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Understanding Tiree ‘s archaeology:
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At first I was bribed into visiting Tiree. That was back in 1997 when I knew nothing of the tiny island’s rich archaeological and historical heritage.
It was my husband, John, who did the bribing. He’s a keen windsurfer and had listened avidly to tales told of Tiree’s legendary winds by members of our local boardsailing club. Terms like ‘Wave Classics’, ‘clean-blue seas’ and ‘white-gold beaches’ held him enthralled, and of course, there was a promise of sailboard skittering winds.
John was mightily impressed by these tales of blustery seas, but I wasn’t. I don’t windsurf, and I don’t care much for sitting on a beach all day, no matter how golden and glowing. I’m a medieval historian, full-time lecturer and part-time archaeologist, and I love nothing more than a holiday oozing artefacts, history and sacred sites.
John, being crafty, decided to do a different kind of ‘surfing’, and surfed the net looking for information on the archaeology and history of Tiree – and what he found impressed me very much indeed.
We now spend at least three weeks of every summer on the island, and I still find myself amazed at the diversity of the archaeology and the wealth of history it contains.
More professional excavation and recording needs to be done on Tiree. Many of the island’s more important prehistoric sites and its megalithic monuments are eroding, or disappearing under the machair. Once a site is gone, it is gone for ever and this is a great loss to the island’s heritage.
Tiree is lucky in that it boasts some wonderful people who care deeply about the island and its heritage. A must for every visitor is some time spent in An Iodhlann, Tiree’s very own historical archive. Please see the link below, if you haven’t already done so, it is very special indeed – and so are the dedicated people who work there.
So, why am I writing these pages? Basically, I’m writing them for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I think Tiree’s archaeological importance needs to be seen in a
wider context – that of a living monument to all phases of our European
prehistoric Past. The many types of prehistoric remains found on
Tiree can also be seen in other areas of
Secondly, I’m writing these pages for anyone interested in archaeology who visits Tiree, and who wants to know what to look at, and how to find it. Basically, I want to whet your appetite, and make you dribble and drool to learn more about this fascinating wee island.
However, and with my second reason for writing these pages in mind, do remember that Tiree belongs to the People who live there. Please respect their rights and their privacy. Don’t take away any artefacts you might find lying on a beach or in a field. If you think you’ve found something special, then contact An Iodhlann, or even pop round to the local Police House in Scaranish, and hand it over to Danny. Also respect the rights of crofters – if a field has public access, always close gates after you. If a field is fenced off, and you want to go through and look more closely at a site, do ask permission first.
These pages are not an academic, in-depth analysis
of individual sites, or monuments. They are designed to be read as a general
introduction to what Tiree has to offer, and to how
the island’s archaeology relates to other sites in
These pages also contain links to other websites I’ve found useful for my own teaching purposes. Please follow these links for extra images and further discussion on relevant topics
…and as Tiree is such a wonderfully rocky little island where better for us to start our survey of Tiree’s Prehistoric Past, than in the Stone Age?
I guess the term the ‘Stone Age’ conjures up visions
of Cavemen dragging their women by the hair, vast clubs resting across their
hairy shoulders. Or, if you’ve a fancy, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble
driving those neat, little stone cars through the town of
I don’t think the Stone Ages were quite like this.
As historians and archaeologists we tend to assess human progress through innovation and new technologies. Sometimes this can lead to misconceptions about our ancestors. Because they used stone tools in the Stone Age the People of the Past are sometimes perceived as being more ignorant than we are now in these days of micro-chips, computers, mobile phones, cars and planes.
This is a false perceptions based on our equating technology and scientific advances with ‘cleverness’ or innate human intelligence. Our distant ancestors were folks just like us – they cried, laughed, suffered, loved and died. The difference lies in the ‘tools’ they had to help them survive, and in their belief systems that helped them make sense of the cycle of life and death they saw all around them.
The Stone Age, or the Lithic Age – lithic meaning ‘stone’ – was a time when our ancestors used stone technologies.
When we study the Stone Age, we break it up into three areas:-
Those dates are only rough ones, but they are useful guides in helping us to study the various periods in which our ancestors used stone technologies.
Let’s see what happened in each of our three Stone Age periods and how we can fit them into a context relevant to Tiree.
The Palaeolithic
This is the time of the great Ice Ages. It is also the period in which hominids like us – Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons – are first seen.
I suppose I can add the little chap nicknamed the
‘Hobbit’, recently found on the Indonesian
To read about this latest find see this link:-
One of the best websites covering the Ice Age period is at:
Cresswell Crags is a virtual site and it is very easy to use. It is highly informative about life in the time of the Ice Ages.
