Artificial prehistoric islands - a photo on Flickriver

            Crannogs.

Unlike the Alpine pile dwellings, the largely Irish and Scottish fresh water Crannogs were built away from the shore line. Earliest examples were built in the Neolithic with many attributed to late bronze age and Iron age and a time span of use currently understood as around 5,000 years. Most are of between 10 and 30 meters in diameter. Posts were driven into the island earthwork from which platforms and houses grew. Coracle basket boats would have been perfect for the short journey to shore. The images above are of the residual foundation mounds. The stilts of the houses being built during low-water summers so that the final platforms overlaps with the Loch's waters. Pointed thatched roof - palisades, decks and pontoons were all part of the Crannog portfolio.

Sacred waters, springs and lakes are understandable via offerings and some structural artefacts. Sacred waters were common throughout the British Isles and elsewhere. The sheer number of lakes in Ireland and Scotland asks that many were also understood as common waters. The low end estimate for the Crannogs of Ireland is 1,200, with Scotland having at least 347. Once again, see the ease of common culture between the two geographies with the distinction between Ireland and Scotland not being an 'us and them' polarity. The above examples are from the Loch Awe region just outside of Kilmartin Glen. The third example has largely sunken into the lake. In the Outer Hebrides, where trees are unavailable, crannogs developed with drystone, so can be known as island Dunns.

Beavers are currently being reintroduced into Argyll. Using a beavers dam for the fishing of trout from its pond side : bringing stones to consolidate the area might seed an idea to exploit natural undulations in the Loch beds, undulations that were most visible during periods of drought. Working with twine and leather both benefit from being close to water as do the hunting specialties of fish and water bird. 

Marcel Pagnol's 1945 cinema adaptation of Zola's 'Nais' includes a demonstration of a fishing practice. The technique involves covering chunks of unwanted offal with clay so that they sink in the water.  In the story, this waste is sprinkled next to steps into a bay and the local fish become attached to the idea of the rewards from the corner. The fisherman then walks away. The idea is not to stress their pleasure, rather to lure them into confidence whilst fattening them up. When he does feel like eating, he only has to go to the spot and gently remove his need from a fat and docile water dance. Dropping offal between the planks of a Crannog's platform might feed and attract a host of lake fish as chattering leather is rinsed and conversations twine into form. Seen like this, the Crannog is a complement to the moorland lifestyle of herding and croft gardening, where the good shepherd cannot pretend he has the time to take an eye off his animals to fish, or, resist the invitation of grilled trout. When one of his adjacent moorland animals is slaughtered for food, leather, bone and ligament, the remaining 'least obvious parts' are cut into fish-mouth sized bites and passed over to Mr and Mrs Crannog, who, in turn, pass back some fish for smoking and some rope for attaching. Some meat and a percentage of the future leather stay inside the Crannog so that the barter system turns for the benefit of all. Rather than escaping from the conditions along the banks and land around the lake, the occupants of the crannog can wave and joke with the people who work the land - come ashore to dance, or invite over to eat, tell stories and watch the reflections as the sun sets. The position of the Crannog away from shore assures that he is not above mud in times of drought and that a maximum of the fish-water biotope is within vision. This pastoral vision of prehistoric island dwelling goes against crass military and video game depictions of prehistory where definitions of people and their past lifestyles are prescribed the 'will to power' of bloody 'leaders' against a wallpaper backdrop of kitsch warfare, with any real tints of past wars colouring all depictions of valley and shore - the Crannog surrounding itself with a vast moat defense against a lifestyle of attack. A late 'military crannog' or inevitable peppering of local dispute should not overwrite a dominant rural solution between man and his environments.

AJM 08.03.18
Taken on: March 8, 2018
Tags:
Loch Awe
Crannog
Bronze age
Iron age
artificial
Scotland
Prehistoric
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crannóg
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Sets appears in: • Earthworks • Crannog
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