Welcome to Archaeology Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides contains hundreds of fascinating archaeological sites throughout the Island chain, and many previously unknown ones are also discovered every year. The famous standing stones of Calanais stand at the centre of a ritual landscape in Lewis, the largest island in the group. To the south is Harris, a beautiful landscape of mountain, machair, and scattered islands, now uninhabited, but whose archaeological remains reveal that they were home to populations since prehistoric times.

On the other side of the Sound of Harris lie the chain of North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay with their associated smaller islands, full of Neolithic chambered cairns, prehistoric roundhouses and forts, and later settlements. And on the southern tip, the lovely island of Barra, with the medieval Kismul Castle rising from the bay.

This website outlines the story of human settlement in the Outer Hebrides, and contains information about some of the best archaeological sites to visit. More details can be found in our series of three guidebooks to the Islands "Exploring the Archaeology of the Outer Hebrides"

For more detailed, comprehensive information about every known site in the Outer Hebrides, you can now also explore the Western Isles Sites and Monuments Record