Broch from Clickhimin
The approximately 2,000-year-old Broch of Clickimin (also Clickhimin) lies on a former island on the southern shore of Loch of Clickimin , southwest of Lerwick , on to Scotland belonging Shetland Islands . The Broch from Clickimin, which has survived in remnants, is next to the Broch from Mousa the best preserved in the Shetlands and also one of the best preserved anywhere. It has been designated as a Scheduled Monument since 1882 and is therefore a listed building .
During the Nordic Bronze Age , around 700 BC. BC, a first oval stone structure was erected on the small island, which was covered with grass and surrounded by swamp and which was accessible via an artificial dam, which resembled the orcadian structures of Skara Brae . Its remains are on the northwest wall of the Broch.
Around 200 the dam to the island was interrupted by a ditch and a stronger wall was built around the island. Wooden houses with thatched roofs were built within the enclosure. At that time the Clickimin hole was cut off from the sea. Around 100 BC A detached, so-called “block house”, about eight meters long, was built in front of the only gate in the older wall. There is a cell on either side of the passage through the five meter thick log house. In contrast to other “block houses” in Shetland, however, the cells were only accessible from the upper floor. The stairs at the western end of the log house have been preserved. There were traces of buildings within the enclosure.
Originally larger than it is today, Clickimin never finished this phase as work began on the Broch, the island's most striking feature. The Broch was originally up to 12-15 m high with an inner diameter of about 10 m, with no stairs in its unusually thick wall. Two T-shaped side niches are accessible from the interior. Some time later the brochure was already reduced in height.
At the same time, the Bronze Age building was used again about 700 years after it was built. It is also believed that at this time the stone slab found on the dam with the sunk-in soles of the feet , one of Clickimin's strangest finds, was added, the purpose of which is unknown. Footprints similar to those found at Dunadd in Argyll and Bute are associated with ceremonies of the inauguration of royalty.
From around 500 AD, the houses ( wheelhouse ) were poor and partly built in the ruins of the earlier structures. When the Vikings arrived around 800 AD, Clickimin was already abandoned and forgotten. The site remained a hill on a small island for more than a thousand years.
In the 1850s the "Lords of Lerwick" excavated the hill and "restored" what they had found, in keeping with the Victorian taste for archeology. Clickimin was then archaeologically excavated in the 1950s. The evidence of arable farming in the area was achieved by finding barley on the floor of stone troughs, one of which can be seen in Clickimin.
literature
- Ian Armit: Towers in the North: the Brochs of Scotland . London. 2003 pp. 14, 26, 28–30, 63, 70, 113, 133-4,
- A. Hollinrake: Clickhimin Broch, Watching brief , Discovery Excav Scot, New, Vol. 18, 2017. Cathedral Communications Limited, Wiltshire, England.
- JNG Ritchie: Brochs of Scotland . Princes Risborough, Shire Archeology secund edition 1998, ISBN 0-7478-0389-7 pp. 24-26
Individual evidence
Web links
- Description Engl. and pictures
- photos
- Entry to Clickhimin's Broch in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Coordinates: 60 ° 8 ′ 57.3 " N , 1 ° 9 ′ 56" W.