Artificial platforms of possible Iron Age or Dark Age date on Dùn Mór, Dornie, Skye & Lochalsh

Abstract

Report a topographical survey and trial excavations that were conducted on a tree-covered ridge near Dornie. A number of artificially enhanced platforms were discovered at different levels on the ridge; these had been created by connecting bedrock outcrops with retaining walls. Walls delimit access to the ridge from the south-east, where there is an isolated platform. A well defined pathway, enhanced in two places by retaining walls, dog-legs up the southern side of the ridge from the edge of Loch Duich. An oval cairn, covering a `grave-shaped' hole, was discovered on one platform. Worked quartz, modern pottery, glass and iron objects were found in the dumped material behind the walls. While radiocarbon dates from two securely sealed deposits are consistent with the interpretation that the site is an Iron Age or Dark Age fortified ridge site, its morphology is slightly different from most well-known examples. Includes separately authored reports on: