Proc Antiqc So Scot, (1983)3 11 , 302-366 Excavations at Ardnave, Islay Graham Ritchie* and Humphrey Welfare! with contributions by J W Barber, M M Brown, T G Cowie, DicksonA C EvansG , J HallidayP ,S HarmanM , , A S Henshall and C R Wickham-Jones SUMMARY This paper describes the excavation of a series of structures discovered in the sand-dunes at Ardnave, Islay, between 1977 and 1980. The earliest structure was a house, probably of several periods, associated with food-vessel pottery. Subsequently the house was covered by blown sand, but later occupation was atteste middey db n material, also with food vessels, overlyin earliee gth r building. There were also otw hearths of late Iron Age date, one of which was overlain by traces of spade cultivation. The excavation offers useful structural, cultural and economic information about Islay in the second millennium BC and in the early first millennium AD. INTRODUCTION The Ardnave peninsula, in the NW of Islay, forms the W side of Loch Gruinart, and offers extensive views acros Navo st e Islan mord dan e distantl Marc n ColonsaI yo (fi t . N ge 1) hth n yo 1977, Mr C G Booth, then the Chairman of the Islay Museums Trust, found a bronze rosette pin lying on the surface of a bunker to one side of a polygonal setting of stone slabs, at a point c 1 -8 km NNE of Ardnave farmhouse. This structure, which turned out to be a hearth, was excavated by officers of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland three months later, during the preparation of the fifth volume of the Inventory of Argyll. The excavation, whic limites hwa extentn di , revealed tha hearte th tassociates hwa d wit hsecona d piec unusuaf eo l metalwor centurieh 4t k r also d os 3r datinADunexpecte e e th Th . go t d presencf eo these bronzes, and indeed of any such activity on the dunes at this period, demanded more extensive examination, a task which had to be postponed until 1979. In the two intervening winters, the erosion on this, the seaward edge of the bunker, was very severe, and by 1979 all levele tracth f seo associated wit hearte h th bee d hha n blown away (pi 17a)comloss e sTh wa . - pensated by the exposure of contemporary land-surfaces and by the discovery of the Bronze Age structures to be described below (NGR NR 289 745). Ardnav bees eha ncentra occupatior efo n throughout prehistory site Kilellaf eth ,o e th n no E side of the promontory providing material of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and later dates (Burgess 1976); several isolated burials, some probabl Bronzf yo datee eAg , have also been found within the sand-dunes (appendix 5). The present excavations were undertaken in the sand dunes between Roya* l Commissio Anciene th Historican d no an t l Monument Scotlandf so Melvill4 5 , e Street, Edinburgh t Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), Newcastle upon Tyne R1TCHIE AND WELFARE: EXCAVATIONS AT ARDNAVE, ISLAY 303 2 Ardnaved FIGan S1 , Islay: location maps 25-F .S 6 were fro detachee mth d land surface (p 313) Port nam Muileach and Sloe a' Mhoirt. A grave enclosure, 200 m to the SE, is the only feature mapS O marke se thath n tdo might guide future visitor spoe th t o st ; (fiher 2) g slaea b com- memorates Duncan Campbell Esq who died at Ardnave in 1825 and 'who was interred in this spot by his own particular desire', and Archibald, son of the Honourable Archibald McDonald, 1803-72. Excavatio dunee th n si reveale dstone-wallea d house with several period occupationf so , subsequent midden layers aroun dlarga e saddle quernseriea d f hearthso s an , f Bronz o l al , e Age date. A second hearth of Iron Age date was also discovered, as well as traces of broadly contemporary agricultural activity, and a stone-walled enclosure. Ardnav s describei e d fully fro ma geomorphologica l standpoin y Ritchib t d Croftan e s (1974, 67-74) site t withith ;e se itsellargese s nth wa f t aree barf th a o f o e sand en d N nea e rth peninsula zona , f considerableo e instability (1974, 71). Ritchi Croftd ean s show that littlw ene sediment is being added to the dune system; on the contrary, deflation and degradation of the surroundine th duneo t n so g machai takins ri g place considerable vien th .I f wo e thicknese th f so sand-blows discovered withi e excavatenth d structur s cleai t ei r that such instabilit s alsyowa presen Bronze th n i