Fluctuating settlement patterns in Bronze Age Sutherland: excavation of a roundhouse at Navidale, Helmsdale

Abstract

Excavation of a well-preserved upstanding roundhouse revetted into a steep hillside at Navidale has revealed a structure with unusually sophisticated architectural traits dated to around 1400–1200 BC. The house was built within an agricultural landscape but its abandonment appears to have been linked to a cessation of agriculture within that landscape, possibly part of a wider environmental decline across northern Scotland.