Hut circle

In archaeology, a hut circle is a circular or oval depression in the ground which may or may not have a low stone wall around it that used to be the foundation of a round house.

Hut circles were also almost certainly covered by conical rounded roofs and supported by posts that were internal and sometimes external.

The 24 hut circles are surrounded by a massive granite perimeter wall, which may have stood 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 m) tall in places.

The roundhouses, with an average diameter of 11 feet (3.4 m), were each built of a double ring of granite slabs with a rubble infill – a technique still used in dry-stone walling.

There is good evidence of human activity: pottery, scrapers, and pot boilers were found in the huts during Victorian excavations.