To those of you who made it today (14) thanks for coming to those who didn't make it, sorry you missed it- I really enjoyed the meeting - so much enthusiasm, knowledge and lots of different opinions.
We didn't have time to cover all the issues raised..we could do with a meeting simply to define what we think a broch is! Then another to discuss building techniques - look at Ann's model in closer detail, and at the broch plans, then another to talk about roundhouses and their contribution to the picture, and so on .......
Thanks to David and Christine for bringing along the fascinating DVD.. the section that was built is still there, beside the Forestry car park at Strathyre - see it on Streetview here: https://goo.gl/maps/db9jx4UcSqp
Thanks to Ann for bringing her model. We'll look at it again when we look at compare designs of different brochs
Thanks to Judy for bringing the stuff about roundhouses.
So what did we manage to get through and maybe agree on?
If we don't agree on what a broch is then we can't agree on how many
there are...but Euan MacKie reckons there are 104 and he knows a wee bit
more than we do.
Brochs are unique to Scotland -mainly in the North and islands (but
there are circular towers in other countries cf nuraghi)
Part of roundhouse tradition - - simple low walled roundhouse led
to complex roundhouses then brochs and sometimes wheelhouses
Overall roundhouse tradition dates from 700BC to 100 AD. Few brochs have been excavated using modern
methods and there are few radio carbon dates to confirm but most brochs in the
later years of first millennium BC.
Who built them? This fascinates me -- any comments welcome. The first information I can find is that a chap called Pytheus sailed around UK around 320 BC - that's about the right time. He didn't differentiate between the various different peoples living here but called them all Pretannike. The word originates in the ancient p Celtic word for "cut" or "shape" and perhaps refers to the custom of tatooing. (cf later the Picts) The word later became "Britain" .
Fast forward a few hundred years to 83 AD and Ptolomy's maps describing our area as inhabited by the Ebudae (cf Hebrides)
So what do you think? Itinerant builders? Incomers imposing their style on locals? or simply the tatooed locals?
Fast forward a few hundred years to 83 AD and Ptolomy's maps describing our area as inhabited by the Ebudae (cf Hebrides)
So what do you think? Itinerant builders? Incomers imposing their style on locals? or simply the tatooed locals?
Alan Broch Researcher,
ReplyDeleteTo find out who built the Brochs, I had to take my research to the Mediterranean Sea area.
The Watchtowers of El Argar in South-east Spain was my first good find as they had construction that could be transformed into a Broch.
Who built the Watchtowers?
They were built during 2,200BC-1,500BC as a warning system of imminent attack from the sea or from the mountains.
The Watchtowers have their own supply of fresh water and food stocks to survive a siege. The Towers were about 50m diameter very thick walls and the inside of the walls were corbelled.
The Fire Tower was of smaller diameter and about 20m high with internal staircase up to where the fire was lit. The fire hearth was built on top of the corbelled roof.
The people who actually built them could have been of Iberian culture and Minoan culture because they had the building skills to make the Watchtowers.
How did the people with the knowledge arrive in Scotland?
The Thera volcano blew up and brought Tsumamis to the Minoans in Crete and maybe had a chance to move to El Argar where many Minoans lived. The Dark Age in the Aegean Sea area started a New Age of pirates called the Sea People and they started to attack El Argar to take over the mineral wealth of that area.
The Iberians and Minoans plus others decided to leave El Argar in boats and escape through the Straits of Gibraltar and head North but could only find a place quiet enough and that was Scotland.
I am still trying to clarify my findings but it is difficult because there is not a lot of written facts about movement of people.
The Nuraghe people of Sardinia made similar towers but they used a different stone which was very difficult to shape. The Sardinians could have had influence in building the Watchtowers of El Argar.
I hope this is of some help Joy.