The unique arrangement of the wooden substructures suggests that the central building was in the form of a round tower with very thick walls, like the brochsand other forts of North Britain.
If Roman objects are found, as they are, in brochs which show many relics of bronze, it does not follow that the brochs had not existed for centuries before the inhabitants acquired the waifs and strays of Roman civilisation.
We can be sure that the broch folk were at some time in touch of Roman goods, brought by traffickers perhaps, but how can we be sure that there were no brochs before the arrival of the Romans?
It is only certain that the pebbles of the Caithness brochs are as absolutely unfamiliar as the inscribed stones of Dumbuck.
Also, why are the painted pebbles only known in a few brochs of Caithness?
Why are there no brochs in Moray, Aberdeenshire and the Mearns?
That the Norsemen used many of the Pictish brochs as dwelling-places is more than probable, and is proved by the Sagas in certain instances.
Built invariably solely of stone and without mortar, in form the brochs were circular, and have been described as truncated cones with the apex cut off,[7] and their general plan and elevation were everywhere almost uniform.
The Norse place-names too are found in the same spots on which the remains of brochs exist, that is, on the best land at the lowest levels which the Picts had already cultivated, and which the Norse invaders seized.
The masonry and contents of the brochs prove them to be the work of a most capable people, who lived partly at least by agriculture and had a fairly high standard of civilization.
The distribution of the brochs also indicate that their occupants combined agriculture with sea-faring.
The recent discovery of its bones and horns in refuse heaps in Caithness, and in many of the brochs in the north of Scotland, amply proves that the reindeer was hunted and eaten by the Norsemen as late as the above date.
It will be remembered that the early Pictish inhabitants of Gairloch dwelt in the brochs or round houses of what may almost be called the pre-historic period.
That they were numerous, we may judge from the several remains of Pictish brochs or round houses to be seen in the parish.
Of other prehistoric remains the Pictish brochs or round houses are perhaps the most notable.
Joseph Anderson[2153] has suggested that some of the small discs, with the surface highly polished, such as have been found in Scottish brochs of the Iron Age, may have served as mirrors.
In Scotland, querns are of frequent occurrence in the ancient brochs and hill forts.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "brochs" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
