Buiston Crannog
To confirm his theories he wrote to Dr Robert Munro, a well
known expert on the subject who had excavated Lochlea
Crannog nearby. Munro visited the site in the winter of 1880
and started excavating and recording his finds soon after (some of
which were spectacular). The general results of his study are
summed up in Munro's own words as follows:
1. The island, as far as could be ascertained from the
investigations made, was composed of a succession of layers of the
trunks and branches of trees, intermingled in some places with
stones, turf, etc.
2. The whole mass was kept firmly together by a peculiar
arrangement of upright and horizontal beams, forming a united
series of circular stockades.
3. The outer circle was intended more for protection than for
giving stability to the island, and in some parts, as at the east
side of the refuse-heap, was neatly constructed after the manner of
a stair-railing, while the inner one not only gave stability to the
island, but was used as a fence, or in connection with the
superstructural buildings.
4. The central portion was rudely paved with wooden beams, many of
which were firmly fixed to the lower woodwork by stout wooden pegs
as well as to the encircling stockades, thus affording here and
there, as it were, 'points d'appui'.
5. While there was one general fireplace situated near the centre,
evidence of occasional fires elsewhere was quite conclusive, one of
which appeared to have been a smelting furnace.
6. The entrance to the central area was looking south-east, and in
front of it there was a well-constructed wooden platform, made of
large oak planks, supported on solid layers of wood to which they
were pinned down.
7. Beyond the platform, but separated from it by a massive wooden
railing, was the refuse-heap; and to the right of it a pathway,
also protected on its outer side by a railing, led downwards and
westwards to the line of the outer circle, where there appeared to
have been an opening towards a rude landing-stage at the water
edge.
8. As to the kind of dwelling-house that no doubt once occupied
this site, whether one large pagoda-like building or a series of
small huts, the evidence is inconclusive, but so far as it goes it
appears to me to be indicative of the former.
More modern research of the archaeological deposits has revealed
that the crannog at Buiston was built during the Roman
period of occupation and that the dwelling was occupied until
the first half of the 7th century A.D.
Ref: Scottish Lake-Dwellings or Crannogs by Robert Munro, M.A. - pub:Edinburgh: David Douglas (1882)
