Bad weather came in for the first part of the week and made progress slow. We hoped the weather would improve, as we needed to finish off various jobs in each trench and draw final sections and plans of the archaeology. We spent Tuesday morning stuck in our makeshift tent…
The wind and rain eventually subsided, and we managed to finish off our intended recording.

Trench 4 was finally planned and closed. We had enough information from here to tell that the building had enormous potential for further full excavation. It would be very interesting to look at the whole building and its exterior if any work was to continue on the island.

Trench 3 was also finished off on Thursday, and Andrew managed to remove the final occupation layer onto natural layers which lay above the bedrock. It appears that when the cell or building had been built, the builders had cut the turf away behind the main wall, perhaps to build the other walls of the structure. We can see this from the side of the trench which shows the archaeological layers in section. A dark line (which we have called the original ground surface) is preserved underneath the outside wall, and has been cut away on the internal side.

Unfortunately I can't post any photos of this on the web at the moment, as the digital camera started playing up at the beginning of the week. Once the site photos are developed, I'll write an update with some of the archaeology as seen at the end of the excavation.

Another exciting find was discovered on the last day of digging in trench 3. A sherd of salt glazed pottery was uncovered. It seems to be part of the neck of a bottle, and the regional archaeologist Dr Mary MacLeod has told us that it is German in origin, and may have been a wine container!

This piece dates to the 1500s, and we will be able to get some more information about it from our pottery specialist back in Glasgow. It appears that the people living on Dun Eistean were trading with Europe, although more extensive work at the site would confirm this hypothesis.

Trench 1 was closed on the very last day of the excavation. Fantastic final drawings were made by Ian, showing the wall elevation and the section through the various layers. Unfortunately we still couldn't find the internal wall of the building, but it has become apparent that there has been a lot of interference and later occupation of the structure, as a variety of deposits fill the top part of the building. Much is still to be uncovered.

One of the most interesting finds we had from this trench was a stone roof tile, pictured below. Although only one whole tile was found within the tumbled masonry, many other pieces of Gneiss and schist were present, although very broken up. This suggests that the building had quite a significant roof.

Again, further excavation would hopefully reveal many more tiles at the bottom of the trenchinside the building, as the roof is the first part of a building to collapse.

We also took two pollen cores from the artificial pond on Dun Eisdean. These will be analysed by environmental specialists Jennifer Millar and Susan Ramsay at the university, and will hopefully give us a great deal of information about the environment and possibly the economy of the people at the time the Dun was inhabited.

We backfilled all the trenches and packed up all the gear, taking the Tyrolean traverse down last. We were all quite sad leaving the island, but excited at the prospect of possibly returning to uncover more fascinating information about the lives of the people who lived there in the past.

Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this web page, and especially to all those who have helped construct it, mainly Kenny Don Maclean and Hugh MacInnes. Once any new information arises during post-excavation, I shall update the site.

Chris Barrowman.