Wheelhouse (archaeology)

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Video of the Grimsay wheelhouse, near Bagh nam Feadag, the best preserved example in the Uists
The interior of a Jarlshof wheelhouse showing bays between the stone piers
Wheelhouse at the archæological site of Old Scatness, Shetland

In

Western Isles, and on the north coast of Caithness and Sutherland.[3][4]

Amateur enthusiasts did some excavation in the 19th century, but professional examination of the sites did not begin until the 1930s, when digs were undertaken at

Gurness. No work of a modern standard was done in the Hebrides until 1946 at Clettreval[5] on North Uist.[6]

Sometimes referred to as "aisled

thatched roofs would have been visible above the ground — although these would have been 6 metres or more in height.[9] Other examples were built above ground, such as Clettraval and Bagh nam Feadag (on Grimsay).[10]

Many sites incorporate animal burials beneath the floor, the most common bones being those of young lambs. Other bone deposits include the heads of a human and a great auk at Cnip on Lewis, and sixty bone burials including cattle, sheep and pig at Sollas in North Uist.[11] Five sites include menhirs and fifteen a red and black mortar. These features tends to support the hypothesis that the primary purpose of these buildings was ritualistic.[12] Confusingly therefore, "wheelhouses" are neither wheels, nor perhaps houses.[6]

The highly restricted nature of their geographical locations suggests that they may have been contained within a political or cultural frontier of some kind. The co-incidence of their arrival and departure being associated with the period of Roman influence in Scotland is a matter of ongoing debate.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The location has been lost. The discovery was by C. Gordon who reported it as being on a west shore "nearly level with the sea". It may have been on South Uist. See Crawford (2002) p. 113.
  2. ^ Armit, Ian, "Broch Building in Northern Scotland: The Context of Innovation" World Archaeology 21.3, Architectural Innovation (February 1990: 435–445).
  3. ^ Crawford (2002) p. 112.
  4. ^ The 8 presumed sites on Orkney are included in this total, although arguably there are none there. If this is the case a further conundrum as to the reason for their absence emerges. See Armit (2003) p. 135.
  5. ^ "Clettraval". Scotlands Places.
  6. ^ a b c Crawford (2002) p. 113.
  7. ^ Turner (1998) p. 81.
  8. ^ Crawford (2002) pp. 118–22.
  9. ^ Armit (2003) p. 136.
  10. ^ "Grimsay Wheelhouse". Alasdair McKenzie. 30 November 2009.
  11. ^ Armit (2003) p. 93.
  12. ^ Crawford (2002) pp. 123–4.
  13. ^ Crawford (2002) p. 128.

References

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