This study aims to establish an understanding of the nature of
settlement development in the Western Isles in the period from
c. 1000 BC - 800 AD. A new classification of the sites is formulated to
deal with the specific Hebridean context and with the restrictions of
the available evidence. This provides a framework for analysis and
replaces previous schemes, imported from elsewhere in Scotland,
which have tended to confuse the settlement patterns and the
settlement development of the area.
The large number of older excavations are reassessed in the light of
both new approaches to classification and interpretation, and the
evidence of recent survey and excavation. A coherent settlement
sequence can be seen to emerge, showing a development of
monumental architecture in the mid-lst millennium BC from a
background of non-monumental domestic settlement: this
monumentality persists for several centuries in the form of the
atlantic roundhouses and wheelhouses before being gradually
replaced by non-monumental, cellular and linear structures in the 1st
millennium AD.
Structural, locational and spatial analyses combine to demonstrate
patterns of settlement development which show the progressive
adaptation of Hebridean populations to the changing socio¬
economic context. The development of architecture is shown to be
linked to contemporary social and economic processes. The
environmental context of settlement development is shown to be of
great significance in shaping broad trends of settlement
development, while the specific responses of human groups indicate
the importance of social factors.
The final part of the study proposes possible models for the
interpretation of settlement change. Material culture, including
architecture, can be seen to be used actively in the negotiation of
social relationships, both within the islands and between the
islanders and the emerging states of Scotland in the 1st millennium
AD
