The settlement at Bornais consists of a complex of mounds which protrude from the relatively flat machair plain in the township of Bornais on the island of South Uist. This sandy plain has proved an attractive settlement from the Beaker period onwards; it appears to have been intensively occupied from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Norse period. Mound 1 was the original location for settlement in this part of the machair plain; pre-Viking activity of some complexity is present and it is likely that the settlement activity started in the Middle Iron Age, if not earlier. The examination of the mound 1 deposits provides an important contribution to our understanding of the Iron Age sequence in the Atlantic province. The principal contribution comprises the large quantities of mammal, fish and bird bones, carbonised plant remains and pottery, which can be accurately dated to a fairly precise and narrow period in the 1st millennium AD. These are augmented by a substantial collection of small finds which included distinctive bone artefacts. The contextual significance of the site is based on the survival of floor deposits and a burnt-down roof; the floor deposits can be compared with abandonment and adjacent midden deposits providing contrasting contextual environments that help to clarify depositional processes. The burning down of the house and the excellent preservation of the deposits within it provide an unparalleled opportunity to examine the timber superstructure of the building and the layout of the material used by the inhabitants.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Tables
• List of Contributors
• English-Gaelic glossary of place-names
• 1 Bornais and the Iron Age
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • The history of the excavations - N Sharples
  • A history of archaeology in the southern Hebrides - N Sharples
  • The Iron Age background - N Sharples
    • The Early Iron Age
    • The Middle Iron Age
    • The Late Iron Age
  • The Hebridean ceramic sequence - A Lane
  • Machair settlement in the townships of Bornais and Cill Donnain - N Sharples
  • The Iron Age settlement of South Uist - N Sharples
  • The research potential - N Sharples
  • Methodologies - N Sharples
    • Sampling - N Sharples and H Smith
    • Sediment analysis of floor layers - H Smith and P Marshall
    • Micromorphology - K B Milek
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Artefact methodology - A Clarke, P Macdonald and A Smith
    • Charcoal - R Gale
    • Mammalian bone - J Mulville and A Powell
    • Isotopic analysis - R Madgwick, J Mulville, R E Stevens and T C O'Connell
    • Bird bone - J Cartledge
    • Fish bone - C Ingrem
    • Marine shell - N Sharples
  • Acknowledgements - N Sharples
• 2 The Late Iron Age settlement
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • Early structures (CA) - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Smith, A Lane and K Harding
    • Animal bone - J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • Late Iron Age house (CB) - N Sharples
    • House 1
    • House 2
    • Micromorphology - K Milek
    • Sampling data - N Sharples
    • Spatial distributions - N Sharples and E Norris
    • Geochemical analysis - H Smith and P Marshall
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Measurements - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Clarke, P Macdonald, A Pannett, N Sharples and A Smith
    • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge and H Smith
    • Charcoal - R Gale
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • Destruction and infilling (CC) - N Sharples
    • Sampling data - N Sharples
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Measurements - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Clarke, P Macdonald, A Pannett and A Smith
    • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge, R Gale and H Smith
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • The Late Iron Age midden (CG) - N Sharples
    • Sampling data - N Sharples
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Measurements - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Clarke, A Pannett, N Sharples and A Smith
    • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge, R Gale and H Smith
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
• 3 Norse reoccupation
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • The Norse activity area (CE) - N Sharples
    • Sampling data - N Sharples
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Measurements - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Clarke, P Macdonald, A Pannett and A Smith
    • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge, R Gale and H Smith
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • The Norse structure (CD) - N Sharples
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • The Norse middens (CF) - N Sharples
    • Sampling data - N Sharples
