Monument record 13226 - GEARRAIDH ARD

NF09NE 17 096 992.

NF 096 992 In 1997, an extensive zone of ancient quarries, grassed over and smooth-profiled, was newly recognised from photographs taken in good light conditions in an area called Gearraidh Ard. They are connected with the manufacture of dolerite hoe blades.
In 1998, a contour plan was produced of ancient vegetation-sealed dolerite quarries on the Gearraidh Ard hillside, to the W of the Village Bay head dyke. These quarries include small semi-circular platforms with well-defined rear faces, a few apparent linear faces, one much bigger quarry and a larger, more amorphous declivity. Most occur in a dense zone near the top of the hillside; a variety of quarrying methods were employed in variable slope situations. A 1957 air photo suggests that the 1957 military quarry destroyed a large ancient linear quarry.
In most areas a clear distinction can be made between 'ancient' quarrying and stone-digging for more recent structures, which is much less in evidence. Our hypothesis is that the 'ancient' quarries were cut to provide material for flaked hoe blades which are probably mostly of Neolithic/Bronze Age date.
Three test-pits were dug in 1998. One showed a developed soil on the flat floor of a quarry, which was in turn covered by a dump of quarry spoil. Another, just below the top crags, revealed a surprisingly deep silty soil on top of a pile of quarry spalls which had come down from above. These findings carry implications for the antiquity and duration of the quarrying.
Sponsors: National Trust for Scotland, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Universities of Sheffield and Wales, Lampeter.
A Fleming and M Edmonds 1998, 100

On the western side of Village Bay, on the island of Hirta in the St Kilda archipelago, there are extensive dolerite quarries for the extraction of stone for production of 'flaked stone bars' or hoe-blades, which are closely comparable to similar tools found in Neolithic and Bronze Age contexts in the Northern Isles. Broken hoe-blades are widely distributed amongst the walls and buildings of the village abandoned in 1930. Their use was probably coeval with that of the irregular walled field systems in Village Bay and Gleann Mor. A viable community evidently occupied Hirta well before the Iron Age. These findings suggest that we should revise current views of the prehistory of Hirta and the roles of agriculture in the island's history.
A Fleming and M Edmonds 1999
REPORT DATE: 19/02/2001

Council for Scottish Archaeology, 1998, Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41173.