The Neolithic people of Great Britain are great builders. The British Isles are a great example of this one — covered with countless ancient megaliths, hill forts, monumental graves, ritual sites, and structures that have baffled archaeologists for centuries.
An entirely different structure can be found in Ireland, and to some extent, in Scotland. The structures on this part of Great Britain are artificial islands known as crannogs which are constructed by “pounding wooden piles into the beds of lakes and waterways and topping them with dirt.”
In places where timber was unavailable, such as in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, crannogs were built entirely of stones. Why did Neolithic people invest so much time, effort and resources hauling stones, some up to 250 kilograms, to build islets at a place where there was no dearth of habitable lands or natural islands is a mystery.
One theory goes that Ireland at that time was densely wooded, and apart from the upland areas, the lakes were practically the only place where one could see the sky. So the Neolithic people started building homes on artificial islands. Being surrounded by water also protected them from wild animals, so crannogs could also have served a defensive purpose. Many crannogs show signs of habitation and over multiple periods of time, starting from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages, right into Medieval times. During Iron ages, crannogs were probably the centers of prosperous farms, where people lived in an easily-defended location to protect themselves and their livestock from passing raiders. The settlement would have consisted of a farm house, with cattle and crops being tended in nearby fields, and sheep on hill pastures.
Crannogs are pretty widespread in Ireland, with an estimated 1,200 examples, while in Scotland approximately 600 sites have been identified. Actual figures could be higher as a lot of crannogs have now been completely submerged. Many are difficult to distinguish from natural islets, unless properly investigated. Millenniums of disuse have cloaked them with vegetation and now they look like tiny tree-covered islands.
Amazing!
(Image Credit: F. Sturt)