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • Measurements - N Sharples
    • Artefacts - A Clarke, P Macdonald, A Pannett and A Smith
    • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge, R Gale and H Smith
    • Animal bone - J Cartledge, C Ingrem, J Mulville and A Powell
    • Conclusion - N Sharples
  • Unstratified finds - N Sharples
• 4 Comparative analysis of the site assemblage
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • Pottery - A Lane
  • Artefacts - A Clarke, P Macdonald, A Pannett, N Sharples and A Smith
  • Carbonised plant remains - S Colledge and H Smith
    • Overall description of the samples: densities of charred plant remains
    • Taxonomic composition of the samples
    • Ubiquity analysis
    • Correspondence analysis
  • Charcoal - R Gale
  • Mammalian bone - J Mulville and A Powell
    • Main food species
    • Minor species: domestic resources
    • Minor species: terrestrial wild resources
    • Minor species: marine wild resources
  • Bird bone - J Cartledge
  • Fish bone - C Ingrem
    • Comparison of blocks
    • Species representation
    • Density of fish bone
  • Human bone - A L Carter
  • Marine shell and crab - N Sharples and J Light
  • The residue analysis - N Sharples
  • Conclusion - N Sharples
• 5 Chronology
  • The radiocarbon dates - P Marshall, C Bronk Ramsey and G Cook
    • Stable isotopes and C:N ratios
    • Methodological approach
    • Objectives and sampling strategies
    • The sequence
    • Results
  • Artefact chronologies - N Sharples and A Lane
    • Late Iron Age
    • Norse
  • Conclusion - N Sharples
• 6 Resource exploitation
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • The Sea. 1. Fish - C Ingrem
  • The Sea. 2. Mammals - J Mulville
  • The Sea. 3. Birds - J Cartledge and D Serjeantson
  • The Shore. 1. Shellfish - N Sharples
  • The Shore. 2. Birds - J Cartledge and D Serjeantson
  • The Shore. 3. Wood - R Gale
  • The Shore. 4. Stone - A Clarke and A Pannett
  • The Machair. 1 Carbonised plant remains - J Summers and J Bond
    • Cultivars
    • Weed taxa
  • The Machair. 2. Birds - J Cartledge and D Serjeantson
  • The Machair. 3. Animal management - J Mulville and A Powell
    • Ageing
    • Size
    • Conclusion
  • The Machair. 4. Isotopic analysis of the fauna - R Madgwick, J Mulville, R E Stevens and T C O'Connell
    • Results and discussion
    • Wider context
  • The Machair. 5. Worked bone - A Smith
  • The Moorland. 1. Red deer - J Mulville and A Powell
  • The Moorland. 2. Birds - J Cartledge and D Serjeantson
  • The Moorland. 3. Carbonised plant remains - J Summers and J Bond
  • The Moorland. 4. Trees - R Gale
  • The Moorland. 5. Clay - A Lane
  • Exotic imports - A Clarke, J Cartledge, R Gale, D Serjeantson and N Sharples
  • Conclusion - N Sharples
• 7 Site activities
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • Artefactual evidence - A Clarke, P Macdonald, N Sharples and A Smith
    • Manufacturing evidence (including a report on the fl int by A Pannett)
    • Vessels (including a report on the pottery by A Lane)
    • Currency - G Williams
    • Personal items
    • Horse fittings
    • Decorative objects, gaming pieces and religious objects (including a report on an Ogham-inscribed plaque by K Forsyth)
    • Tools for textile production
    • Other tools
    • Structural fittings
    • Miscellaneous metal objects
  • The slag - T Young
    • Distribution
    • Description
    • Conclusions
  • The movement, distribution and disposal of plant materials - J Summers and J Bond
  • Charcoal - R Gale
  • Fish preparation and consumption - C Ingrem
  • The consumption of birds - J Cartledge and D Serjeantson
  • Animal bone taphonomy - J Mulville and A Powell
    • Butchery
    • Anatomical representation of major terrestrial species
    • Stratigraphic block differences
    • Red deer
    • Discussion of body part distribution
  • Conclusion - N Sharples
• 8 Discussion
  • Introduction - N Sharples
  • The wheelhouse - N Sharples
    • Wheelhouse use - N Sharples
    • The abandonment and destruction of the wheelhouse - N Sharples
  • The use of material culture - N Sharples
  • The social importance of artefacts - N Sharples, A Clarke and A Smith
  • Power relations in the Iron Age - N Sharples
  • The agricultural economy of a late wheelhouse
    • Crops - J Summers and J Bond
    • Mammals - J Mulville
    • The birds - D Serjeantson
    • The fish - C Ingrem
  • The Norse occupation of mound 1 - N Sharples
    • Pottery - A Lane
    • The metals - P Macdonald
    • The stone and bone tools - A Clarke, N Sharples and A Smith
    • Mammals - J Mulville
    • The fish - C Ingrem
    • The birds - D Serjeantson
  • Conclusion - N Sharples
• Appendix 1: The context list - N Sharples
• Appendix 2: Artefact catalogue - A Clarke, P Macdonald and A Smith
• Appendix 3: Flint catalogue - A Pannett
• Appendix 4: Catalogue of illustrated pottery - A Lane
• Appendix 5: Revisions to the mound 3 chronology - P Marshall
• References
• Index