Catpund: a prehistoric house in Shetland

Abstract

A prehistoric house was excavated in advance of industrial quarrying at Catpund, Shetland. Although little of the internal stratigraphy of the house remained beneath a modern cabbage enclosure (planticrub), the form of the house survived. The artefacts found in and around the house indicate the domestic activities which took place there, and the farming methods employed in the vicinity. A thorough analysis of the artefactual evidence suggests that the house was in use some time during the middle to late Bronze Age. This report considers the structural and environmental evidence for the house together with discussions on its form, the distribution of artefacts and dating.

Quartz technology in Scottish prehistory

“…Bayanne is a phased Later Bronze Age site with houses and workshops, and the activity analysis suggests that no primary or secondary lithic work was undertaken inside the dwellings, and only to a minor degree within the workshops; the majority of the c 3000 pieces of worked quartz are associated with outdoor middens, knapping floors and activity areas. Evidence from other quartz-rich house sites in northern and western Scotland, suggests that, in most cases, the production and use of lithic blanks and tools took place within buildings rather than outside (eg Scord of Brouster: Whittle 1986, 87; Catpund: Ballin-Smith 2005;Tougs: Hedges 1986, 14-17;Sumburgh: Downes & Lamb 2000, 112-16).…”

Developer-funded fieldwork in Scotland, 1990-2003

“…Heel cairns have been recorded by surveys undertaken in Shetland (Moore & Wilson 1996;). An enigmatic monument was discovered at Crantit on Orkney (Ballin- Smith 1998), where a megalithic tomb with side cells was cut into a broad hillside platform.…”