The Uig Landscape Project
Starting next week (25 Aug) a team from Durham University Department of Archaeology will be in Uig to investigate some of the archaeological sites in the area.
During the late 1990s archaeologists from Edinburgh University excavated four sites around Uig. Recently the directors of the excavations, Dr Mike Church now at Durham University and Dr Simon Gilmour, director of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, have been awarded funding from Historic Scotland to produce a book
detailing all of the excavation results. Together with Dr Claire Nesbitt, also of Durham University, they are currently working on this monograph which will be published by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
The sites included in the volume are:
- An Dunan a small natural island at the north end of Tràigh nan Srùban which was in use from the Iron Age to the Post-Medieval period;
- Gob Eirer, a promontory stack connected to the mainland by a small strip of land on the north shore of the Camas Uig which was occupied during the Bronze Age;
- Guinnerso, a Post-Medieval relict landscape on the Aird Uig peninsula;
- Beriero, a Blackhouse village above Tràigh nan Srùban dating to the Medieval or Post-Medieval period.
This volume, which it is hoped will be completed by 2012, will bring together the evidence from all of these sites to try to understand how people lived and died in Uig in the prehistoric past and to consider how the sites fit into the rich archaeological heritage of the Uig Landscape.
More information on the project is available on the project website which will be updated as results become available. Meanwhile, everyone is invited to two free events:
A Site Visit at An Dunan and Bereiro (map)
2pm on Saturday 28 August
Meet on site; park at the Community Centre and walk or share cars to Crowlista if possible.
Wear walking shoes or wellies and waterproofs if need be.
An Illustrated Talk at Uig Community Centre
7.30pm on Tuesday 31 August
hosted by Comann Eachdraidh Uig, with a tea