Greentulloch,broch 180m NE of
DatedEst. 390 BCE–200 CE
Photo Claire Pegrum · CC BY-SA 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Achnagoul, also called Greentulloch, is a site near Dunbeath in Caithness, Highland, Scotland, that contains a broch, a Clyde tomb and a standing stone. The broch is protected as a scheduled monument and is dated by typological estimate to between 390 BCE and 200 CE.
The broch lies in an abandoned farmstead in the valley of the Dunbeath River. The Clyde tomb stands 190 m north of another cairn, Achnagoul 1, and the standing stone lies north-east of the tomb.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Greentulloch,broch 180m NE of
Its entrance, with a surviving lintel and part of the wall, is preserved on the south-east side.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): AchnagoulCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): AchnagoulCC BY-SA 4.0
The broch has a diameter of about 17.0 m. Its entrance, with a surviving lintel and part of the wall, is preserved on the south-east side. The remains of the broch form the core of a mound about 23.0 m in diameter and 1.5 m high. The mound probably consists largely of rubble from the broch and may contain further remains of the outer wall. The bank that bounds the mound on the south-west is probably a remnant of the outer defences.
The Clyde tomb, Achnagoul 2, is a heavily robbed cairn crossed by a destroyed field wall. It lies on a slight rise in a clearing and measures about 18 × 12 m and 1.2 m in height. A concave forecourt lies on the north-east. Its two outer stones and three further stones of the exedra stand up to 0.85 m above the level of the forecourt, and they remain in situ, as does one of the two portal stones. The top of the portal stone is 1.35 m above the floor of the unroofed chamber, which is entered from the middle of the exedra. A sill stone lies immediately behind the portal stone.
Each side of the double chamber is made of three slabs. The central slab is wedged against the dividing slab and overlaps its neighbours to support the side slabs. The dividing slab separates the chamber into two compartments, each about 0.8 m deep. The outer compartment is rectangular in plan and the inner one is trapezoidal. A narrow end slab closes the chamber. The stones on the south-east side seem to have been slightly displaced. A slab lying beneath the dividing slab may indicate that the floors of the compartments are paved.
The standing stone is oriented roughly north to south and stands on the crest of a low rise. It is about 1.5 m high and 1.2 m wide, and 0.8 m thick at ground level before it narrows to a flat tip 0.6 m wide. It has been suggested that the stone formed part of a circle, but irregularities in the immediate topography make this unlikely, and there is no evidence that stones were removed. Seven recumbent stones lie near it, and a survey showed that all eight stones lie on an ellipse measuring 63.0 × 88.0 m. A column-like stone 2.9 m long lies about 23.0 m to the south-east beside the fence. It is at least 0.4 m thick and tapers from 1.0 m wide to 0.7 m.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): AchnagoulCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): AchnagoulCC BY-SA 4.0
A broch is an Iron Age hollow-walled drystone tower found in Scotland, which holds more than 500 of them. There are approximately 571 candidate sites, concentrated in northern Scotland, with the densest groups in Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Scottish brochs
A broch is an Iron Age hollow-walled drystone tower found in Scotland, and Scotland holds more than 500 of them. Brochs belong to the class that Scottish archaeologists call "complex Atlantic roundhouses". There are approximately 571 candidate sites, concentrated in northern Scotland, with the densest groups in Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles. The Atlas files them under "cyclopean masonry" because of the heavy drystone walls, but they are Scottish Iron Age buildings, unrelated to the Mycenaean walls that give that term its name.
The finest is the Broch of Mousa in Shetland, the tallest broch still standing and among the best-preserved prehistoric buildings in Europe; it is thought to have been built about 300 BCE. Midhowe Broch on Rousay in Orkney has an internal diameter of 9 metres within a wall 4.5 metres thick, which still stands more than 4 metres high. At the Broch of Gurness on Mainland Orkney, a village grew around a tower that probably once reached about 10 metres; settlement began between 500 and 200 BCE, and Robert Rendall found it in 1929.
Dating is not secure. Most brochs may have been built from about 300 BCE; a sheep bone at Old Scatness in Shetland dates to between 390 and 200 BCE. The old view that brochs were defensive refuges for people and their livestock has been challenged: it has been argued that they were the "stately homes" of their time, showing the status of important families, though there is no archaeological proof, and the purpose may have combined defensive, offensive and symbolic functions.
When visiting, look for the two skins of drystone wall with a stair or gallery between them, and for the settlement of smaller houses around the tower.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Broch, Wikipedia: Mousa Broch, Wikipedia: Dun Carloway, Wikipedia: Midhowe Broch, Wikipedia: Gurness Broch, Wikipedia: Cyclopean masonry · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
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Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 390 BCE–200 CEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for cyclopean masonries in United Kingdom; this site has not been dated itself. The first brochs may have been built circa 300 BC and most of the towers were built in the 1st centuries BC and AD; a sheep bone from Old Scatness Broch dates to between 390 and 200 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
United Kingdom
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 58°16′18″ N, 3°25′45″ WFor a GPS or map app: 58.27168, -3.42906
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
chambered cairn 610m NNW of Bridge of Badnagie4000–2500 BCE- Chambered cairnchambered cairn 1550m S of Buolacrabher4000–2500 BCE
broch 500m W of Latheronwheel House390 BCE–200 CE- Cyclopean masonrybroch 450m NW of Bridge of Rhemullen390 BCE–200 CE
- Chambered cairnchambered cairn 1350m SSW of Buolacrabher4000–2500 BCE
- Cyclopean masonrybroch 180m SW of Bridge of Rhemullen390 BCE–200 CE
- Cyclopean masonryKnockinnon,broch390 BCE–200 CE
Dun Beath,broch,Dunbeath390 BCE–200 CE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q56664104wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- chambered cairn 610m NNW of Bridge of Badnagie0.6 km W
- chambered cairn 1550m S of Buolacrabher1.3 km NW
- broch 500m W of Latheronwheel House1.4 km E
- broch 450m NW of Bridge of Rhemullen1.5 km SW
- chambered cairn 1350m SSW of Buolacrabher1.6 km NW
- broch 180m SW of Bridge of Rhemullen1.7 km SW
- Knockinnon,broch1.9 km SE
- Dun Beath,broch,Dunbeath2.0 km S
- broch 230m E of Upper Latheron2.0 km E
- standing stone 470m S of Minera2.0 km N
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Achnagoul" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (German): AchnagoulCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q56664104CC0