t e Age. EXCAVATION maie Th n featurexcavatioe th f stone-walleeo a s nwa d house, remodelle numbea n do f o r occasions, lyin abovm gpresene 9 eth t high-water mar d 18a) house kan Th ;(pib . (fie17 sg4) 304 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1983 wa t leassa t partly subterranean wale th , l holding bac sane kth d fro centrae mth l area, wite hth roof probably protruding above the level of the surrounding dune. At its largest, the wall, which was built of massive boulders and slabs, enclosed an area measuring 9 m from N to S and at leastransverselym sidbee7 td W ewholha e e n th destroyedth t f eo bu , sande .Th y floomucs wa r h disturbed by trampling in antiquity, but several hearths, a large number of pestholes, and a few large pits coul interiore seee th d b n i . absence th n I mucf eo h stratigraphical evidenc earle th yn e i phases , becaus compactiof eo n and subsequent erosion of sand surfaces, any sequence of activity is bound to be hypothetical, but the following periods may tentatively be put forward: Period 1, which may itself be sub- divided, is represented by a series of parallel lines of pestholes and, perhaps subsequently, by a stone structure, squarish on plan with rounded corners and measuring c 6-5 m across, possibly entered from the NE. Only about half of this structure survived (the N and E walls), with the W wall destroye walS e erosioy l db th remove d course nan th n latef di eo r remodellingA (fi. g4) distinc mary junctiote changma k th alignmene , e 4 wall th th E g f n e fi t o aboui a ,th n o f o ttP old and new work after this remodelling. There was a central hearth (hearth, Period Ib on fig 4), sealed by the Period 2 wall, which provided a radiocarbon date of 1730 be ±65 (GU-1439); a piec f carbonizeeo d hazelwood, also Perioe sealeth y dwallb 2 , gav datea f 166eo 0 5 be±8 (GU-1371) Perion .I livin e th d2 g arereduces awa 4-o 3-d y t wit 5 b 3insertiom e hth innen a f nro wall consistin bana f go k wit internan ha l stone revetment. This wall, which partly coveree dth earlier hearth, was associated with a shallow ditch on its S side. It is possible that either during Period 2, or during a subsequent period (3), the outer wall to the S was built in its present position; this would account for the change in alignment of the E wall. These structures were covered by layers of blown sand, and the house was abandoned; it is clear, however, that the area remained the focus for settlement, and, in Period 4, midden deposits (which contained quantities of food vessels, enlarged food vessel r fooo s d vessel urns) were formed ove blowe th r n sand largA . e saddle quern was the principal centre of activity at this time; hearth material provided a radio- carbon dat f 128eo (GU-1272)0 0 12 b e± . Occupatio Perion peripheras ni wa maie d5 th no t l are excavatiof ao representes wa hearthsd o nan tw y db serie,a antlef so r deposits, trace cultivaf so - tion and an enclosure wall, all broadly of Iron Age date (fig 3). At the risk of implying that the sequence of Periods 1-3 is firmer than it is in reality the excavation will be described in greater detail perio periody db . PERIOD 1 earliese Th t occupatio site particularls th ei n no y difficul disentanglo t t e sinc impossibls i t ei o et associate, with any degree of certainty, all the various isolated features that appear to be early in the sequence. It is particularly difficult to assign phases to the many pestholes because the tops of the post- holes were indistinguishable from the black and charcoaly scuffed and trampled sand surfaces. Thus the relationship of pestholes to occupation levels is clear only when they can be linked to other features such as hearths and walls. This problem is particularly acute for any interpretation of the pattern of pestholes sitee parth N . f Severae o ti nth l major pestholes appea antedato rt large eth e hearth, itself sealee th y db wal whaf lo describes i t Perioe th s appead ) a housed 2 46 otherd d ran , an fro s4 4 m(notabl , thei42 s ryno positio earliee b o nt r tha entrance nth f thaeo t house r thesFo . e reasons firse th , t sub e periob -y dma divided betwee nstructura e represente linea e somy th db f reo setting f pestholeso a s d (Perioan ) dla much larger building centre hearte th n dho that overlies som f thee o t whic mbu wale seales hi th ly db (Period Ib).