Domed buildings of the Hebrides
The rural domed buildings of the Hebrides , in the extreme northwest of the British Isles , were described from the middle of the 19th century. First, the cantilever vaults made of dry stone masonry appear in a treatise by Commander (later: Captain) Frederick William Thomas (1806–1866) from 1858. Arthur Mitchell from Edinburgh was the first scientist to report on them (1880). The German researcher Gerhard Rohlfs placed the buildings of the Hebrides in a pan-European context in the middle of the 20th century.
The double hut of the type " beehive hut " on the island of Lewis , shown above on the right, consists of two stone huts (locally called "Bothan") that are connected by a short corridor. They are only about the height of a man inside. The connecting passage is so low that you can only crawl into the other chamber. The stone building can only be seen from the outside at the entrances, as it is covered with peat . One chamber has a more or less round shape with a diameter of about 1.8 m. Inside it is a slightly raised area behind a row of stone blocks (b). Three niches (a1 - a3) are let into the wall. In the front part, close to the entrance, is the fireplace (c). The other chamber is rectangular in shape (1.80 × 2.70 m) and has no furniture.
The hut shown below on the right on the same island shows a different interior layout. This building is also hardly recognizable from the outside because it is covered with peat. Inside, the dome structure is divided in such a way that three niche-like rooms (b1 - b3) extend from its center (a). In front of the entrance to the hut there is a stone wall (c), which presumably serves as a windbreak, because in the corridor (d) there was a fireplace (d)
There are also combinations of more than two vaults. The third example shows a connection of three stone chambers on the Hebridean island of South Uist . The partially collapsed complex was reconstructed in its left part. The entrance on the left leads to an oval chamber measuring 2.10 × 4.2 m. Two niches (not shown in the plan) are built into its walls. An underground, sloping passage leads from the oval chamber, in a slight curve after about 5 m into an elongated chamber, slightly constricted in the middle, rounded at the end, about 2.00 m high and 3.00 × 1.50 m. On the side you get to a small circular side chamber, which has a height and a diameter of 1.50 m. Compared to the level of the entrance chamber, the second chamber is about 0.90 m, the side chamber about 1.20 m lower.
More complex forms are shown in a building consisting of 12 adjoining domes in Aird Mhor (Uig, Isle of Lewis ). Its diameter is 13.80 m. The door openings are 75 cm high. Only two of the chambers still had a dome in 1858 with an interior height of 1.95 m.
There are different theories about the origin of the stone buildings ( Airigh A 'Sguir ). In the 19th century there was a tendency to trace them back to the most ancient times and to associate them with the Neolithic period.
See also
literature
- Arthur Mitchell: The Past in the Present. What is Civilization? 1880
- Gerhard Rohlfs : Primitive domed buildings in Europe (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class. Treatises. NF 43, ISSN 0005-710X ). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1957.
- Frederick WL Thomas: Notice of Beehive Houses in Harris and Lewis; with Traditions of the "each-uisge", or water-horse, connected therewith. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 3, 1857/1859, ISSN 0081-1564 , pp. 127-144 .
Footnotes
- ↑ Frederick WL Thomas: Notice of Beehive Houses in Harris and Lewis; with Traditions of the "each-uisge", or water-horse, connected therewith. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 3, 1857/1859, pp. 127-144.
- ^ Arthur Mitchell: The past in the present. What is civilization? David Douglas, Edinburgh 1880, pp. 59-60, Figs. 37 and 38 .