Broch by Howe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 
BW
Spread of Brochs - Red

The excavations in the Howe Broch and in the Broch of Bu on Orkney helped to understand the origins of the Orcadian Broch tradition , especially architecturally, better than was the case with the earlier excavations of Gurness and Midhowe . The Howe Broch is located above the Bay of Ireland, near the Loch of Stenness northeast of Stromness , on the Scottish Orkney island of Mainland .

The excavations carried out by John Hedges from 1978 to 1982 revealed a complex history of the place. Originally there was a Neolithic grave here. The place remained unclaimed for more than 2000 years, until from the 8th century BC. . BC Iron Age use activities. In the 4th or 3rd century BC The area was leveled and the burial chamber was converted into a basement . The basement was closed with a layer of clay and a large round house was built, which eventually collapsed.

It has been replaced with what is known as Broch 1, despite the fact that there is no evidence that it was a tower. As with the Broch of Crosskirk , the building with the outbuildings was surrounded by a stone wall and a moat. Little remains of the internal construction, but there were guard cells in the entrance and intramural stairs. However, these were of such magnitude that they contributed to the weakening of the walls, which were only 3½ to 4 m thick. Indeed, Broch 1 then collapsed. The users immediately built a new tower known as Broch 2, but with an outer wall about 5½ m thick. This brochure also seems to have collapsed once during the construction phase, but was completed. The builders show the various failed attempts in an experimental phase.

The entrance to the interior was 5.5 meters long with a door hinge about 1.5 meters from the inner end, but without guard cells. The floor of the Brochs served many functions, e.g. For example, the hearth that had almost disappeared in Howe was usually located here. The interior was divided into areas using vertical panels and has a similar layout to the neighboring brochure by Bu. In the center is the round area with a diameter of about 4 m. To the right of the entrance there is a passage over 2 meters wide, delimited on the inside by vertical plates, which runs around two thirds of the circumference. The remaining third is formed by three two-story wall boxes made of stone slabs and partitions. An intramural cell, which has a series of steps, is located on the west side, about 1.3 meters above ground level. The walls are only about 4 m high and there was no evidence of an upper floor, through ledges or wooden posts.

literature

  • John W. Hedges: Bu, Gurness and the Brochs of Orkney. Volume 3: The Brochs of Orkney (= British Archaeological Reports. British series. 165). BAR, Oxford 1987, ISBN 0-86054-436-2 .
  • JNG Ritchie: Brochs of Scotland . Princes Risborough, Shire Archeology secund edition 1998, ISBN 0-7478-0389-7 pp. 31-32, 42-43

Web links

annotation

Not to be confused with the Midhowe brochure

Coordinates: 58 ° 58 '45.4 "  N , 3 ° 15' 42.3"  W.