What Was a Broch? The Scottish Stone Tower That Refused To Fall for 2,000 Years

Comments · 91

• VA

  @vaughanwastling3662 · 1 month ago

  I worked as an archaeologist at the site of Scatness at southern Shetland and visited Mousa, impressive. A couple of relevant comments; our stonemason, a Shetlander  who built a stone wheelhouse on our site told me that with two labourers handing him the stone he could complete a broch in one summer season! Also relevant to the abandonment of that specific broch is that the island ran out of peat, so no more fuel for the fire. The broch was restored in the Victorian period, but not massively.

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• CA

  @catmando1786 · 1 month ago

  Brochs were the inspiration for the dome in Florence.

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• MA

  @madnessbydesignVria · 1 month ago

  Whenever I hear someone talk about people of the past as just superstitious idiots, I think of this kind of stuff. There are countless examples of ingenuity that proves they were smart - smart enough to survive in a world that was constantly trying to kill them. It's amazing how many of the techniques they used we've had to 'rediscover'...

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• PR

  @prototropo · 1 month ago

  The security from both weather and hostilities is impressive, but my favorite aspect is the sheer beauty of geometry in these structures. They are somehow esthetically severe yet enticing, with the same paradoxical charm of Sardinia&apos;s legendary nuraghi. <br> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;In fact, the nuraghe may have been the inspiration for similar constructions all around western Europe. Both styles contribute to the wonderful heritage of the Atlantic Bronze Age, when the Neolithic peoples who had previously migrated to the final, farthest shores north of Anatolia, west of the Pontic Steppe--known later to Greco-Roman writers as Iberia, Gaul, Britannia &amp; Hibernia--made those shores a permanent home for the next 5,000 years.

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• WE

  @weefreeblueman · 1 month ago

  Love the Brochs! I lived in Lerwick and there was a good example there.

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• AN

  @andrewplac · 2 months ago

  So it’s a fortress. A farmer’s fortress. Geezus, it still protects them. They couldn’t afford a well.

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• DE

  @decay-154 · 1 month ago

  The celtic monks in Ireland used the same &nbsp;construction method

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• BO

  @BodhiDixon-s2k · 1 month ago

  my uncle wouldn&apos;t shut up about reading the book T he Silent Dominion so I finally caved and bought it. he was actually right. seeing the blueprint of the elites laid out like that is insane.

• LY

  @Lycanthrope77 · 1 month ago

  Great info and video, much appreciated.

• IR

  @irene3196 · 1 month ago

  No mention of Lerwick&apos;s other broch at Cleikimin. &nbsp;I was there in the 1980s and walked inside it. &nbsp;The between-two-walls stair was still accessible then, don&apos;t know if it&apos;s protected now, but it was fantastic to be able to go inside it.

• OR

  @Original50 · 1 month ago

  Factoid: &nbsp;Fraserborough, north of Aberdeen is nicknamed &apos;The Broch&apos; by locals.

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• DS

  @DS.proudkiwi · 1 month ago

  I wonder if these were the inspiration for storms end in game of thrones books. A hight drum castle that could withstand storms well . The hollow walls would give insulation , seems like these were perfect houses really for the area why these were abandoned and not maintained and updated over the centuries. You would think they could collect enough water from rainfall to support the number of people you would need to garrison the small fortress and it would be like a garrisoned barn and storage perfectly protectible .<br>If it was me or my family id have them stay in one updating it over centuries building others around it joining them together with curtain walls , ditches and other structures that all made it more defendable

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