- Wheelhouse (archaeology)
In
archaeology , a wheelhouse is a prehistoric structure from theIron Age found inScotland . The term was first coined after the discovery of a ruined mound in 1855. [The location has been lost. The discovery was by C. Gordon who reported it as being on a west shore "nearly level with the sea". It may have been onSouth Uist . See Crawford (2002) p. 113.] A total of 62 sites have now been identified in the Northern andWestern Isles , and on the north coast ofCaithness andSutherland . [Crawford (2002) p. 112.] [The 8 presumed sites on Orkney are included in this total, although arguably there are none there. If this is the case a further conundrum as to the reason for their absence emerges. See Armit (2003) p. 135.]Amateur enthusiasts did some excavation in the 19th century, but professional examination of the sites did not begin until the 1930s, when digs were undertaken at
Jarlshof andGurness . No work of a modern standard was done in theHebrides until 1946 at Clettreval onNorth Uist . [Crawford (2002) p. 113.]Sometimes referred to as "aisled roundhouses" [Crawford (2002) p. 113.] their characteristic features include an outer wall within which a circle of stone piers (bearing a resemblance to the spokes of a wheel) form the basis for
lintel arches supportingcorbel led roofing with a hearth at the hub. [Turner (1998) p. 81.] About a third are double-walled. They range in diameter from 4 metres to 11.5 metres. Those sites that have been dated tend to fall within the period 25 BC to 380 AD. In the Northern Isles, 72% are found in association withbroch sites, and they are of a later date than these towered structures in all cases. No sites in the west have such an association, an as yet unresolved enigma. [Crawford (2002) pp. 118–22.] The majority are dug into the landscape and only theirthatched roof s would have been visible above the ground — although these would have been 6 metres or more in height. [Armit (2003) p. 136.] Many sites incorporate animal burials beneath the floor, the most common bones being those of young lambs. Other bone deposits include the heads of a human and aGreat Auk at Cnip onLewis , and sixty bone burials including cattle, sheep and pig at Sollas in North Uist. [Armit (2003) p. 93.] Five sites includemenhir s and fifteen a red and black mortar. These features tends to support the hypothesis that the primary purpose of these buildings was ritualistic. [Crawford (2002) pp. 123–4.] Confusingly therefore, "wheelhouses" are neither wheels, nor perhaps houses. [Crawford (2002) p. 113.]The highly restricted nature of their geographical locations suggests that they may have been contained within a political or cultural frontier of some kind. The co-incidence of their arrival and departure being associated with the period of Roman influence in Scotland is a matter of ongoing debate. [Crawford (2002) p. 128.]
ee also
*
Atlantic roundhouse
*Broch References
* Armit, I. (2003) "Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland", Stroud : Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-1932-3
* Crawford, Iain "The wheelhouse" in Smith, Beverley Ballin and Banks, Iain (2002) "In the Shadow of the Brochs". Stroud. Tempus. ISBN 075242517X
* Turner, Val (1998) Ancient Shetland. London. B. T. Batsford/Historic Scotland. ISBN 0713480009Notes
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