The excavation of a chambered cairn, the Ord North, at Lairg, Sutherland, by J. X. W. P. Corcoran

In 1967, the late J X W P Corcoran, then a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow excavated a chambered tomb for the Ministry of Public Building and Works. The tomb was situated to the W of the village of Lairg in central Sutherland on the small hill known as the Ord. It consisted of a well-preserved bipartite tomb entering in the SE of a large heart-shaped cairn surrounded by a low platform. The Neolithic levels remained undisturbed and finds from these included a small flint assemblage and a variety of potsherds representing a wide range of vessel shapes and fabrics, including an Unstan bowl. An intrusive, early Bronze Age, burial consisted of a cremation associated with a Food Vessel, and a small decorated bone mount. Radiocarbon dates were obtained for most of the important levels and for the first time give us an independent assessment of the age of the tombs in the north mainland

Combs and comb production in the Western Isles during the Norse period

This paper explores the significance of an assemblage of combs and comb-making debris from a Norse settlement, Bornais, in the Western Isles of Scotland. The excavation of an 11th century AD house recovered a substantial assemblage of combs which appear to have been brought to the house to be dismantled systematically. It is argued that many of the combs were reworked into decorative pendants and reusable fragments were extracted to create repair kits. On the basis of a series of experimental reconstructions the process of comb production is reconsidered and the insight gained is applied to a comb-makers’ workshop found at Bornais that dates to the 13th century AD. The presence of this workshop and of several Norwegian-style combs suggests the continuation of contacts with Scandinavia beyond the Scottish takeover of the islands

The excavation of a chambered cairn, the Ord North, at Lairg, Sutherland, by J. X. W. P. Corcoran

In 1967, the late J X W P Corcoran, then a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow excavated a chambered tomb for the Ministry of Public Building and Works. The tomb was situated to the W of the village of Lairg in central Sutherland on the small hill known as the Ord. It consisted of a well-preserved bipartite tomb entering in the SE of a large heart-shaped cairn surrounded by a low platform. The Neolithic levels remained undisturbed and finds from these included a small flint assemblage and a variety of potsherds representing a wide range of vessel shapes and fabrics, including an Unstan bowl. An intrusive, early Bronze Age, burial consisted of a cremation associated with a Food Vessel, and a small decorated bone mount. Radiocarbon dates were obtained for most of the important levels and for the first time give us an independent assessment of the age of the tombs in the north mainland

The use of space in Norse houses: some observations from the Hebrides.

In this short chapter, I intend to briefly discuss the results of the recent excavation at the settlement of Bornais on the island of South Uist in the Western Isles of Scotland (Sharples 2005, 2012, 2020a and 2020b). The settlement at Bornais is located on the machair plain (a thick deposit of shell sand created by glacial activity) of the west coast of the island and is an unusually large settlement that covers approximately 4,625m² and comprises five discrete settlement mounds. The principal focus for the settlement is Mound 2, the largest settlement mound, in which excavation revealed a sequence..