Cladh Hallan prehistoric round house site, South Uist. Outer Hebrides. Scotland. SCO 6423
The Machair dune system provided an unusual and dynamic landscape which was a preferred habitat for farming communities throughout the Bronze Age (2200 BC - 800 BC), Iron Age (800 BC - AD 900) and Viking period (AD 900-1300). Over 200 ancient settlements of these periods have been found on South Uist's machair, sometimes visible as low mounds and identifiable by the shells, pottery and bone found in their rabbit burrows. Between 1989 and 2002 archaeologists had the opportunity to investigate two of these mounds, as they were being dug into for sand quarrying. Both are located 300m west of the modern graveyard - Cladh Hallan - in Daliburgh. The one north of the track (which runs from the radiomast to the sea) was largely destroyed by quarrying in the 1980s and early 1990s but the one to the south was rescued in time and has yielded some extraordinary discoveries. Other remains from this period survive in the vicinity and are mostly buried under deep sand. Sadly, many were destroyed over a hundred years ago when the stones from prehistoric houses were dug out to build the graveyard wall. Daliburgh's machair contains a complete cross-section of settlement history from 2000 BC to AD 1300. Nineteen of the many sand hills in this area are actually ancient settlements. Around 2000 BC, during the Early Bronze Age, a community of farmers built their small houses and tended their fields here. They were probably the builders of a small circle of standing stones recently found on the high ground east of Askernish.
Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: Cladh Hallan South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Highland. Scotland
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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