Editing Broch (section)

==Purposes==
[[File:Kilphedir broch.JPG|thumb|left|The remains of [[Kilphedir]] broch, [[Sutherland]], are surrounded by massive earthworks.]]

The original interpretation of brochs, favoured by 19th-century antiquarians, was that they were defensive structures, places of refuge for the community and their livestock. They were sometimes regarded as the work of Danes or [[Picts]]. From the 1930s to the 1960s, archaeologists such as [[V. Gordon Childe]] and later John Hamilton<ref>Hamilton, J.R.C. (1968) ''Excavations at Clickhimin, Shetland''. Edinburgh.</ref> regarded them as castles where local landowners held sway over a subject population.

The castle theory fell from favour among Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s, due to a lack of supporting archaeological evidence. These archaeologists suggested defensibility was never a major concern in the siting of a broch, and argued that they may have been the "[[stately home]]s" of their time, objects of prestige and very visible demonstrations of superiority for important families (Armit 2003). Once again, however, there is a lack of archaeological proof for this reconstruction, and the sheer number of brochs, sometimes in places with a lack of good land, makes it problematic.

[[File:Midhowe Broch.jpg|thumb|[[Midhowe Broch]]]]

Brochs' close groupings and profusion in many areas may indeed suggest that they had a primarily defensive or even offensive function. Some of them were sited beside precipitous cliffs and were protected by large ramparts, artificial or natural: a good example is at Burland near [[Gulberwick]] in [[Shetland]], on a clifftop and cut off from the mainland by huge ditches. Often they are at key strategic points. In Shetland they sometimes cluster on each side of narrow stretches of water: the [[Broch of Mousa]], for instance, is directly opposite another at Burraland in [[Sandwick, Dunrossness|Sandwick]]. In [[Orkney]] there are more than a dozen on the facing shores of [[Eynhallow Sound]], and many at the exits and entrances of the great harbour of [[Scapa Flow]]. In [[Sutherland]] quite a few are placed along the sides and at the mouths of deep valleys. Writing in 1956 John Stewart suggested that brochs in Shetland were forts put up by a military society to scan and protect the countryside and seas.<ref>Stewart, J. (1956) ''An Outline of Shetland Archaeology'', Lerwick: Shetland Times Ltd.</ref>

Finally, some archaeologists consider broch sites individually, doubting that there ever was a single common purpose for which every broch was constructed. There are differences in the positions, dimensions and likely status of broch in the various areas in which brochs are found. For example, the broch "villages" which occur at a few places in [[Orkney]] have no parallel in the [[Western Isles]].