Broch from Crosskirk

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Crosskirk Broch Memorial Cairn

The Crosskirk Broch is located near Crosskirk , on the Scottish north coast in Caithness .

The broch was made around 400 BC. BC ( cal. ) And has the oldest known double walls.

In the second half of the 1st millennium BC BC. Brochs were created with more complicated shapes, which made them especially tall. An example of the beginning of this development is the Crosskirk Broch excavated by Horace Fairhurst from 1966 to 1972.

The radiocarbon dates indicate that it was almost 1000 years from the 8th century BC. Was used until the 2nd century AD. Unlike the Broch from Bu on Orkney , the structure's wall is about six meters thick. The excavation showed, however, that the wall was only subsequently reinforced. The original wall core was composed of earth and rubble and could not support the weight of a larger tower. Later constructions were either double-walled (hollow inside) or consisted of solid but thinner walls (primarily on Orkney). The excavator of the Broch of Crosskirk therefore only considers a height of about 4.5 m to be possible (that is a third of the height of the Broch of Mousa ).

The Crosskirk Broch has several characteristics that are not (or no longer) found in classic brochures. So little was guard cell ( English guard-cell ) from both the entrance corridor, as well as a larger cell in the wall of accessible. This in turn shows a series of steps that belong to a destroyed staircase. This is the multifunctional unit of three classic brochure elements, which otherwise appear completely separately. In addition, the complex was surrounded by an outer wall with a ditch and the area in between was filled with secondary structures. Ian Armit calls this type the "complex roundhouse type", it also includes the "galleried duns ".

After being excavated in 1972, the Crosskirk Broch fell victim to the cliff being demolished. Today nothing can be seen except a small stone mark.

literature

  • Horace Fairhurst, David John Breeze: Excavation at Crosskirk broch, Caithness , Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Monograph Series No. 3, ISBN 0903903032 .
  • Ian Armit: Towers in the North. The Brochs of Scotland . Tempus, Stroud 2003, ISBN 0-7524-1932-3 .
  • Ian Armit: Broch Building in Northern Scotland. The context of innovation . In: World Archeology 21/3 ( Architectural Innovation ), 1990, pp. 435-445 ISSN  0043-8243 , [1] .
  • Coleen E. Batey: Viking and late Norse re-use of broch mounds in Caithness In: Iain Banks, Beverley Ballin Smith (Eds.), In the shadow of the brochs: the Iron Age in Scotland, A celebration of the work of Dr . Euan MacKie on the Iron Age of Scotland. Stroud, Tempus 2002, pages 185-190, ISBN 075242517X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ian Armit, Broch Building in Northern Scotland, the Context of Innovation. World Archeology 21/3, 1990, 438
  2. ^ Ian Armit, Broch Building in Northern Scotland, the Context of Innovation. World Archeology 21/3, 1990, 438

Coordinates: 58 ° 36 ′ 25.8 "  N , 3 ° 40 ′ 29.8"  W.