Before the beautiful Scottish castles were built by the Scottish lochs, the iron age peoples of Scotland were building equally impressive crannog’s – a kindof wooden hut out on the water.
The idea of crannog’s was very similar in many ways to the later concept of a moat around a castle, in that you build the large circular hut out on the water and then have a narrow very easily defended walkway from the shore. They might not have lasted like the castles of Scotland, but 5000 years ago this was the very pinnacle of safe living.
Today visitors can see what the crannog’s were like by visiting the Scottish Crannog Centre on the banks of Loch Tay near Aberfeldy in Central Scotland. The centre is based on an authentic reconstruction of a crannog called ‘Oakbank Crannog’ and offers visitors an exhibition showing many of the archaeological artefacts discovered at the site, a guided tour and hands-on ancient crafts sessions. The centre is open from April to October.
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One Comment
Were crannog’s really defensive structures? The occupants were easily penned in and covered with a flammable thatched roof, the source of their wealth was on land (their cattle), easy to steal if they are barracked into the crannog, not what I would choose as a place of defence.
More likely they were a display of wealth and status, the on thing they would give a defence against is Culicoides impunctatus. If you where rich enough you could live out over the water away from the midges.