Dun Beag
The Broch of Dun Beag ( German "small fort" ) is on a hill at Loch Bracadale on the west coast of the island of Skye in the Highlands in Scotland . Not to be confused with Dunbeg Fort in Ireland.
location
The location of Dun Beag dominates the landscape from the west. On the east side the terrain rises steadily and does not give the impression of impregnability. Dun Beag may have served as a landmark for seafarers to find their way into the fjord-like Loch Harport. The location of the semi-broch Dun Ardtreck on the south side of the entrance to Loch Harport may support this theory.
- Dun Beag
description
The structure of Dun Beag is remarkably well preserved up to a height of about 1.5 m. The inside of the brochure has a diameter of 11 m. The curtain wall is on average 4.3 m thick. As with other brochs, the walls are built as an outer and inner shell with voids between them and openings to the interior to illuminate the room. The gap between the walls left space for stone stairs, which are particularly impressive at the Broch by Dun Beag.
Dun Beag is one of around 500 brochs that can be found particularly in the north and west of Scotland. Brochs were primarily from the last century BC. Built until the 1st century AD. The round towers reached a height of 13 or more meters. There are controversial opinions about its purpose, but Brochs' long-time favorite as “Farmstead” has been shelved . Some see defensive structures in them, while others believe that they were symbols of power and prestige. Dun Beag was excavated in 1912 by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour.
literature
- Ian Armit: Towers in the North. The Brochs of Scotland. Tempus, Stroud 2003, ISBN 0-7524-1932-3 .
- Euan W. MacKie: The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 BC - AD 500. Architecture and Material Culture. Volume 2: The Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands (= BAR. British series. 444, 2). Archaeopress, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-1-4073-0134-1 .
- JNG Ritchie: Brochs of Scotland . Princes Risborough, Shire Archeology secund edition 1998, ISBN 0-7478-0389-7 pp. 35, 47, 48
Web links
Coordinates: 57 ° 21 ′ 36.6 " N , 6 ° 25 ′ 32.7" W.