Excavations at Northton, Isle of Harris By Derek D.A. Simpson, Eileen M. Murphy and Richard A. Gregory. Pp. 282. Black and white illustrations. ISBN 1 84171 936 6 Oxford: BAR British Series 408. 2006. £38 (pb). ann macsween

Abstract

The site of Northton in Harris is known to most of those familiar with Scottish prehistory for the excavations which produced Scotland's largest domestic assemblage of Beaker pottery. This often-quoted fact, along with previous glimpses of what publication of the 1965–6 excavations would offer, such as those in the excavator's preliminary report in Settlement and Economy in the Third and Second Millennia BC ( Simpson 1976 ), has had many eagerly awaiting the publication of this important site. The site was discovered in 1963 by James McEwen of Aberdeen University, and rescue excavations were undertaken by Derek Simpson of the University of Leicester a couple of years later. Excavations revealed a multi-period site which could be divided into two Neolithic, two Beaker and two Iron Age/Historic phases. The Northton project was one of the first multi-disciplinary studies in the Western Isles with the excavation complemented by topographic and geological survey, and palaeoenvironmental analysis.