Islay: Archaeologists discover early medieval workshop on Scottish island

The early medieval workshop was built over the ruins of an earlier Pictish-style building and reveals a snapshot of life in the early Scots kingdom of Dál Riata, archeologists have said.

Analysis from GUARD Archaeology, located in Coultorsay on Islay, has revealed an iron smelting workshop located within the earlier remains of a figure-of-eight building.

The industrial building is believed to have been active between the sixth and ninth centuries AD, when Islay was part of Dál Riata, the early medieval kingdom of the Scots centered upon the royal fortress of Dunadd, which is now Argyll and Bute.

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Several artefacts were discovered at the site including metalwork waste, the upper part of a rotary quern, a bone needle, and shale bracelet fragments.

Archeologists explained that shale bracelets are rare in the Inner Hebrides and the fragments found are the only examples known from Islay and that they believe they probably came from central Scotland.

“Several phases of activity were recognised,” said Maureen Kilpatrick who led the excavation.

“The most significant was the change in function of the building from one of domestic use to that with an industrial focus. This took place after the domestic building had fallen into a state of disrepair,” she explained.

(Image: GUARD Archaeology)

Traditionally metalworking workshops from early medieval Scotland were enclosed within royal or lordly strongholds.

However, the Coultorsay workshop was a “relatively modest structure” and was likely used for smelting bog ore to extract iron bloom which could then be made into tools and weapons.

Early medieval sites are rare on Islay with most of them being ecclesiastical, belonging to the church, in origins such as chapels, burial grounds and slabs from early crosses.

The figure-of-eight building is a particularly important discovery as it provides new information about those living on Islay out with ecclesiastical sites.

The similarity of the figure-of-eight house to small-roomed Pictish buildings suggests that this form of architecture was more widespread across Scotland than previously thought.

Kilpatrick said: “The Coultorsay workshop was repurposed from the dilapidated shell of a figure-of-eight building.”

“However, it conforms to a hierarchy of settlement found during this period, with slight buildings such as this characterising the lower echelons of society.

(Image: GUARD Archaeology)

“Indeed, it is easy to imagine the early medieval landscape of Islay characterised more by slight buildings such as this, where the majority of the population resided than the more substantial fortified settlements that dominate discussion of the archaeology of this period.”

Along with the metal workshop, the excavation revealed the remains of prehistoric structures and activity from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age across the hillside terrace.

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Archeologists discovered evidence of transient activity during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods before more settled occupation began in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age.

They also found evidence of a gap of about 500 years before occupation reappeared during the early medieval period on the island.