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Evidence of what may be a 3,500-year-old settlement has been unearthed in Lewis.

 

Archaeologists have found what they believe was an ancient workshop under a disused sand pit on the narrow Braighe isthmus at the Point peninsula.

 

A second dig which has the potential to be a dwelling house has been opened nearby and archaeologists say there may have been more nearby.

 

One theory is a community may have lived in roundhouses in the immediate landscape some four miles outside Stornoway.

 

Ross Cameron of Archas Cultural Heritage says the discovery is “rare and incredible.”

 

He believes the site was potentially an industrial or manufacturing workshop as they have come across a layer of what is likely to be decomposed animal skins suggesting workers were making goods or clothing out of leather.

 

There are also signs of peat fires being burnt in hearths - reinforcing the theory of a busy factory floor.

 

The first clues were thrown up as workers for local contractor MacAulay Askernish dug a trench to replace aging water pipes on behalf of Scottish Water.

 

A quern for grinding grain as well as around 100 pottery pieces have been uncovered.

 

Quartz tools are being found - the absence of flint in the Hebrides means quartz was a substitute for sharp implements like knives and blades, possibliy for scraping animal hides and cutting leather.

 

At first, it was thought the artefacts dated from the Iron Age but an Edinburgh specialist concluded they to the older Middle Bronze era.

 

Still standing for thousand of years are two sets of rudimentary pot stands -  square-shaped stones tightly placed, corner to corner, as a rest for large pottery vessels.

 

All the significant finds are contained within what could have been an oval-shaped structure with a central fire pit.

 

Laboratory tests are being undertaken to determine how old they are.

 

Ross Cameron said: “This gives a picture of prehistoric age in the Western Isles.

 

“This is a very, very rare find - very impressive. To discover a Bronze Age settlement of this size is absolutely incredible.

 

Until now, “there was very little indication of prehistoric occupation in this area of Lewis. So this is filling one of the gaps of island history.”

 

He added: “There’s pretty dense levels of occupation here. It seems people may have been coming and going on a seasonal basis rather than living here all the time.

 

“We still have a lot of work to do here and theories may change but we are getting lots of bits of pottery and flakes of stone. “People may have been coming here to do some sort of processing work.”

 

The ancient settlement is about five metres below the nearby roadway and surrounding terrain.

 

But builders in the first half of the 1900s dug out a quarry to supply sand for house construction in Stornoway. The low base meant Scottish Water had to excavate deeper than the surrounding embankment.

 

MacAulay Askernish has diverted the pipeline to preserve the site.

 

Archaeologist Ross Cameron with pottery found at the dig

Evidence of Bronze Age settlement found              26/10/14