Recent Excavations at Carn Liath Broch, Golspie, Sutherland

Summary Following the late J X W P Corcoran's rescue work in 1972 within the broch, recent excavations at this state care monument, prior to masonry consolidation, examined outworks to the NE of the broch and re-opened its entrance passage and guard cell. Despite thorough Victorian disturbance, a tentative chronology was established for the site. The Bronze Age was represented by a Beaker fragment and later putative cist with Food Vessel and shale washer necklace. Settlement, shown by post-holes, hearth and a severely-truncated structure of slot construction, predated the building of the broch and attendant ring-wall, while later Iron Age activity included the division into outbuildings of the area between the broch and outer wall by the addition of cross-walls. Previously unrecorded circuit walls and midden were identified downslope of the main outworks, and the site produced evidence of shale and iron working.