Cave Art belongs to this period, and if you look at
the Cresswell Crags site you’ll see an important find
was made in 2003. It was once thought we had no cave art in
You won’t find any cave art from this period on
Tiree, but knowing the developments of the Palaeolithic period will help
you understand human achievements during this era. The most famous Palaeolithic
cave art is found in the Lascaux complex in
or if you want to see some
of the Rock Art from
For an extremely entertaining and educational site dealing with Palaeolithic Humans, see:-
You might not find painted Rock Art on Tiree, but you will find evidence of the last Ice Age perched on a beach at Balephetrish. This is the Ringing Stone, or Clach a’Choire, and it’s what’s known as a glacial erratic. A glacial erratic is a glacial boulder, often granite. Geologists define erratics as stones or boulders that have been carried from their place of origin by a glacier and then left stranded by melting ice on bedrock of a different composition. Tiree’s erratic is thought to have arrived from the isle of Rhum around 11,000 years ago.
The Ringing Stone is fascinating, not only because it is Tiree’s most ancient monument, but also because of the cup and ring markings bashed into its surface. When the Stone is hit with a pebble, it gives off a metallic ringing sound. This must have been awe-inspiring to our ancestors, and it’s easy to imagine the Stone being a focal point in various religious or tribal ceremonies. Maybe we should view the Stone as a major cult object for some of Tiree’s oldest and most sacred rituals .
Cup and Ring marked boulders and rocks are found
throughout
Maybe our early Tirisdeachs had a priestly caste living close to the stone; protecting it and caring for what ever spirit they felt dwelt therein. On festival days perhaps the population made a pilgrimage to the shore at Balephetrish, and enjoyed feasting and games? I have certainly found evidence of midden activity around the outer most rocks, although I’d put my finds around the 100 BC mark.
Some complex combinations of cup and ring marked stones have also been explained as games, maps or even ‘ghost houses’. Some folk believe they have an astronomical origin as huge sky-maps. Many of the combinations probably date from the Late Neolithic period (circa 2500 BC) to the end of the Bronze Age (circa 700 BC), with a few examples possibly as late as AD 100, a total duration of perhaps thirty centuries.
To be honest, the actual chipped out ring formations are rather hard to see on the Ringing Stone – I’ve looked from most angles - but the cup indentations are extremely well defined.
However, it’s fun to stand tapping away at the stone and trying to imagine oneself back into the minds of the ancestors. Unfortunately, we’ll just never know what the sound, and the very act of striking the stone, truly meant for them, but the metallic reverberation, the sea and the landscape roundabout must have been filled with intense symbolic meaning.
Having said that, I do have my doubts about the positioning of the Ringing Stone. If you look at my photos of it (see below and at the beginning of the page) you’ll see it appears to be sawn off at one end! Now, this could mean it’s been tipped over on to its side – the ‘blunt’ end once being positioned in the sand and the boulder being upright.
That ‘blunt’ end makes little sense otherwise. It might be an interesting project to actually raise the stone, and see what it looks like in a more reasonable upright position. At the moment it looks as if it could have been dragged to beach from another location by manpower – fairly modern or ancient! Or is it just ‘wave’ power, or the movement back of Ice Age glaciers? Did the Stone actually come to rest where it is now? It’s a brain teaser, and ripe for professional investigation.
However, leaving the enigmatic Ringing Stone of
Tiree for a moment, and if you’re interested in further evidence of cup
and ring markings in
Cup and ring markings are found also found in
abundance on various chambered tombs, or
You might, however, like to check out this link to the chambered tombs of Orkney:-
If you want to check out the geological composition of the Hebrides, and get some idea of how Tiree was actually formed, and also an idea of its great age, then do click on to the following link :-
Getting to the Ringing Stone: Tiree has the amazing facility of seeming to be 10 times larger than it actually is! The walk to the Stone can appear to be a goodly stroll, and I’ve met some folk who say they never have found it!
For my directions I’m going to rely heavily on those given in The Land Below the Waves written by our dear, departed friend Donneil Kennedy.
I spent many happy hours talking about Tiree’s Past with Donneil, and he phoned me shortly before he died and said he hoped I’d continue to try and raise Tiree’s status as a valuable archaeological resource. As a remembrance to him, and because I know he wouldn’t mind, I’ll use his Ordinance Survey references.OS Ref: 026 486. |
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The Ringing Stone lies near the shore and
can be reached either from Balephetrish Farm (shut the
gates after you) or Try and get a copy of Donneil’s book. You’ll find it invaluable.
Finally, if you want to find out more about the island of Tiree itself, as it is today and with yet more links to follow, go to Gordon Scott's excellent website |
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To continue the story through time, click on one of the icons below
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First,
though, let’s ask the question ‘what exactly do we mean by the Stone Age’?
