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Hebrides Archaeological Interpretation Programme

Sites for Interpretation

map of interpretation sites Allt Chrisal, Barra: a multi-period site ranging from Neolithic occupation 5600 years ago, to a roundhouse settlement of around 4000 years ago, a fine example of an Iron Age wheelhouse (2000 years ago), and an 18th C house and byre with store huts, a corn kiln, and kelp kilns. A site for interpretation in Benbecula has yet to be identified, although the Borgh castle area, the chapel at Nunton, the Teampall Challuim Chille area at Balivanich, or Dun Buidhe in Loch Dun Mhurchaidh, are possibilities. Dun Vulan, South Uist: A partially-excavated Iron age broch about 2000 years old, with subsequent re-occupation, actively eroding. Bornais mounds, South Uist: Settlement mounds which have developed on the machair as a result of generations of house-building belonging to the pre-Viking, Viking and later Norse periods. Scarista, Harris: another multi-period landscape centring on a standing stone complex, with an interesting history of more recent clearance and crofting. Rubh an Teampull, Northton, Harris: multi-period landscape starting from earliest human presence in the Western Isles with Hunter-gatherer site of 9000 years ago, to the remains of an Iron Age broch which was dismantled for the building of a medieval chapel. Dun an Sticar, North Uist: An Iron Age broch or galleried dun built on an island in a loch connected by causeways, re-occupied in the late medieval period with the insertion of a rectangular hall. Barpa Langais, North Uist: The best preserved Neolithic chambered tomb in the Western Isles, about 5000 years old Eaglais na h-Aoidhe, Lewis: the principle medieval church of Lewis. Dun Eistean, Lewis: a dramatic offshore stack now accessed by a fixed bridge, which was the principle stronghold of the Morrisons. This site is the focus of a programme of ongoing research excavations.
  1. Dun Eistean, Lewis
  2. Eaglais na h-Aoidhe, Lewis
  3. Scarista, Harris
  4. Rubh an Teampull, Northton, Harris
  5. Dun an Sticar, North Uist
  6. Barpa Langais, North Uist
  7. Benbecula
  8. Bornais mounds, South Uist
  9. Dun Vulan, South Uist
10. Allt Chrisal, Barra