EHG4850 - Excavation - Langwell Dun, Strath Oykel

Tor a' Chorcain, Langwell, stands 18km WSW of Lairg, Sutherland - formerly in Easter Ross. It was first recorded as an antiquity in 1967, by the Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, who described the remains as a "vitrified fort and vitrified dun". The site is a rocky knoll of 46 metres O.D. in a loop of the River Oykel, with a commanding prospect along the Strath in both directions; the country rock is a fairly uniform schistose quartzite of the Moine Series. This site is occupied by a small hill fort, upon whose denuded remains the dun is superimposed. The excavations were undertaken in 1973 and 1974. Heavy concetration of resources on the main wall section, plus a run of severe weather in the second season, made it impossiblet o complete the excavation of the dun's interior. Radiocarbon dates the construction of the Dun to about the middle of the 3rd century BC or a little later. <1>