ARCHAEOLOGY & HISTORY

by Martin Wildgoose
(Archaeological and Ancient Landscape Survey, Skye, 2003)

Around 10,000 years ago with North-west Europe’s climate slowly warming the ice sheets covering Scotland began a slow withdrawal northward. Gradually, pioneer trees such as Hazel and Birch invaded the area. They were followed by Oak and Pine. This diversifying natural habitat attracted animals and birds and there were plentiful fish in the sea. Soon after, Man arrived in Skye.

The first arrivals on Skye’s north-east coast were small bands of hunter-gatherers known as Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age peoples. Their presence here on Skye has recently been established by the shell midden at An Corran in Staffin dating to around 6500 BC. This is the earliest evidence for human activity so far found on Skye.

The introduction of arable cultivation around 5000 years ago encouraged more permanent settlement. This settled farming culture of Neolithic peoples spread throughout the region. The many Chambered Cairns and Stone Circles scattered about the landscape attest to the people’s dispersal.

Around 2000 BC the use of copper and bronze working spread throughout the area, rapidly replacing stone in both tool and weapon manufacture. The introduction of a Bronze Age technology coincided with profound changes in religious expression. In the place of the earlier multiple burials, single interments in small stone boxes or kists now appear. The deceased was often accompanied by a highly decorated pottery vessel known as a 'beaker' and containing drink ostensibly for use in the afterlife.

The Iron Age which began about 700 BC has left the area with a large number of remains, ranging from Brochs and Duns to numerous Hut Circles. In Staffin, as in Skye generally, Brochs and Duns are usually sited near the coast, often on the furthest edge of promontories where natural defences lend added strength to man-made walls.

Hut circles however, although found close to fortified sites, also occur as undefended open settlements, often some way from the coast. An interesting monument often found associated with hut circles is the underground passage better known as a Souterrain. These monuments were well-built and very obviously important structures but it is not clear what they were used for.

It is Christianity, first in its Celtic form and later directly from Rome, which provides the theme for much of the archaeological evidence for the succeeding thousand years. The monastic site of St Columba in nearby Kilmuir is traditionally regarded as one of the earliest foundations on the island. Many of Staffin’s settlements bearing the place-name element ‘Kil-’ or ‘Cille-’ (Kilmartin etc) date from this period.

The Medieval period from c.900 onwards was dominated by the coming of Norse invaders and the subsequent period of relative stability provided under the Lordship of the Isles. By the early tenth century few inhabitants can have remained untouched by the impact of Norse expansion. The high proportion of Norse place-name elements in Trotternish, such as stadt (stadir or dwelling-place/farm), bost (bolstadr or farm unit), shadder (setr/saetr or shieling/dwelling), indicate a particularly dense intrusion in the area. Not until 1263, with the defeat of Norway's king at the Battle of Largs, was Scandinavia to be deprived of its possession. Even then it was to take the Scottish crown a further two and a half centuries to exercise any control over the internecine squabbles between powerful clan chiefdoms.

Following the defeat of Prince Charles Edward Stuart at Culloden in April 1746 the clan system began to crumble. The clan chiefs were now forced to operate as businessmen in respect of their hereditary lands, leaving the clans without their traditional patriarch. Crippling rents and a succession of poor harvests meant destitution for many from the late 1760's onwards, and during the next twenty years, it is estimated that 2000 persons emigrated from Skye. These tragic conditions continued and were exacerbated by the man-made “Clearances” and the natural disaster of the Potato Famine of 1846. Abundant evidence of depopulation can be seen in the area’s many deserted settlements.

The people of Valtos, one of the area’s townships, were among those at the centre of the struggle for land in the late 19th century. Their collective efforts resulted in the Crofting Acts of 1886. This legislation and the security it provided have left a profound impact in the landscape of Staffin and other crofting communities. Around this period there was the beginning of extractive industry in the area, notably involving Diatomite.

A full inventory of the area’s archaeological resources and assets was made. As is evident from the summary of research findings that there is particular significance in Staffin of sites relating to the Mesolithic period, the Iron Age, the more recent “crofting” period and to Industrial Archaeology.

Inventory of the area’s archaeological resources and assets: