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Prehistoric lake dwelling

A crannog ('/k//r//æ//n//ə//ɡ/; crannóg ; crannag ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were built on the shores and not inundated until later, crannogs were built in the water, thus forming artificial islands. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia, from the European Neolithic Period to as late as the 17th/early 18th century. As a result, crannogs made completely of stone and supporting drystone architecture are common there. Today, crannogs typically appear as small, circular islets, often in diameter, covered in dense vegetation due to their inaccessibility to grazing livestock.

The Irish word crannóg derives from Old Irish crannóc, which referred to a wooden structure or vessel, stemming from crann, which means "tree", suffixed with " óg" which is a diminutive ending ultimately borrowed from Welsh. The suffix óg is sometimes misunderstood by non native Irish speakers as óg, which is a separate word that means "young". This misunderstanding leads to a folk etymology whereby crannóg is misanalysed as crann óg, which is pronounced differently and means "a young tree". The modern sense of the term first appears sometime around the 12th century; its popularity spread in the medieval period along with the terms isle, ylle, inis, eilean or oileán. There is some confusion on what the term crannog originally referred to, as the structure atop the island or the island itself. The Scottish Gaelic form is crannag and has the additional meanings of 'pulpit' and 'churn'. Thus, there is no real consensus on what the term crannog actually implies, although the modern adoption in the English language broadly refers to a partially or completely artificial islet that saw use from the prehistoric to the Post Medieval period in Ireland and Scotland. while Scotland has 389 sites officially listed as such. The actual number in Scotland varies considerably depending on definition—between about 350 and 500, due to the use of the term "island dun" for well over one hundred Hebridean examples—a distinction that has created a divide between mainland Scottish crannog and Hebridean islet settlement studies. Previously unknown crannogs in Scotland and Ireland are still being found as underwater surveys continue to investigate loch beds for completely submerged examples. The largest concentrations of crannogs in Ireland are found in the Drumlin Belt of the Midlands, North and Northwest. In Scotland, crannogs are mostly found on the western coast, with high concentrations in Argyll and Dumfries and Galloway. In reality, the Western Isles contain the highest density of lake settlements in Scotland, yet they are recognised under varying terms besides "crannog". One lone Welsh example exists at Llangorse Lake, probably a product of Irish influence. Reconstructed Irish crannógs are located at Craggaunowen, County Clare, in the Irish National Heritage Park, County Wexford and at Castle Espie, County Down. In Scotland there are reconstructions at the "Scottish Crannog Centre" at Loch Tay, Perthshire; this centre offers guided tours and hands on activities, including wool spinning, wood turning and making fire, holds events to celebrate wild cooking and crafts, and hosts yearly Midsummer, Lughnasadh and Samhain festivals.

Crannogs took on many different forms and methods of construction based on what was available in the immediate landscape. The classic image of a prehistoric crannog stems from both post medieval illustrations The Milton Loch interpretation is of a small islet surrounded or defined at its edges by timber piles and a gangway, topped by a typical Iron Age roundhouse. The choice of a small islet as a home may seem odd today, yet waterways were the main channels for both communication and travel until the 19th century in much of Ireland and, especially, Highland Scotland. Crannogs are traditionally interpreted as simple prehistorical farmsteads. They are also interpreted as boltholes in times of danger, as status symbols with limited access, and as inherited locations of power that imply a sense of legitimacy and ancestry towards ownership of the surrounding landscape. A strict definition of a crannog, which has long been debated, requires the use of timber. Hebridean island dwellings or crannogs were commonly built on both natural and artificial islets, usually reached by a stone causeway. The visible structural remains are traditionally interpreted as duns or, in more recent terminology, as "Atlantic roundhouses." This terminology has recently become popular when describing the entire range of robust, drystone structures that existed in later prehistoric Atlantic Scotland. In some early digs, labourers hauled away tons of materials, with little regard to anything that was not of immediate economic value. Conversely, the vast majority of early attempts at proper excavation failed to accurately measure or record stratigraphy, thereby failing to provide a secure context for artefact finds. Thus only extremely limited interpretations are possible. Preservation and conservation techniques for waterlogged materials such as logboats or structural material were all but non existent, and a number of extremely important finds were destroyed as a result; in some instances, they were even dried out for firewood. In contrast, relatively few crannogs have been excavated since the Second World War. This number has steadily grown, especially since the early 1980s, and may soon surpass pre war totals. The overwhelming majority of crannogs show multiple phases of occupation and re use, often extending over centuries. Thus the re occupiers may have viewed crannogs as a legacy that was alive in local tradition and memory. Crannog reoccupation is important and significant, especially in the many instances of crannogs built near natural islets, which were often completely unused. This long chronology of use has been verified by both radiocarbon dating and more precisely by dendrochronology.

The earliest known constructed crannog is the completely artificial Neolithic islet of Eilean Dòmhnuill, Loch Olabhat on North Uist in Scotland. Eilean Domhnuill Recent radiocarbon dating of worked timber found in Loch Bhorghastail on the Isle of Lewis has produced evidence of crannogs as old as 3380 3630 BC. Prior to the Bronze Age, the existence of artificial island settlement in Ireland is not as clear. While lakeside settlements are evident in Ireland from 4500 BC, these settlements are not crannogs, as they were not intended to be islands. Despite having a lengthy chronology, their use was not at all consistent or unchanging. Crannog construction and occupation was at its peak in Scotland from about 800 BC to AD 200. but funding was given to repair the structure, and conserve the museum materials retained. The UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts, Alison Phipps of Glasgow University and African artist Tawona Sithole considered its future and its impact as a symbol of common human history and 'potent ways of healing' including restarting the creative weaving with Soay sheep wool in 'a thousand touches'.