Hurly Hawkin
Hurly Hawkin (also called Hurley Hawkin or Hurly Hawkins) is about 7 km from Dundee south of Liff in Angus in Scotland and is a multi-periodically used area of a round inland Promontory Fort , a fortification on a cliff, with a kind of enclosure by means of palisades, a brochure and a basement . The area was excavated by DB Taylor between 1958 and 1967.
The Promontory Fort
The Promontory Fort was formed in the Iron Age by dividing a steep headland with double walls and ditches. Either at the same time as the fort or a little later, 27 palisade posts about 20 cm in diameter, 30 cm deep and 45 to 60 cm apart, were set in a 0.5 m high clay wall, which ran in a slight arc and under the west wall the broch ended, a fence was created. A pavement followed the wall line. Taylor speaks of the remains of a hut about 15 m in diameter. The only find from the pre-broken phase was a small perforated bone plate.
The construction of the broch resulted in the demolition of part of the inner rampart that the broch was covering. The broch has been dismantled almost to the base, but enough material has remained to reveal an inner diameter of approximately 12 m and a wall thickness of 5 to 6 m and some structural details. These include the remains of a wall niche or a staircase on the north side, remains of a second wall niche on the south-east and the access on the south-west. Pavements in the southeast quadrant and post holes in the original surface may come from the pre-broke phase, but are not part of the palisade construction. Finds from the Broch, including a lot of metalwork, date it to the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The interior was excavated by Andrew Jervise in 1860 and earlier by Lord Gray.
The basement
In the case of basements, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements. A 25 m long and 1.8 m wide basement of the "Angus type" with a paved floor was discovered in the inner trench. Its walls were preserved up to a height of 1.5 m. The purposely blocked access was to the west and the paved forecourt is in the outer moat, which was also filled with rubble. The basement had been destroyed when the decking slabs were thrown into the passage, where they lay on a 45 cm thick layer of mud. The finds contain pottery similar to the local products from the basement of Ardestie and Carlungie . Perhaps, like Ardestie, it was originally associated with a surface structure that was later torn down or fell into disrepair. The connection with Ardestie points to a date in the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. A. Robertson (1970) considers the earlier pottery to come from the Broch and the later to be basement ware.
See also
literature
- Frederick T. Wainwright: Souterrains of South Pictland. Routledge & Paul, London 1963.
- David B. Taylor: Excavation of a promontory fort, broch and souterrain at Hurly Hawkin Angus. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 112, 1982, pp. 215-253 .
Web links
- Entry on Hurly Hawkin in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
Coordinates: 56 ° 28 '57 " N , 3 ° 5' 10" W.