Monument record 396 - GALSON, LEWIS

NB45NW 2.00 437 594.

For bronze pin, possibly from this site, see NB45NW 20.

NB45NW 2.01 NB 4367 5947 Burial; Pot; Bone Pin; Iron object
NB45NW 2.02 NB 436 594 Long Cist

(NB 436 594) An extensive kitchen-midden, known since 1914 to exist in a sandbank on the seaward side of the wall bounding the field called 'Sand Park', N of Galson Farmhouse, was excavated in 1923 at four points, yielding at:
A - an open hearth on a stone and clay floor.
B - indeterminate stone structures and a paved floor covered with clay.
C - a curious stone structure 34ft by 10ft 6ins, divided into four compartments, with an adjoining earth-house (or drain: Rivet).
D - part of the wall of a circular chamber, 1ft below ground level, but too near the dyke to be investigated fully.
A great deal of material was recovered, including implements of bone and deerhorn, pottery (mostly Iron Age), a rotary and two saddle querns, a steatite cup, an iron knife and clay loom-weights; also two ring-headed bronze pins and a silver coin of Eadgar (957-975). This last was found in the midden away from the buildings.
A J H Edwards 1924.

In 1946, the discovery of burials in the area was reported by Dr R S Doig, M.O.H. at Stornoway, and in 1948 and 1949 two long cists were excavated. One (Galson V) lay 393ft along the wall from its W. end, another (Galson II), 6ft further along (Z on Edwards 1924 plan). The other burials known to Dr Doig all lay within 30ft NE of the last, but in 1953 another was found 406ft from the W end of the wall and 19ft out, and yet another (Galson VII) 426ft along and 27ft out. All were long cists. The structure excavated at C (Edwards 1924) in 1923 had been completely swept away, but erosion had revealed further walls at X (Edwards 1924), 298ft along and wall and 35ft out, and at Y (Edwards 1924), 367-368ft along the wall and 16ft out from it. Such evidence of stratification as survived, combined with the conflict between Edward's broch-type pottery and the later coin and pin, indicated that the long-cist cemetary was subsequent to the IA habitation site - though presumably earlier than the graveyard of Teampull nan Cro'Naomh (NB45NW 1).
It is questionable whether Edward's 'earth-house' was, in fact, originally subterranean.
R B K Stevenson 1954.

Finds from site deposited in NMAS, accession numbers
HR 73, HR 30/1 & 2, GA 1198 30/1.
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1922; 1923; 1924; 1925; 1934; 1937; 1950; 1953

Excavations carried out for mainly geological purposes in 1933 and 1935 produced a bronze pin and - especially at the point where the track from Galson Farm reaches the coast - more IA pottery of broch and wheelhouse type.
D Baden-Powell and C Elton 1937.

A bronze ring-headed pin from this site (presumably one of those mentioned by Edwards) is of Viking form.
S Grieg 1940.

Further erosion of the sandy cliff has destroyed the structures and cists described by Edwards and Stevenson, and all that remains is an extensive layer of midden material and an occasional wall face protruding through the cliff edge.
At the time of investigation a cist of small irregular stones, 0.7m E-W by 0.4m by 0.4m deep, was found, some 0.7m below the level of the midden. It contained a baby's skeleton, head towards the west, but no grave goods.
The cist was surveyed at 1/2500 but was subsequently destroyed, with its contents, by children.
Three bone pins, 0.1m long, found in the midden by a local man, were given to the investigator, and several sherds of pottery, some thick and coarse and others of thinner ware, and a bone implement, were picked up at the site.
Visited by OS (N K B) 16 June 1969.

NB 437 594. Two cists, exposed in an eroding dune, were excavated. Two well-preserved skeletons were recovered and a radiocarbon date of 1710 +/- 70 bp (GU 2115) was obtained from one. It is suggested that these cists form part of an Iron Age cemetery.
M R Ponting 1990

Visits by Mrs Sue Hothersall in 1997 produced ceramics, Iron Age and possibly later, animal bone (discarded) and a piece of iron plate. MnE.

PSAS, 1921-2, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 260 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9178.

PSAS, 1922-3, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 12 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9014.

A J H Edwards, 1923-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 185-203 plans (Bibliographic reference). SWE1367.

PSAS, 1923-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 19 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9035.

PSAS, 1924-5, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 13 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8049.

PSAS, 1933-4, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 190 (Bibliographic reference). SWE7836.

PSAS, 1936-7a, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 14 (Bibliographic reference). SWE5274.

S Grieg, 1940, Viking Antiquities in Scotland, 147 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2901.

PSAS, 1947-8, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 153 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4739.

PSAS, 1950-1, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 245 (Bibliographic reference). SWE9020.

R B K Stevenson, 1951-2a, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 106-8 (Bibliographic reference). SWE8340.

PSAS, 1971-2b, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 316, No. 8 (Bibliographic reference). SWE10827.

L R Laing, 1973b, Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 53-71 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3785.

L. R. Laing, 1975c, The Archaeology of Late Celtic Britain and Ireland c. 400-1200 AD, 186, 328-9 (Bibliographic reference). SWE3794.

M Macgregor, 1976, Early Celtic Art in North Britain, Vol. 1, 9, 153, 155-6, Vol. 2, No. 330 (Bibliographic reference). SWE4422.

T Fanning, 1983, Some aspects of the bronze ringed pin in Scotland, 341, No. 54 (Bibliographic reference). SWE2007.

M, M and G R MacRae, Ponting a, 1984b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 43 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12507.

P and S Topping and Topping, 1984b, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 44 (Bibliographic reference). SWE12883.

M, R and G R Ponting, Ponting , 1985, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 64, 68 (Bibliographic reference). SWE14603.

M R Ponting, 1989, Proc Soc Antiq Scot (Bibliographic reference). SWE24840.

Burgess, Christopher & Church, Michael, 1997, Coastal Erosion Assessment, Lewis. A Report for Historic Scotland (Bibliographic reference). SWE41000.

Tim Neighbour, Carol Knott, Margaret F. Bruce, Neill W. Kerr, 2000, Excavation of twolong cists at Galson, Isle of Lewis, 1993 and 1996 (Unpublished document). SWE41029.

Tim Neighbour, Carol Knott, Margaret F. Bruce, Neill W. Kerr, 2000, Excavation of twolong cists at Galson, Isle of Lewis, 1993 and 1996 (Unpublished document). SWE41029.

Tim Neighbour & Mike Church, CFA, 2001, The eroding settlement and Iron Age cemetery at Galson, Isle of Lewis (Unpublished document). SWE41060.

Tim Neighbour & Mike Church, CFA, 2001, The eroding settlement and Iron Age cemetery at Galson, Isle of Lewis (Unpublished document). SWE41060.