BELOW Archaeological fieldwork at chtriachtan,

lencoe, is helping to illu inate the histor of a ighland illage that witnessed traged in the th centur

‘A roof o’er their heads’

Exploring the archaeology of Achtriachtan township in Glencoe

The Highland valley of Glencoe is notorious as the location of a brutal 1692 massacre, but until recently little was known about what remained of the settlement that existed at this time. Now, though, archaeological fieldwork by the ational rust for Scotland has shed new light on thand 8th-century remains within the glen, as Derek Alexander reports.

Glencoe village lies at the mouth of probably the most famous glen in Scotland, its reputation indelibly linked not only to the awe-inspiring beauty of its mountainous scenery, but also to darker events. The village is synonymous with the infamous Glencoe Massacre of 13 February 1692, when dozens of members and associates of the Glencoe MacDonalds were killed by Scottish Government forces, making a brutal example of the small Highland clan in the aftermath of the first Jacobite Rising (see box on p.46). While this aspect of the glen’s history has been studied in detail, the physical remains of its early settlement have only recently been investigated. The stone ruins and enclosures that can be seen from the road represent later sheep farms, mostly dating to the 19th century. Where are the remains of the houses that belonged to the 17th and 18th centuries? Archaeologists from the National Trust for Scotland have been surveying and excavating at a number of locations throughout the glen in an effort to find out.

Cartographic clues helped to guide the search: the earliest detailed map of Glencoe is the military survey undertaken by General William Roy between 1747 and 1755, on which the major townships along the length of the glen are clearly marked. At each of the seven named locations, small clusters of between six and 11

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