An Account of the Excavation of the Broch of Ayre, St Mary's Holm, Orkney

Abstract

In common with most other brochs, iron implements were found within the walls of this building and it is evident that weapons of iron were in use before the demolition of the broch. Of more interest is the mass of conglomerate which was found amid a bed of clay on the floor level, and surrounded with much broken pottery. The adjacent part of the main wall showed signs of fierce fire, and the fragments of pottery fused into the conglomerate point to some attempt to smelt either the metal or the ore. A section through a passage in one of the outbuildings shows that in successive layers different types of fuel were being burnt. All the artefacts are catalogued and there is a report on the human and animal bone.