Life on the Edge: The Neolithic and Bronze Age of Iain Crawford’s Udal, North Uist

The discovery of archaeological structures in North Uist in 1974 after storm damage led to the identification by Iain Crawford of a kerb cairn complex, with a cist and human remains. Six years later he went back, and over the next three years excavated another cist with human remains in its kerbed cairn, many bowl pits dug into the blown sand, and down to two late Neolithic structures and a ritual complex. He intensively studied the environmental conditions affecting the site and was among the first archaeologists in Scotland to understand the climate changes taking place at the transition between late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age. The deposition of blown sand and the start of the machair in the Western Isles, including the rise in sea-level and inundations into inhabited and farmed landscapes, are all part of the complex story of natural events and human activities. Radiocarbon dating and modern scientific analyses provide the detail of the story of periods of starvation suffered by the people that were buried on the site, of the movement away of the community, of their attempts of bringing the ‘new’ land back into cultivation, of a temporary tent-like structure, and of marking their territory by the construction of enduring monuments to the dead.

Table of Contents

Foreword - Malcolm Burr

Preface - Beverley Ballin Smith

Summary (English/Gaelic)

PART 1 Introduction - Beverley Ballin Smith

PART 2 The excavation record - Beverley Ballin Smith

PART 3 Dating and human remains

PART 4 The changing natural environment and subsistence farming

PART 5 Exploitation of natural resources and the uses of artefacts

PART 6 Discussion - Beverley Ballin Smith

PART 7 Conclusion - Life on the edge - Beverley Ballin Smith

Afterword – Iain and Imogen Crawford

Appendices:

1: Marine shell samples quantified by species

2: Pottery catalogue

Bibliography

Index