Islanders Rebuild Pictish Site
Submitted by coldrum on Wednesday, 04 July 2007 Page Views: 1479
Multi-periodCountry: Scotland County: Shetland Type: Ancient Village or SettlementInternal Links:
An Ancient settlement which will one day crumble into the sea has been rebuilt by a community on Shetland.
Islanders on Unst have become the first in Scotland to reinstate an eroding site after its excavation in a process that took four years.
The community of Sandwick Bay decided to rebuild the 2,000-year-old settlement in its original position, despite the knowledge that it will be lost to erosion.
They want to give visitors to the island the chance to understand the Pictish buildings, which date from the late Iron Age.
A display will also be arranged in the local heritage centre, which will include information on an 1,800-year-old skeleton found at the site with an unusual polished stone disk beside its head.
The site was recently featured on the BBC's Coast programme, which focused on the archeological work.
The St Andrews University coastal erosion project was led by the Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problems of Erosion Trust (Scape), and sponsored by Historic Scotland.
They teamed up with the Council for Scottish Archaeology's (CSA) Adopt a Monument scheme to help rebuild the structures after the excavation was finished.
Scape project co-ordinator Tom Dawson said: "The rebuilding phase was remarkably quick, and it helped to round off the project.
"This is one of thousands of threatened coastal sites and this project sets a great example for other communities to help raise awareness of the impacts of climate change upon Scotland's coastal heritage."
The work was carried out by members of the Unst Heritage Group under the supervision of Helen Bradley from the Council for Scottish Archaeology.
She said: "I am delighted that the project has been such a great success and that the local group are taking this site into stewardship."
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