The discovery of archaeological structures in North Uist in 1974 after storm damage led to the identification by Iain Crawford of a kerb cairn complex, with a cist and human remains. Six years later he went back, and over the next three years excavated another cist with human remains in its kerbed cairn, many bowl pits dug into the blown sand, and down to two late Neolithic structures and a ritual complex. He intensively studied the environmental conditions affecting the site and was among the first archaeologists in Scotland to understand the climate changes taking place at the transition between late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The deposition of blown sand and the start of the machair in the Western Isles, including the rise in sea-level and inundations into inhabited and farmed landscapes, are all part of the complex story of natural events and human activities. Radiocarbon dating and modern scientific analyses provide the detail of the story of periods of starvation suffered by the people that were buried on the site, of the movement away of the community, of their attempts of bringing the ‘new’ land back into cultivation, of a temporary tent-like structure, and of marking their territory by the construction of enduring monuments to the dead.
Table of Contents
Foreword - Malcolm Burr
Preface - Beverley Ballin Smith
Summary (English/Gaelic)
PART 1 Introduction - Beverley Ballin Smith
PART 2 The excavation record - Beverley Ballin Smith
PART 3 Dating and human remains
PART 4 The changing natural environment and subsistence farming
PART 5 Exploitation of natural resources and the uses of artefacts
PART 6 Discussion - Beverley Ballin Smith
PART 7 Conclusion - Life on the edge - Beverley Ballin Smith
Afterword – Iain and Imogen Crawford
Appendices:
1: Marine shell samples quantified by species
2: Pottery catalogue
Bibliography
Index
Author(s): Beverley Ballin Smith
Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
Year: 2018
Language: English
Commentary: decrypted from 5CE1D4477DFA1BE4821843BB3EF74791 source file
Pages: 301
City: Oxford
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Founders of the project
Iain A. Crawford
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
The Excavation
The Post-excavation
Foreword
Preface
The Origin of the book title
Summary
Gaelic Summary
List of Contributors
Part I Introduction
Location, topography, vegetation and place-names
Place names
Background to the project and its origins
The environmental history of the area
The original research aims 1963
Introduction to the excavations
Site location
Methodology
Plans, section and photographs
Written record
On site sieving and post-processing of site finds and samples
Monitoring and protecting the site durin the excavation
Nomenclature features
Post-excavation activities prior to 2008
Post-excavation developments since 2008
PART 2 The excavation record
Introduction
Natural Events and disturbances
PHASE E- natiral and anthropogenic deposits
PHASE D
PHASE C
PHASE B
PHASE A
PART 3
Dating and human remains
Early dating of the site
Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling
The burials on the site
Skeletal analysis
Stable isotope measurements for diet, physiology and migration
PART 4 The changing natural environment and subsistence farming
Introduction
Botanical remains
Pollen
The faunal remains
Non-worked marine shell
The perforated mollusc shell
The crustacea
Terrestrial snail assemblages
PART 5 Evploitation of natural resources and the uses of artefacts
Introduction
Flaked flint and other fine-grained lithic materials
The quartz assemblage
Pumice found at the Udal
Worked pumice and pumice artefacts
Stone tools and other items in stone
The prehistoric pottery
Worked bone artefacts
PART 6 Discussion
The origins of settlement on the site
The uses of ritual and domestic structures
Changes to soceiaty after the accumulation of blown sand
The people
PART 7 Conclusion - Life on the edge
Afterword
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
