Last week the Chessmen were featured on the BBC as part of the British Museum’s History of the World in 100 Objects, a superbly imaginative series of short and engaging lectures from Neil Macgregor.  Of the Chessman he says: [Bobby] Fischer declared “chess is war on a board”, and at that moment in history it certainly seemed like it. But then it always has. If all games are to some degree a surrogate for violence and war, no game so closely compares to a set-piece [ » read more ]

By long and solid tradition in Uig, the spot where the Uig Chessmen were found in 1831 is held to be the Bealach Ban, a hollow in the dunes in Ardroil. In November of last year, a paper by Dr David Caldwell et al in Mediæval Archaeology proposed that, on the evidence of the Ordnance Survey Place Names book compiled by contractors from local information in the 1850s, the findspot may have been a few miles away at Mealista. Anna Mackinnon, Ardroil, wrote an initial [ » read more ]

From the National Trust for Scotland website: The National Trust for Scotland is recruiting for an Archaeologist based in Inverness and on St Kilda. St Kilda has an outstanding historic environment dominated by 19th & 20th century remains with a time-depth that belies the archipelagos remote North Atlantic position and it is the only mixed heritage site in the UK. Working with volunteers and visitors, this is a rare opportunity to work on a remote and spectacular island archipelago. The post holder will be required [ » read more ]

This is the final section of an interesting and detailed piece on the Pygmies Isle (first mentioned by Dean Monro in 1549 as having been inhabited by “little people”) near the Butt of Lewis , published by WC Mackenzie in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, 13 March 1905 (vol XXXIX, p257).  It’s of no particular relevance to Uig but see what you make of it, in spite of its rather dated tone (and for Lapp, read today Sami – the Sea Sami [ » read more ]

From Dave Roberts, first published in Uig News. Thanks to Andrew McVean for the photo of Carol Knott excavating at Kneep Headland. In the middle of January fragments of human bones began to appear in large numbers on the surface of the sand at Kneep headland. The location was very close to the three burials that were examined there in January 2009. I called the local authority Archaeologist Deborah Anderson to report them. This is what anyone who notices any eroded human bones, or any [ » read more ]

The cause of my sadness is the mill’s decline, Not getting what I need for my baking. -Calum Ruairidh Bhàin (Calum Mackay, Bragar) The Norse Mills of Lewis by Dr Finlay Macleod (Acair, 2009) is surely the most comprehensive volume imaginable on our horizontal mills – including their construction and use, context in world history, references in bàrdachd, photos and a complete (?) annotated list of all known mills on the Island.  Uig has the greatest concentration.  An exhibition of Dr Finlay’s research opens in [ » read more ]

A stone mould for a crusie, an oil lamp of ancient design once in common use throughout the Hebrides.This mould, of unknown provenance, is in our museum collection but unfortunately we don’t have a crusie itself, much as we would love to.  (This piece is the first in an occasional series on objects in our collection.)  From Highland Folk Ways, Isabel F Grant (1961): Crusies were mainly used in the islands and the coastwise districts because fish oil was the usual illuminant (although mutton fat [ » read more ]

A number of archaeological finds collected by the McVean family in Uig and handed to Museum nan Eilean for Treasure Trove are on loan to Uig Museum and currently on display. Several of the artefacts were found at Mealista eroding from a midden on the beach.  There is a bronze-age barbed and tanged arrowhead made of flint (1800BC-800BC), which is large compared to others found in the Western Isles and may have been imported. Flint does not occur locally other than as beach pebbles left behind as [ » read more ]

From the BBC website: Scientific evidence of an ancient invasion of Scotland from Ireland may have been uncovered by DNA techniques. Researchers from Edinburgh University said studies of Scots living on Islay, Lewis, Harris and Skye were found to have strong links with Irish people. Early historical sources recount how the Gaels came from Ireland about 500 AD and conquered the Picts in Argyll. Scientists said the study was the first demonstration of a significant Irish genetics component in Scots’ ancestry. The research, which features [ » read more ]

Places are still available on a survey training workshop being held in Bernera on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 March. The workshop by Scotland’s Rural Past supports a community archaeological survey which will record what remains of the old village at Bosta. Participants will learn how to identify buildings, use a plane table, complete survey forms to record building location, learn how to create a scale drawing of the building and be given guidance in basic historical research. For more information and to register your [ » read more ]

The definitive short guide to our Uig Chessmen, found in Ardroil in 1831, is The Lewis Chessmen, by James Robinson of the British Museum, which addresses aspects of their discovery, design and likely provenance, and also the history of chess.  Of our little family of courtly Vikings, the berserkers are the most intriguing.  From the book: There are twelve warders, or rooks, all of whom defend themselves with shields decorated in a similar fashion to the knights’.  They are represented as foot soldiers and each [ » read more ]

The Lewis & Harris Archaeology group is offering free training sessions in archaeological survey skills, including using GPS, plane tables and alidades to map sites. The sessions will take place on 21 Feb at Garrabost and 10-11 March at Bosta.  For more information please ring Maggie on 07788 966292.

Susan and Keith Stringer came across evidence of a grave in the dunes above Traigh na Berie, which on excavation was found to contain a crouch burial (in the picture, in the trench at the foot of the stick). From Hebrides News: A human skeleton thought to be 4000 years old has been discovered on Lewis. Soil erosion caused by recent storms exposed a small stone kist at Uig on the west side of the island. The bones, believed to be an almost whole adult [ » read more ]

A new degree-level archaeology module exploring the impact of the Vikings on the North Atlantic region between 700 and 1300 AD begins Tuesday 27 January at Lews Castle College in Stornoway. The course runs for 10 weeks and there are no formal entry requirements. For further information see the college webpage. The course will be taught by Dr Mary Macleod, who is also giving a talk in Uig Community Centre on Scotland’s Vikings: Friday 30 January at 7.30, free.

An article by Mary Beith, first published in the Scotsman in July 1990.  Thanks to Mary for the opportunity to republish it. A group of architects and others at Manchester University who had been devoting a great deal of time and thought to devising the environmentally ideal house of the future were understandably well pleased with the outcome of their researches. That home would be long, narrow and rectangular, easy to span – thus cutting down on timber – highly insulated and with minimal windows; [ » read more ]