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Cladh Hallan Round Houses,South Uist, Scotland
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
This evening, I am posting information on Cladh Hallan round houses.
The stones (in the video) mark the walls of three round houses and part on an outhouse (smokery) dating from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1100-200 BC). There is a similar outhouse about 100m to the North West dating from about 200BC. These houses formed the northern end of a terrace of probably six or seven houses. The whole settlement was 80m long and most of it remains buried beneath the big sand dune in the south.
All the houses had sunken floors and thick cored walls revetted with stones. The roofs came down to knee-height on their outside walls and were probably made of large driftwood timber, covered by turf and straw..
Another five houses have been excavated on other areas of the settlement.
North House: This was rebuilt twice. Cremated human bones inside suggest it may have been the 'house of the dead'.
Middle House: This is the largest and most important. It was occupied continuously for 900 years and rebuilt 7 times between 1100BC and 200BC. One of the longest inhabited prehistoric houses in the world. Owner/occupiers presumed wealthy.
South House:This is the smallest and poorest house. It was occupied for only a short time around 1100BC.
Labels: south uist
posted by Nigel Cole @ 12:38 PM