Monument record 2267 - BORNISH 1, SOUTH UIST

NF73SW 8 729 302

NF 7294 3026 and NF 7299 3031 Field survey along the South Uist machair has demonstrated the survival of at least 80 settlement mounds in the southern half of the island. Forty-four of these have been found in an area of 5 square kilometres around the broch of Dun Vulan. They are grouped into clusters within each of the five townships in this area, Stonybridge, Ormiclate, Upper Bornish, Lower Bornish and Kildonan. On the machair of Upper Bornish there is a cluster of three mounds. Bornish 1 has not yet been excavated but it has produced pottery of Middle Iron Age (c100BC- AD500) and pre-Viking Late Iron Age date (cAD500-800). Bornish 2 and Bornish 3 have yielded grass-impressed sherds of the Viking period. The spatial patterning of the mound clusters and the apparent chronological sequence of the three Bornish mounds suggest that the origin of the township territories and organization may lie in prehistory, possibly at the beginning of the Middle Iron Age. These excavations are part of a long-term programme to test and explore this model.
Excavations on Mound 2 in 1994 demonstrated the existence of a large stone building of the 11th century, aligned E-W and containing a number of bone and iron artefacts. An earlier building appeared to have rounded rather than rectangular walls but it was not excavated. In June 1995 part of the trench was re-opened and a third stone building was located immediately above the house with rounded walls. Associated with the construction of this new building were three fragments of a decorated whalebone plaque.
Mound 3 was also excavated in June 1993 to reveal the foundations of another two Viking Age buildings, one above the other. They cannot be dated precisely nor can their full dimensions be determined without further excavation.
This excavation took place within the South Uist Machair Management Project, assessing the survival of archaeological sites, the threats to those sites and the potential management options to secure their continued preservation. The 1994 excavations demonstrated that house walls were being damaged by ploughing. One of the main lessons learned in 1995 was that the Viking Age buildings survive at a shallow depth of 20-50cm within the mounds and are very easily damaged by the burrows of rabbits, which may go down at least a metre. Since this area is heavily colonized by rabbits these sites remain under threat.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland.
M Parker Pearson, N Sharples and J Webster 1995, 108-9.

NF 729 302 Three substantial mounds dominate the machair plain of the township of Bornish. Three seasons of excavations and field survey have revealed a chronological sequence dating from the Middle Iron Age to the Norse period.
Geophysical survey of mounds 2 and 3 has identified over 18 rectangular buildings which form a substantial settlement covering an area of c 0.8ha. The buildings are concentrated into four settlement foci with the two mounds simply the most prominent component of the settlement. The 1996 excavation of mound 2 revealed a complex sequence of rectangular structures interspersed with the deposition of thick midden layers, some of which contain enormous quantities of marine shell. The principal area of excavation focused on an earlier building at the E end of the original 1994 trench. This was revealed to be another rectangular building of Norse date and indicates the complexity and depth of occupation on the site.
Field and geophysical survey evidence had indicated that mound 1 was separated from the other mounds and could date to the Late Iron Age. This provisional dating was confirmed by this year?s excavation. The earliest feature revealed in the SW end of the trench was a very badly damaged circular building which was the focus for some form of industrial activity in the 5th?6th centuries AD. After this industrial area was abandoned, settlement spread to the N and the well-preserved remains of a substantial multi-roomed building were partially exposed. This had been covered by heavy clay midden layers of Norse date.
The material recovered from mound 1 includes Late Iron Age and Norse pottery but a few isolated sherds of decorated pottery indicate Middle Iron Age occupation somewhere on the mound. Artefacts of note include a bronze crook-headed pin, a small broken bone plaque with an ogham inscription, a pair of bone weaving tablets, and a complete pin from mound 1. Several decorated fragments of combs and pins were recovered from mound 2. Large quantities of well-preserved animal bones were collected and flotation samples should contain a rich collection of environmental remains which will give a very important insight into the economies of both the Pictish and Viking periods.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Wales, Cardiff.
N Sharples and M Hamilton 1996, 108


