Barra, Western Isles
First screened 20 January 2008

Find out more

Further reading

Barra

Ancient Barra: Exploring the archaeology of the Outer Hebrides by Keith Branigan (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, 2007)
A new guidebook to the archaeological sites of Barra, Ancient Barra is a handy 72-page fully illustrated book, which has been written by Professor Keith Branigan, the foremost authority on the archaeology of Barra. In the 1990s Keith Branigan, as professor of archaeology and prehistory at the University of Sheffield, led a major campaign of archaeological investigation and excavation, discovering and recording hundreds of previously unknown sites. Drawing on that new body of knowledge, this colourful guide now presents the story of the human habitation of Barra from the appearance of the first Stone-Age settlers over 6,000 years ago to the crofters of the last century, suggesting the most rewarding places to visit and providing clear descriptions of each site.

Barra and the Bishop's Isles: Living on the margin by Keith Branigan and Patrick Foster (Tempus, 2002)
Keith Branigan and Patrick Foster trace the development of settlement in the beautiful, marginal landscape of the southern isles of the Outer Hebrides, from 6,000 years ago to the migration that saw thousands sail to North America.

From Barra to Berneray by Keith Branigan and Patrick Foster (Sheffield Academic Press, 2000) hardback £60
From Barra to Berneray presents the results of 13 years of archaeological research on 12 islands, all but two of them now uninhabited, at the southern end of the Hebridean chain. The SEARCH team, led by Branigan, archaeology professor at Sheffield University, has recorded almost 2,000 sites and monuments on these islands. Their prehistory has been illuminated by carefully selected excavations on sites of all periods and types. This book includes a complete catalogue of the sites and monuments and the excavation reports for all the prehistoric sites. These include the Bronze-Age kerbed cairns of Vatersay and the earth-house on Pabbay, the Iron-Age aisled roundhouse at Alt Chrisal on Barra, and the Pabbay broch. Three chapters provide an overview of the earlier and later prehistory of these beautiful but windswept islands.

General prehistory

From Sickles to Circles: Britain and Ireland at the time of Stonehenge edited by Alex Gibson and Alison Sheridan (Tempus, 2005) paperback £30
Drawing on the expertise of more than 20 leading Neolithic and Bronze-Age scholars, the rich and complex variety of Neolithic Britain and Ireland is reflected in studies that range from megaliths, Scottish passage-graves and chambered cairns in Orkney to hostilities in early Neolithic Ireland and flintwork in Northern Ireland. The Bronze-Age section includes wide-ranging reviews of Beaker burials, Bronze-Age artefacts and Bronze-Age chronologies.

Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans by Francis Pryor (Perennial, 2004) paperback £9.99
An authoritative and radical rethinking of the whole of British history before the coming of the Romans, based on remarkable new archaeological finds. So many extraordinary archaeological discoveries (many of them involving the author) have been made in the last 30 years that our whole understanding of British prehistory needs to be updated. So far only the specialists have twigged on to these developments; now, for the first time, Francis Pryor broadcasts them to a much wider, general audience.

Neolithic Britain and Ireland by Caroline Malone (Tempus, 2001) paperback £10.75
Well-illustrated guide covering how Neolithic people lived off the land; domestic settlements; causewayed enclosures; burials and tombs; monumental landscapes (including henges and circles); artefacts, technology and craftsmen; and the 'neolithic achievement' in developing the new skills and customs that led to 'new levels of social complexity'.

Prehistoric Settlements by Robert Bewley (Tempus, 2003) paperback £17.99
This book traces the variety and development of prehistoric settlements in Britain through 8,000 years, from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic to the tribes of the Iron Age in the years before the Roman invasion. Examining key sites such as Star Carr, Bodmin Moor, the Dartmoor reaves, and hillforts and farmsteads, Bewley concentrates on two central themes: the close relationship between the individual settlement site and the wider landscape; and the ways in which archaeologists discover, interpret, and reinterpret prehistoric settlements.

Other websites

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.

History you can see on the Isle of Barra
www.isleofbarra.com/history-barra.html
The Isle of Barra website provides a useful guide to some of the prehistoric sites that can be visited on the island as well as other brief information about its history.

Other archaeology websites.

« Q&A :Previous