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MHG5219 - Dun Flodigarry

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

Dun Flodigarry, NG47SE0006

Brochs are round, tower-like houses, their monumental size intended to display the wealth and status of the agricultural communities who lived in them. They were occupied in the later Iron Age and are common in the north and west of Scotland. (41).
This broch occupies a small outcrop in the garden of the Flodigarry Hotel, in the far north of Skye. Excavation revealed the circular shape of the internal living space and a complex series of galleries and cells within the drystone walls. There was no walling on the east side, so it is possible that the broch was never completed. (59)
There were few finds from the excavation. They included sherds of coarse, locally made pottery and a single sherd of samian ware, which suggests contact with the Roman world. A rubbish dump of animal bone and limpet shells was found in the entrance passage. (44)
Armit, I., 1997. Celtic Scotland. Edinburgh: Batsford.
Martlew, R., 1985. 'The excavation of Dun Flodigarry, Staffin, Isle of Skye'. Glasgow Archaeological
Journal 12, 30-48.
Information from SCRAN Project, March, 2000

This site lies in the rear garden of a house connected to the Flodigarry. Hotel bunk house. The site sits on a rock knoll and is mainly turf covered. Some stone work and walling is evident but it appears that much of this may have been robbed to build the numerous dry stone dykes present in the area. This site has be excavated in the past. A few scrubby trees are now growing on site but in general it is in good condition and does not need any formal kind of maintenance. Stock grazing appears to be nil although it might be wise to remove any regenerating saplings from the site. The site overlooks the bay of Poldorais and in front of the site there is a broad sweeping gently undulating area of relatively good land which shows traces of rig and furrow. To the rear north of the site there is a very craggy area, supporting scrubby woodland amongst the rocky outcrocks.
DML January 2000

NG47SE 6 4639 7196.

Dun Flodigarry is a badly-ruined Iron Age stone structure on a low rock knoll and having a plan like an open-sided ring. Two-thirds of the double wall remains, two or three courses high, and a C-14 date suggested that it was built in the 1st century A D. The interior was full of unstratified earth, with no trace of a floor level; this, and the presence of a deposit of rubble diagnosed as building material, suggest that the site is an unfinished groun-galleried broch rathar than a D-shaped semi-broch. The finds were relatively few, and the pottery is mainly incised were, analagous to the 'native' wares found at Dun Mor Vaul, Tiree.
R Martlew 1985.

A report of the excavations starting in 1979 was published in 1985. It is available to download online; see link below. <1>

This site was included in Mackie's 2007 'The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c.700 BC - AD 500: Architecture and material culture'. See link below to HES Canmore record which includes the chapter on this site. <2>

The finds from the excavations are in the Skye and Lochalsh Archive centre. These comprise: Iron Age pottery sherds (decorated and undecorated), a Samian sherd, slag, animal bone and limpet shells (from a midden at the broch entrance and possibly relating to later activity), two unstratifed worked flints, fragments of a rotery quern and hammer stones. These are listed under Acc. Nos. 1988.2.1- 1988.2.14. The Archive Centre also has site notebooks and finds records. <3>

Sources/Archives (11)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NG 4638 7195 (70m by 70m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NG47SE
Geographical Area	SKYE AND LOCHALSH
Civil Parish	KILMUIR

Finds (9)

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Related Investigations/Events (1)

External Links (3)