7.3.2 Palisaded Enclosures

A number of palisaded enclosures have been identified in the Highlands, mainly from aerial photographs, but there is little dating evidence nor a clear understanding of what the palisades are enclosing. These enclosures would have had one or more rows of closely spaced vertical timbers embedded into a narrow foundation trench (ScARF Iron Age section 6.5, 6.6). Highland sites have a distinct eastern distribution, excluding Caithness, which is a result of being situated mainly on agricultural land where crop marks are visible. Nevertheless, occasional evidence survives in some upland settings, for example Sithean Mor Dail A’Chaoruinn, Badenoch and Strathspey (MHG4560). Only three sites have been dated (Table 7.3). An enclosure at Brackla, Nairn had a sherd of Roman Samian pottery (Terra Sigillata) suggesting occupation in the early centuries AD (MHG7309). While a palisaded enclosure was identified at Culduthel in Inverness, the only date from it relates to the ditch fill. It provided a Chalcolithic date which when compared to dates elsewhere suggests the sample was probably residual. The enclosure had no occupation debris, and is thought perhaps to have been a stock enclosure (Hatherley and Murray 2021). Elsewhere in Scotland palisaded enclosures date from the Neolithic to medieval periods, with various functions (Hatherley and Murray 2021). As a result, further investigation with good dating is needed to determine regionality, dating and use.