The SEARCH (Sheffield Environmental and Archaeological Research Campaign in the Hebrides) project began in 1987 and covers the Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The aim of the project is to investigate how human societies adapted in the long-term to the isolated environment of the Outer Hebrides.

The first major excavation on South Uist discovered that what was thought to be a shell midden at Cill Donnain was in fact a wheelhouse, a type of dwelling used in the period c.300 BC– AD 500; under which lay the remains of a Bronze Age settlement. This settlement was partly investigated by Marik Zvelebil in 1991 and then later by Mike Parker Pearson and Kate MacDonald in 2003. The site itself is situated at the foot of a high steep-sided dune on the eastern edge of a large sand valley, close to the western shore of Loch Cill Donnain.

The archaeological report of the excavation at the Cill Donnain wheelhouse shows that, in comparison with contemporary neighbouring settlements, it was unlikely that each was an independent unit and that they were linked by social and economic inter-dependency. The wheelhouse thus provides striking new evidence that contributes to developing theories about the social, material and economic life in the period.

This volume presents the extensive archaeological evidence found at the site, including pottery, faunal remains and a variety of bone and metal tools, illustrating that the Cill Donnain landscape is rich in archaeological sites of all periods from the Beaker to the post-Medieval.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Introduction
  • The geology and soils
  • The SEARCH project
  • The site setting
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 2: The excavations
  • Introduction
  • The 1989 excavations
  • The 1990 excavations
  • The 1991 excavations
  • The stratigraphic sequence
  • The 1992 reconstruction project
  • The 2003 evaluation of the Cordoned Urn settlement
  • Post-excavation analysis of records and finds from the 1989–1991 excavations
  • Student reminiscences
• Chapter 3: Early–Middle Bronze Age (phase 1): a Cordoned Urn settlement
  • Introduction
  • The extent of the settlement mound – coring in 2003
  • The 1991 excavations: the northwest trench
  • Recording of the sand quarry in 2003
  • Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating
  • Pottery
  • Bone and stone tools
  • The faunal remains
  • Discussion
• Chapter 4: Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age occupation (phase 2): eighth–early sixth centuries BC
  • Introduction
  • Windblown sand
  • Ploughing
  • Pit 142
  • Other deposits
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 5: Before construction of the wheelhouse (phase 3)
  • Introduction
  • The sand layer
  • Gully 191
  • Possible hearths
  • Other deposits
  • The human skull fragment
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 6: Construction and initial use of the wheelhouse (phases 4 and 5)
  • Introduction
  • The construction of the wheelhouse (phase 4)
  • The hearth
  • Cut features within the house
  • The house floor (phase 5)
  • Accumulation of deposits outside the wall of the wheelhouse (phase 5)
  • The stone structure in the southern trench
• Chapter 7: Modification and abandonment of the wheelhouse (phases 6–8)
  • Introduction
  • Modifications to the wheelhouse interior (phase 6)
  • Accumulation of deposits outside the wall of the wheelhouse (phase 6)
  • Abandonment of the wheelhouse (phase 7)
  • The small, stone-walled structure and re-use of the wheelhouse (phase 8)
• Chapter 8: The midden overlying the wheelhouse (phase 9)
  • Introduction
  • The earliest midden layers
  • Upper layers of the midden
  • The southern excavation trench
  • The top of the stratigraphic sequence (phase 10)
• Chapter 9: The pottery
  • Introduction
  • The manufacture of the Cill Donnain III pottery
  • Chronology of and parallels for the Cill Donnain III assemblage
  • The stratigraphic phases and their ceramic associations
  • The fragmentation of the pottery assemblage
  • Conclusion
  • Ceramic artefacts
• Chapter 10: The metal finds and industrial debris
  • The copper-alloy artefacts
  • The lead object
  • The iron objects
  • Bronze-casting clay refractories
  • The crucible
  • The metalworking slag
  • Fuel ash slag
• Chapter 11: The stone tools
  • Introduction
  • The coarse stone tools
  • The flint tools
  • The pumice
  • The slate
• Chapter 12: Bone, ivory and antler tools and ornaments
  • Discussion
  • Catalogue of the worked bone, ivory and antler
• Chapter 13: The faunal remains
  • Introduction
  • Excavation methods and fish bone
  • Laboratory methods
  • Overview
  • Preservation
  • Species representation
  • Element representation
  • Ageing
  • Sex
  • Pathology
  • Butchery and bone-working
  • Biometry
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 14: The carbonized plant remains
  • Introduction
  • Methodology
  • Quantification and identification
  • Results from the 1989 material
  • Results from the 1991 material
  • Plant husbandry, land use and subsistence
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 15: Marine mollusca
  • Introduction
  • Methodology
  • Results from the 1989 excavations
  • Results from the 1990 and 1991 excavations
  • Discussion
• Chapter 16: Radiocarbon dating
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Stable isotopes
  • Methodological approach
  • The samples
  • The sequence
  • The chronology of Cill Donnain III
• Chapter 17: Conclusion: Cill Donnain’s prehistoric landscape
  • The evolution of settlement on Cill Donnain’s machair
  • Occupation and activity at Cill Donnain in the Iron Age
  • The Cill Donnain III wheelhouse in the context of the Hebridean Iron Age
  • Conclusion
• Appendix Context list and phasing for the 1989, 1990 and 1991 excavations at Cill Donnain III
• Bibliography