Archaeology
Raasay: An Introduction to its Archaeological Monuments: By Martin Wildgoose ©
3500 years ago
By 3500 years ago a settled, Bronze Age, farming landscape lies all around. A landscape dotted with large circular houses, each lying at the centre of areas of enclosed fields. Tracks lead down to the shore, (the sea was both highway and supermarket) and up into the hills where a brief flush of summer grass provided much needed grazing – a well ordered and highly utilized landscape. The introduction of copper and bronze tools has forever altered man’s control of the environment – allowing rapid clearance of woodland and deeper cultivation of the thin soils.
The religious aspects of life are represented by Burial Cists within low mounds, and standing stones scattered about the landscape. Fragments of this farming landscape can be found within the forest plantations at both Inverarish and Brochel and open burial cairns can be seen, close to the shore at Eyre and at Brae between Balmeanach and Glame. A single standing stone lies on the north side of a clearing in Church Wood at NG 5590 3668.
| Iron Age | 1100 years ago | Medieval Centuries |
