Monument record 1331 - NORTHTON, HARRIS

NF99SE 2 9753 9123.

NF99SE 2.01 NF 97 91 Beakers

NF 976 913. A Neolithic/Iron Age occupation site, evid enced by middens and showing four layers of occupation was partially excavated by Simpson in September 1965, at Northton, in an area of sand dunes.
The first, at a depth of 15', lay on 2' of blown sand and contained pottery closely paralleled by that from the Neolithic kilns as Eilean on Tighe (NF87SW 1) and from the chambered cairns at Unival (NF86NW 1, 4, 6) and Clattraval (NF77SW 15). Apart from a pit, the only structural feature was a roughly oval setting of boulders surrounding the crouched skeleton of a child. Other boulders occurred but were uninterpretable owing to the narrowness of the section. The radiocarbon date for this layer was 4,100 +- 140 BC.
The second midden layer lay above 1' of wind blown sand. The material ran up the side of a possibly semi-subterranean stone built house with post-holes. A pit within the house included in its contents numerous sherds of Necked Beakers as well as those of an Irish Bowl Food Vessel. The radiocarbon date for this level was 3,080 +- 150 BC.
After the abandoning of the house and a further accumulation of blown sand, the area was re-occupied by Beaker groups, but no structures were found, possibly because only a small area has been examined.
Above these deposits and again separated by blown sand were two Iron Age middens, the uppermost probably related to a series of turf-covered enclosures on top of the dune. It was hoped to continue the excavations in 1966, and expose further structures beneath the main body of the dune. Finds from the excavation were purchased for NMAS.
D Simpson 1966; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1967; 1968.

The radiocarbon dates for the Neolithic and Beaker levels of this site are substantially too old, a possible explanation being that the sample may have been peat-charcoal.
E W MacKie 1969.

An occupation site at NF 9753 9123, as described. There are three stone built rectangular structures at NF 9752 9125, upon the dune, apparently of recent date, but no structural remains survive in the excavation. Surveyed at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (A A) 3 July 1969.

NF 9753 9123 During August 2001 fieldwork was undertaken at the prehistoric settlement site of Northton on the Toe Head peninsula on Harris. Two seasons of excavation had previously been carried out at the site during the summers of 1965 and 1966, under the direction of Prof Derek Simpson. The results of Simpson's excavations at Northton are currently being prepared for publication, and the objective of the new programme of fieldwork was to clarify a number of outstanding issues concerning the nature and condition of the site.
There were three main facets to the programme of fieldwork: the preparation of an EDM-based topographical survey of the site; the implementation of a programme of coring for the purposes of identifying the limits of the site; and the recording of any sections of archaeological significance along the shoreline that were exposed and under threat from coastal erosion.
Reconnaissance boreholes were taken at 5m intervals along a 40m transect, and major soil horizons were noted and related along the section. Cored material was carefully checked fro artefacts and ecofacts before being repolaced into the borehole and turf reinstated.
The shoreline at Toe Head peninsula is undercontinuing threat from coastal erosion, and was therefore studiied to identify any areas of archaeological significance being destroyed by erosion. This work identified two sections (termed the 'Small Section' and the 'Large Section' during fieldwork), which were subsequently cleaned and recorded. The Small Section had a length of 1.6m and proved to contain a sequence of natural deposits of Late Glacial to probable mid-Holocene date. The Large Section measured 6m across and contained evidence for occupation layers and a stone setting, which may represent the remains of a wall. The main occupation horizons are considered to be contemporary with the earliest of the Neolithic levels identified during Simpson's excavations at the site. A rigorous soil sampling strategy was adopted, with bulk and routine soil samples taken from every major context encountered during the cleaning of the profile, including all of the soil excavated from the occupation levels. Processing of the soil samples has revealed that they contained a substantial amount of animal bone, in addition to charred grain, hazelnut shells and fragments of flint and quartz.
Sponsor: HS
E Murphy, M Church and D Simpson 2001, 101

Radiocarbon dates published in DES 2002, 153, include a cluster around 7500 BP, indicating Mesolithic settlement. A Data Structure Report for Simpson's work was produced in 2002
MML 1.6.06

AMS dates derived from a number of charred hazelnut shells … ppear to indicate, alongside the stratigraphy of the section, that two distinct, and proably separate, Mesolithic phases are present within this small exposure. The earliest of these phases is located immediately above the natural boulder clay and consists of a distinct soil horizon containing fragments of burnt hazelnut shell which date between 7060-6650 cal. BC. It is unfortunate that at Northton no artefacts indicative of human occupation are found within this layer... The soil micromorphology does suggest that the deposit contains decayed organis material, which appears to indicate an anthropogenic component within the horizon, as does the presence of hazel, willow and pine charcoal, charred peat or turf, and magnetic enhancement of the horizon, and it is quite possible that this layer preresents either a Meolithic midden or a soil which has been modified through the addition of midden.
Firmer evidence for human activity is associated with the later phase, including a possible pit containing 3 large stones, degrated turf, fragments of burnt and unburnt animal bone, lithics and a hammer stone. This and another possible stone setting were surrounded by dark, contemporary organic layers containing charred hazelnut shells, burnt stone, charcoal, burnt and unburnt bone, lithics and a cobble tool.
Simpson et al. 2006, 78-9

This site shows a level of consistancy of human occupation from prehistory up until the area was cleared. Balds map of 1805 clearly shows settlment at this location as noted by OS (AA 1969)above. It is annotated as 'South Town' with 'NorthTown' located further up stream. The site continues to actively erode and archaeological deposits are clearly visible in eroding section faces. Later structures are easily identifible in the grass.
K.Murphy(Archaeologist CnES) 10/12/2020

William Bald, 1805, Map of Harris (Cartographic materials). SWE41213.

PSAS, 1964-6, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 337 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8943.

D Simpson, 1966, Antiquity, 137-9 plan, fig. 1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13537.

PSAS, 1966-7, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 269 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10563.

E W MacKie, 1969c, Antiquity, 23 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4647.

R, J G and D D A Burleigh, Eva, 1973, Antiquity, 61-3 (Bibliographic reference). SWE13540.

D D A Simpson, 1976, Brit Archaeol Rep, 221-6 (Bibliographic reference). SWE6700.

PSAS, 1982, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 588, No. 17 (Bibliographic reference). SWE815.

I Kinnes, 1985, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 45, No. 1 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4689.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2001, Discovery and Escavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41185.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 2002, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41091.

Eileen Murphy & Derek Simpson, 2002, Northton, Harris, prehistoric settlement site: Excavations 1965 and 1966, Data Structure Report (Unpublished document). SWE41092.

Richard A. Gregory, Eileen M. Murphy, Mike J. Church et al., 2005, The Holocene: Archaeological evidence for the first Mesolithic occupation of the Western Isles of Scotland (Article in serial). SWE41098.

D.D.A Simpson, E.M.Murphy, & R.A. Gregory, 2006, Excavations at Northton, Isle of Harris (Monograph). SWE41133.