Dun Ardtreck

Dun Ardretreck will be a fascinating place to visit.  It was excavated in 1964-65 by Euan Mackie who described it as a semi broch.   The idea that this type of structure was a protoype broch had been suggested in 1928 by RCAHMS.      Dun Ardteck U3A walk October 2012 Euan Mackie originally believed such structures were the immediate predecessors of the brochs and this provided evidence that broch construction emanated from Skye.  The excavation was planned to test this hypothesis. From Macsween Ian Armitt does not support this view and considers Adreck as a variant within the complex roundhouse class[1] showing elements of broch architecture but never planned to be a tower like structure. Euan Mackie considers that the Dun was constructed in perhaps the second or third century BC and was in us, not necessarily continuously,  until the sixth or seventh century AD.  Carbon particles found in the excavation were carbon dated to between 170 BC to 110 AD.  This was however, done when carbon dating was in its infancy The Dun was constructed on a rubble platform, presumably laid to create a level area on the rocky knoll on which the Dun stands.  Mackie assumes there were at least two upper galleries and that the original height of the wall would have been around 5-6m. The entrance was 3m long and paved with flat slabs and pebbles. Traces of bar hole and socket were seen being the upright stone slabs which formed the door checks. This is the abstract from the excavation report – which was not published until 2000 – 35 years after the excavation took place!!! From: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_130/130_301_411.pdf (retrieved 5/5/17)[2] picture of one of the fascinating finds from phase 2 occupation - copied from Euan Mackie's report (2) below. References: [1] Armit, I. (1996) The archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles. Edinburgh. Page(s): 118 [2] https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_130/130_301_411.pdf (retrieved 5/5/17) MacSween, A 1985 The Brochs, Duns and Enclosures of Skye. Northern Archaeology Group: Newcastle (= Northern Archaeology 5/6).