but those at the other end had disappeared. Clearly defined post holes with packing marked their position. The stray finds from the upper 20 cms of the soil included numerous fragments of massive steatite vessels typical of the Viking period in Shetland, suggesting that a longhouse lies nearby.
Small, A 1970;
Information from Sgt. B Beveridge to OS 1970
Site located at HP 6439 0646 by OS field surveyor (K Frost) 8 May 1970
