Life on the Edge: The Neolithic and Bronze Age of Iain Crawford’s Udal, North Uist

Description

The discovery of archaeological structures in North Uist in 1974 after storm damage led to the identification by Iain Crawford of a kerb cairn complex, with a cist and human remains. Six years later he went back, and over the next three years excavated another cist with human remains in its kerbed cairn, many bowl pits dug into the blown sand, and down to two late Neolithic structures and a ritual complex. He intensively studied the environmental conditions affecting the site and was among the first archaeologists in Scotland to understand the climate changes taking place at the transition between late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The deposition of blown sand and the start of the machair in the Western Isles, including the rise in sea-level and inundations into inhabited and farmed landscapes, are all part of the complex story of natural events and human activities. Radiocarbon dating and modern scientific analyses provide the detail of the story of periods of starvation suffered by the people that were buried on the site, of the movement away of the community, of their attempts of bringing the ‘new’ land back into cultivation, of a temporary tent-like structure, and of marking their territory by the construction of enduring monuments to the dead. Table of Contents Foreword - Malcolm Burr Preface - Beverley Ballin Smith Summary (English/Gaelic) PART 1 Introduction - Beverley Ballin Smith PART 2 The excavation record - Beverley Ballin Smith PART 3 Dating and human remains PART 4 The changing natural environment and subsistence farming PART 5 Exploitation of natural resources and the uses of artefacts PART 6 Discussion - Beverley Ballin Smith PART 7 Conclusion - Life on the edge - Beverley Ballin Smith Afterword – Iain and Imogen Crawford Appendices: 1: Marine shell samples quantified by species 2: Pottery catalogue Bibliography Index Cover Title Page Copyright Page Founders of the project Iain A. Crawford Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments The Excavation The Post-excavation Foreword Preface The Origin of the book title Summary Gaelic Summary List of Contributors Part I Introduction Location, topography, vegetation and place-names Place names Background to the project and its origins The environmental history of the area The original research aims 1963 Introduction to the excavations Site location Methodology Plans, section and photographs Written record On site sieving and post-processing of site finds and samples Monitoring and protecting the site durin the excavation Nomenclature features Post-excavation activities prior to 2008 Post-excavation developments since 2008 PART 2 The excavation record Introduction Natural Events and disturbances PHASE E- natiral and anthropogenic deposits PHASE D PHASE C PHASE B PHASE A PART 3 Dating and human remains Early dating of the site Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling The burials on the site Skeletal analysis Stable isotope measurements for diet, physiology and migration PART 4 The changing natural environment and subsistence farming Introduction Botanical remains Pollen The faunal remains Non-worked marine shell The perforated mollusc shell The crustacea Terrestrial snail assemblages PART 5 Evploitation of natural resources and the uses of artefacts Introduction Flaked flint and other fine-grained lithic materials The quartz assemblage Pumice found at the Udal Worked pumice and pumice artefacts Stone tools and other items in stone The prehistoric pottery Worked bone artefacts PART 6 Discussion The origins of settlement on the site The uses of ritual and domestic structures Changes to soceiaty after the accumulation of blown sand The people PART 7 Conclusion - Life on the edge Afterword Appendices Bibliography Index