|11 February 2018
Scottish Iron Age broch is full of mysteries
In the remote Highland Region of Scotland, hidden inside a dense forest, lies the remains of an ancient broch, believed to be over 2,400 years old.
Although it was first identified approximately 80 years ago, it was not until the Forestry Commission were clearing this section of the forest that the dun-house was rediscovered. It lay hidden in an area known as Comar Wood, near Inverness, and a team of archaeologists from AOC Archaeology carried out a two week investigation. What they found left them slightly puzzled.
The site had obviously been burnt to the ground twice and rebuilt, after which it appeared to have been abandoned. Very few artefacts were uncovered in the ruins, leading to the assumption that it had only been used spasmodically, as a place of refuge in times of trouble or it may simply have been stripped of anything useful when it had been eventually abandoned. What little had been found in the shape of metal working and grinding stones yielded very little further information.
A member of the investigating team, archaeologist Mary Peteranna, is quoted as saying "Where the Dun-house was built suggests it was maybe the house of a chief and it would have been visible from quite a way off as it sits above the valley. We don't know why it was used in the way it appears to have been, and more excavation would be needed to further investigate the site".
Edited from The Herald (12 January 2018)
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