Refining Chronological Resolution in Iron Age Scotland: Excavations at Dorman's Island Crannog, Dumfries and Galloway

Abstract

Excavations were carried out at the crannog known as Dorman's Island, Whitefield Loch in Wigtownshire, SW Scotland as part of the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme. Although limited in extent, the excavation has uncovered dating evidence for multiple phases of construction and use of the crannog, including secondary activity in the post-medieval period, with finds including a range of coarse stone tools as well as fragments of glass bracelet and shard from a Roman drinking vessel. Perhaps most significantly, in situ oak timbers have yielded the first prehistoric dendrochronological dates in Scotland, indicating a phase of construction in the earlier second century BC. This initial evidence correlates with evidence from the Irish dendrochronological record that suggests construction on lochs may have occurred in irregular 'pulses' of activity – one of which was in the second century BC. The significance and potential of these results in the context of the northern British Iron Age are discussed.