crannog

"In 2016, we reported on very early, Neolithic crannogs or lake dwellings in the Hebrides; in 2017, we had two extraordinary Neolithic mounds which had been presumed to be focused on burials, but were found to contain the remains of huge timber buildings.

We had several building types not found anywhere in the south, such as brochs, souterraines and crannogs.

Wetland archaeologists present results of research at one of the crannogs and other loch settlements of all forms that seem to have been a significant component of the settled landscape of Scotland from at least the middle of the first millennium BC to the modern period.

Archaeologists are excited not only by the state and date of the timber, but also because the remains were so far out from the shore of the lake that the post has to be part of a building set on poles - called a crannog. Crannogs are defended wooden structures found in Ireland and Scotland and date from the Stone Age onwards - the only one known in England and Wales previously is at Llangors, near Brecon.

For the uninitiated, Crannogs are Iron Age thatched wooden houses built on stilts over the water.

"Crannogs are quite numerous in Fermanagh but the excavations are like hens' teeth so it is great to be given an opportunity to look at this particular one - It is always an eye opener," Hurl said.

"He loved the Michael Flatley stuff and great creeping crannogs.

The Scottish Crannog Centre tells the story of crannogs ( an ancient loch dwelling ( and people who used to live in them.

Their defensive homesteads, called crannogs, were thatched roundhouses built on piles sunk into the loch bed 2,500 years ago.

and began using the wood for heating and cooking, as well as for building canoes, agricultural tools, and barricaded artificial islands, called crannogs. Because the Celtic Irish traded in cattle, grazing was also important: Cows represented wealth, prestige, and sustenance.

And crannogs - artificial islands which provided a refuge for late Bronze Age inhabitants-can be found on Coll's inland lochs.

Crannogs are artificial lake island settlements built of stone and timber, and are more commonly found in Scotland and Ireland, where they date from prehistoric to medieval times.