NF 729 302 Three substantial mounds dominate the machair plain of the township of Bornish. Four seasons of excavation and field survey have revealed a chronological sequence dating from the Middle Iron Age to the Norse period, and geophysical survey has revealed the plan of an extensive Norse settlement (Sharples and Hamilton 1996). The 1996 fieldwork involved the excavation of trenches on all three mounds.
The excavation of mound 1 concentrated on an area of Late Iron Age occupation. The floor of a badly preserved structure discovered last year was exposed. Despite the presence of stone piers this building appears to be sub-rectangular in plan and not a wheelhouse. The principal feature visible in the interior was a rectangular stone-kerbed hearth with one end embellished by an arc of cattle metapodials. Overlying this building was a series of charcoal-rich layers containing large quantities of burnt whalebone. Other finds include large fresh pot sherds, large quantities of hammerstones, and bone artefacts including bone combs and weaving tablets. A date in the 5th-6th century AD is indicated by the ceramics.
On top of the Late Iron Age deposits were features associated with some form of Norse industrial activity. Two hearths and a large pit contained very large quantities of a slag-like material which must have been formed at very high temperatures. To the NE the Late Iron Age deposits were cut by a rectangular longhouse.
The mound 2 excavations focused on a large structure discovered in 1994. This was a well-preserved subterranean building over 10m long and 4m wide. Over 1m of infilling occupation layers were removed down to the primary floor level in the western half of the building. These deposits were rich in artefactual and environmental material and one of the latest layers included a composite bone comb dating to the 13th or 14th century AD.
Two trenches were excavated on mound 3. The principal trench involved the complete excavation of a rectangular building, 7.2 x 4m, with a single entrance in the northern half facing E. Three distinct floor levels were identified in the interior, and immediately in front of the entrance was a sub-rectangular hearth defined by a stone kerb. A separate ash dump possibly indicating a hearth was found in the southern half of the building. A copper-alloy buckle dating to the 13th or 14th century AD was found above the final occupation layer.
The second trench was located to explore an anomaly identified by the geophysical survey. This turned out as expected to be a building, measuring 3.4 x 4.2m, with entrances through the E and W sides. There are indications that the structure explored was the northern half of a more substantial building. It was infilled with blown sand which meant that it was well-preserved, but it did not produce any material which could be used to date the abandonment.
This year?s excavation has again recovered large quantities of ceramics, animal bone and small finds. Some of the datable small finds have been mentioned above but other finds of note include three small iron spearheads, a coin of Harold Hardrada or his successors, and several steatite objects including vessel fragments. Intensive environmental sampling continued with half-metre sampling of all the house floors excavated.
Sponsors: Historic Scotland, University of Wales, Cardiff.
N Sharples 1997, 84-5

Bornish 1:
c. 50m dia.
c. 2m depth
Surveyed June 1993, June 1994
Ploughed
Pottery MIA, LIA, VA
Iron smithing slag, shell, bone, antler
Parker-Pearson & Sharples

MIA, pre-Viking LIA and VA deposits encountered during trial trenching in 1996 & 1997. Contour survey, resistivity and magnetometer surveys in 1995-6 (Sharples 1996; 1997; Hamilton in Sharples 1996: Sharples, Webster and Parker Pearson 1995; Parker Pearson and Webster 1994).

DES 1997: NF 729 302 The excavation of mound 1 concentrated on an area of Late Iron Age occupation. The floor of a badly preserved structure discovered last year was exposed. Despite the presence of stone piers this building appears to be sub-rectangular in plan and not a wheelhouse. The principal feature visible in the interior was a rectangular stone-kerbed hearth with one end embellished by an arc of cattle metapodials. Overlying this building was a series of charcoal-rich layers containing large quantities of burnt whalebone. Other finds include large fresh pot sherds, large quantities of hammerstones, and bone artefacts including bone combs and weaving tablets. A date in the 5th-6th century AD is indicated by the ceramics.
On top of the Late Iron Age deposits were features associated with some form of Norse industrial activity. Two hearths and a large pit contained very large quantities of a slag-like material which must have been formed at very high temperatures. To the NE the Late Iron Age deposits were cut by a rectangular longhouse.
Sharples, N 1997 84-5

DES 1999: NF 729 302 Three substantial mounds dominate the machair plain of the township of Bornish (DES 1997, 84-5). Five seasons of excavation and field survey have revealed a chronological sequence dating from the Middle Iron Age to the Norse period, and geophysical survey has revealed the plan of an extensive Norse settlement.
The 1999 excavations, which lasted for eight weeks, were designed to complete the excavation of the Late Iron Age house previously exposed on mound 1 and to examine the western limit of settlement on this mound; to define the extent and plan of the large Norse house previously exposed on mound 2; to examine a new area on mound 2A where a structure was being badly damaged by ploughing; and to complete the excavation of the well-preserved ancilliary structure on mound 3.
The excavation of the Late Iron Age structure on mound 1 revealed a building with two distinct phases of occupation. These were separated by a thick charcoal-rich soil, containing many carbonised planks, which must represent the burning down of the original house. The house appears to have begun life as a circular wheelhouse but after destruction this was converted into a rectangular building. However, the building was not well-preserved and the W end in particular was difficult to define due to recent erosion. Each house had a rectangular hearth defined on three sides by upright stone slabs. The earliest hearth had a slab floor whereas the latest was filled with ash. Surrounding the three kerbed sides of the latest hearth were lines of cattle metapodials which had been rammed into the floor with their proximal ends showing. These were carefully arranged in patterns of metacarpals and metatarsals. Large quantities of hammerstones, bones, ceramics and pottery were found distributed throughout the destruction layer, an important arrtefactual material includes a parallelopiped bone dice, a whalebone axe and crucible fragments.
Sponsors: HS, University of Cardiff
Sharples, N 1999, 90

Parker Pearson, M and Sharples, N, Dun Vulan Environs Survey, South Uist (Unpublished document). SWE41170.

M, N and J Parker Pearson, Sha, 1995, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 108-109 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38862.

N and M Sharples and Hamilton, 1996, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 108 108, Fig 33. (Bibliographic reference). SWE36684.

N Sharples, 1997, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 84 (Bibliographic reference). SWE40612.

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 1999, Discovery and Excavation iin Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41183.