SAIR36STAC: The Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign – investigation of stack sites of the Isle of Lewis 2003–2005

by Ian McHardy,* Chris Barrowman* and Mary MacLeod¶

with Ann MacSween† , Jo McKenzie§, Susan Ramsay‡, Catherine Smith††

Compiled and edited by Beverley Ballin Smith‡

* Isle of Lewis

¶ Western Isles Archaeologist, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

† Historic Scotland

‡ GUARD, University of Glasgow

§ University of Bradford

†† Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust

ISBN 978 090 390 3677

Published in December 2009 by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland, in Adobe Acrobat format. Available free of charge (see Terms & Conditions of Use).

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Abstract

The STAC (Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign) project conducted topographic and archaeological surveys of sea stacks and other cliff-bound coastal sites around the Isle of Lewis over three annual field seasons from 2003–2005. The project made use of a specialised access system called 'Industrial Rope Access', which proved to be both a safe and a practical way of achieving archaeological research in such places. The first part of this report details the formation and methods of the STAC project, and discusses some relevant geographical issues. The second part presents the results of the eleven site surveys. One of these sites, Dunasbroc, was thought to be particularly vulnerable to erosion and was subject to small-scale excavation, the results of which form the third part of the report.

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Report content

	Title Page
	Table of Contents
	List of Illustrations
	List of Tables
	Part I: The STAC Project
1	Abstract
2	Introduction
	2.1 The STAC project
	2.2 Previous work
	2.3 Project members
3	The Formation and Location of Stacks in Lewis
	3.1 Geological formation of stacks
	3.2 Location of stack sites in Lewis
	3.3 Sea level rise and erosion
4	Aims and Objectives
	4.1 Research design
5	Methodology
	5.1 Rope access methodologies – industrial rope access
	5.2 Rope access and the STAC project
	5.3 Topographic survey methods
	5.4 Field methodology
	Part II: The Surveys
6	STAC Domhnuill Chaim
	6.1 Physical description and location
	6.2 Erosion
	6.3 Access
	6.4 Previous work
	6.5 The survey
	6.6 Discussion
	6.7 Potential for future work
7	Stac A' Chaisteal
	Sub-sections as for Chapter 6
8	Stac Na Cuibhig
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
9	Dunasbroc
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
10	Dun Arnistean
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
11	Eilean Nan Luchruban
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
12	Dun Eòradail
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
13	Creag Dubh
	Sub-sections as for Chapter 6
14	Dun Othail
	Sub-sections 1–3 as for Chapter 6
	14.4 The survey
	14.5 Discussion
15	Caisteal A' Mhorair
	Sub-sections as for Chapter 6
16	STAC Mor Garrabost
	Sub-sections 1–6 as for Chapter 6
17	General Discussion and Concluding Comments
	Part III: The Dunasbroc Excavation Report
18	Introduction
19	The Excavation
	19.1 Trench 1
	19.2 Trench 2
20	Interpretation and Discussion
	20.1 Site morphology
	20.2 Neolithic use of the site
	20.3 Iron Age use of the site
21	Conclusions
22	Acknowledgements
23	References
	Part IV: Appendices
#1	Appendix 1: Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign (STAC), Project Design 2005
	1.1 Summary
	1.2 Introduction and previous work
	1.3 Management of the sea stack sites
	1.3.1 The nature of erosion
	1.3.2 Further work
	1.4 Fieldwork
	1.4.1 Lessons from previous sea stack excavations
	1.4.2 Purpose and aims of fieldwork
	1.4.3 Fieldwork methodology
	1.4.3.1 Survey
	1.4.3.2 Excavation
	1.4.3.3 Trench Position
	1.4.4 Outcomes and future work
#2	Appendix 2: Matrices [Tenches 1 and 2]
#3	Appendix 3: Report on the Pottery with Observations on Neolithic Pottery from the Western Isles by Ann MacSween
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Composition of the assemblages
	Table 4 Catalogue of pottery from all sites
	3.3 Evidence from the sites
	3.3.1 Dunasbroc
	3.3.2 Stac Mor, Garabost
	3.3.3 Stac Domhnuill Chaim
	3.3.4 Eilean nan Luchruban
	3.3.5 Dunasbroc, Ness
	3.3.6 Dun Arnistean
#4	Appendix 4: The Lithic Assemblage from Dunasbroc by Chris Barrowman
	4.1 Introduction
	4.2 Methodology
	4.3 Raw material
	4.3.1 Condition
	4.3.2 Assemblage composition
	Table 5 Dunasbroc flaked lithics 2005
	Table 6 Composition of Dunasbroc assemblage
	Table 7 Size variation amongst flakes from Dunasbroc
	4.4 Flake analysis
	4.5 Modified pieces
	Table 8 Modified and retouched lithics from Dunasbroc
	4.6 Contextual analysis
	4.7 Conclusions
	4.8 Flaked lithics from STAC 2004, surface finds (inc Table 9)
#5	Appendix 5: Dunasbroc 2005: Stone Artefacts Report by Chris Barrowman
	5.1 Discussion (inc Tables 10 and 11)
	5.2 Contextual analysis
	5.3 Stone from STAC 2003/2004 (inc Table 12 and Slide)
#6	Appendix 6: Botanical Report from Dunasbroc by Susan Ramsay
	6.1 Summary
	6.2 Introduction
	6.3 Methodology
	6.4 Results
	6.5 Discussion (inc Tables 13 and 14)
	6.6 Conclusions
#7	Appendix 7: Animal Bone Report From Dunasbroc 2005 by Catherine Smith
	7.1 Introduction
	7.2 Method
	7.3 Results (inc Table 15)
	7.4 Discussion
#8	Appendix 8: Soil Micromorphology Report From Dunasbroc by Jo McKenzie
	8.1 Introduction
	8.2 Methodology
	8.3 Results and discussion
	8.3.1 Slide 1 – 'Natural'
	8.3.2 Slide 2: Context 005
	8.3.3 Slide 3: Context 005
	8.4 Conclusions