“A Cultural Backwater”: The “Localness” of Dùn Èistean, Ness and Its Place in the Wider Maritime World of Northwest Scotland

Abstract

The following paper is an updated version of that given at the Maritime Communities conference in 2013, which reported on and discussed aspects of the findings of the Dun Eistean project excavations. Dun Eistean remains one of only a few late to post-medieval settlements to have been excavated in the Hebrides, and this work has since been published. The following paper provides a resume of the results of the excavations and then focuses on one particular aspect of the site—that of the strong local identity evidenced in the archaeological record, and how this fits with the location of the stronghold in the wider maritime world of the northwest Highlands and Islands.