Dùn Èistean Diary

Date: Monday 25^th June	Name: Heather Rand
	Today I got to see the site up close and personally, which was quite exciting as it was my first time on an actual excavation. Maureen, Tessa and I unloaded the tools into one of the sheds next to the site and then we had a look round. When everyone had arrived for the day, we got the grand tour of the site, as well as the health and safety. I was impressed to see the amount of space that the bridge goes across, and was quite glad that I didn’t have to make my way up as the original inhabitants did! We began de-turfing today on feature G, the central tower. It isn’t always easy going to get your spade through the grassy turf. The weather was quite fickle and changed rapidly throughout the day. Not too much rain and just a bit of sun made it the perfect temperature to work in. De-turfing feels quite rewarding in the end because you get to see the end result of the labour.

Date: Tuesday 26^th June	Name: Heather Rand
	Another tour of the site for those who had just arrived today. We also learned about ropes safety for the times when excavation takes place over the cliff’s edge, which sounds quite exciting. It was another day spent taking off the turf, this time from trench D. It was tough going, but the sun and the wind made the digging quite pleasant. After the top turf was removed we started taking off the soil, which I find a bit more difficult in this trench. There are quite a few rocks under the black mesh sheets, so it is hard to know how far in your trowel will go. It was also quite nice watching the fulmars that nest along the cliffs fly, they seemed to be having fun in the winds.

Date: Wednesday 27^th June	Name: Tessa Poller
	It was spitting with rain as we started this morning, but the rain stayed off most of the morning as we got stuck in to more de-turfing. Most of us began by digging out the soil that had been back-filled into Structure D last year. While the others continue doing this, Donna, Anne-Marie and I started de-turfing Structure F. We had to be careful to take only the modern turf off and not remove the any of the turf that made up the turf buildings, which is distinguishable as a grey layer from darker brown modern turf. Students from the local primary and secondary school came out and had a tour from the director Rachel with Mairi-Alice providing the Gaelic translation. The kids had a go at excavation in Structure D and found artefacts such as pottery and charcoal. After lunch some of the diggers helped Ian take out the backfill from inside the tower in Structure G. They formed a chain, handing buckets fill of soil over the wall. The rest of us laid out the trench for Structure C, which has not been previously excavated. It is the goal to excavate this whole structure, but we have only started to de-turf half. It was Anne-Marie’s birthday today and we had some cake for her! So happy birthday to Anne-Marie!

Date: Thursday 28 ^th June	Name: Jamie Hynd
	As the sun shone down on Dun Eistean the day looked hopeful, especially since we managed to finish the de-turfing, unfortunately as the day wore on the weather, being as unpredictable as normal turned from sunshine to rain. We managed just in the nick of time to mark out a grid on trench C before the heavens opened and the days work got rained off. I did enjoy putting in the posts for the grid but who doesn’t enjoy hitting things with a sledge hammer, although it wasn’t as fun sliding in the mud while still holding it. Despite the rain and the mud the day was not all a loss. After a quick stop off at the Comunn Eachdraidh Nis (the local historical society) we took a wee tour of Ness and surprise surprise the weather cleared up oh well never mind there’s always tomorrow which hopefully will be drier and we can get the trenches cleaned up

Date: Friday 29 ^th June	Name: Tom Crowley
	Big(ish) excitement at trench F (Donna’s trench) as a piece of craggan wear was found and a possible ring of post holes cutting into a turf wall. Craggan wear hasn’t changed much since the medieval era, in fact it was made and used in Lewis right up until the twentieth century. However, as a result it’s difficult to date and all it can tell us is that the structure where it was found was used in medieval or more recent times. At trench G (the tower) more soil was trowelled away to reveal the building’s unusual double skinned wall. Between the carefully laid stones of the outer wall we found clay which was used as a sort of mortar and between the inner and outer wall there was evidence of the special clay/peat mix which was used as a wall fill. This peat clay mix is ideal for filling the wide walls of traditional Hebridean architecture as the addition of clay prevents peat from shrinking when drying. Clay was used as a sort of mortar between the stones of the outer wall of the tower as its height meant that it had to be especially well made. Another indication that the builders of the tower were aware of the stresses their building would undergo is the angle at which the slab sized stones of the outer wall were laid. All the stones slope slightly inwards which means that the tower was more likely to lean in on itself than lean outwards and then tumble down. From the 1.5 meters or so of wall that we have left it also looks like the wall of the tower would have sloped inwards thus making the structure even more stable. All these building refinements, however are subtle and are not immediately apparent, a testimony to the skill and patience of the tower’s original builders. Although we can understand much about the tower’s construction its use is still unclear. At the highest point of the stack it would have served as an excellent look out over the Minch (the stretch of sea between Lewis and mainland Scotland) and Cape Wrath (the Northern tip of mainland Scotland). The height to the building also meant that the building would have been useful for firing at enemies on the land. Most intriguingly it appears that the bottom floor of the tower would have been too cramped to live in, possibly then it was used for storage, or more excitingly as a dungeon. A tower on a well defended sea stack would have been one of the best places to keep an important prisoner in times of conflict.