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Barra, Western Isles
First screened 20 January 2008
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Barra – background
In 2005 a major storm eroded a dune next to the beach at Allasdale, Barra, exposing human remains. They were first noticed by Barra artist Moira Bard and identified as human by a local doctor, after which a team of archaeologists was called in. The site was clearly at risk from further erosion, so Historic Scotland funded an urgent rescue dig.
When the team of experts investigated this sandy machair (a Gaelic word meaning a fertile low-lying coastal plain found only in the north and west of Scotland and Ireland) they found a number of Bronze-Age cist (or kist) burials. These are burials in which stones are used to line a pit into which the body is laid or the cremated remains deposited; a further flat stone, or stones, may be used to cover the top.
Altogether they excavated four graves containing the remains of at least 13 individuals, including infants and even foetuses. There were also the remains of two pots in the graves and various other finds, including pottery, a stone axe, hammer stones and bone tools, scattered around. The graves were dated to 1880-1490 BCE, in the middle of the Bronze Age, but the Allasdale machair was inhabited from the Stone Age onwards so some of the finds may well have been from other periods.
There are a number of other features, including further cists, in the area also at risk from erosion. So an e-mail to Time Team enquired whether they would be interested in carrying out another rescue dig and taking the investigation further. Not long afterwards the usual 50-odd archaeologists and diggers plus crew required for a Time Team programme descended on the island, booked up all available accommodation and set to work to see what they could find.
In 2005 a major storm eroded a dune next to the beach at Allasdale, Barra, exposing human remains. They were first noticed by Barra artist Moira Bard and identified as human by a local doctor, after which a team of archaeologists was called in. The site was clearly at risk from further erosion, so Historic Scotland funded an urgent rescue dig.
When the team of experts investigated this sandy machair (a Gaelic word meaning a fertile low-lying coastal plain found only in the north and west of Scotland and Ireland) they found a number of Bronze-Age cist (or kist) burials. These are burials in which stones are used to line a pit into which the body is laid or the cremated remains deposited; a further flat stone, or stones, may be used to cover the top.
Altogether they excavated four graves containing the remains of at least 13 individuals, including infants and even foetuses. There were also the remains of two pots in the graves and various other finds, including pottery, a stone axe, hammer stones and bone tools, scattered around. The graves were dated to 1880-1490 BCE, in the middle of the Bronze Age, but the Allasdale machair was inhabited from the Stone Age onwards so some of the finds may well have been from other periods.
There are a number of other features, including further cists, in the area also at risk from erosion. So an e-mail to Time Team enquired whether they would be interested in carrying out another rescue dig and taking the investigation further. Not long afterwards the usual 50-odd archaeologists and diggers plus crew required for a Time Team programme descended on the island, booked up all available accommodation and set to work to see what they could find.
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