At https://phys.org/news/2026-05-archaeologists-reveal-secrets-prehistoric-human.html … Crannogs, or artificial islands created in Scottish lochs, and found in loughs in Ireland and other parts of NW Europe, were thought at one time to be mostly in use during the Iron Age, or the early medieval period. However, innovative techniques, such as under water photogrammetry, was used by Southampton University’s ‘coastal and inland water heritage science facility’ which has advanced understanding further. In fact, it has been known for many years, now, that crannogs were often built and in use in the Neolithic period. This new research confirms that is true. Under water archaeology forms the backbone of this research. In this instance, in shallow water. Over several years of fieldwork at a loch on the Isle of Lewis, in the Hebrides, they catalogued its beginnings in the Neolithic, at some point in the 4th millennium BC. Basically, the crannog was constructed over 5000 years ago. It was fairly simple in comparison with later updates. The dates assigned to these updates and reuse of the crannog are themselves interesting – but it is unclear why the crannogs were occupied when they were, or why. Perhaps it coincided with wetter weather as the lochs of Scotland appear to have grown and shrank on several occasions. The same is probably true in Ireland.
So, we have a reoccupation in the Middle Bronze Age, presumably around 1600 to 1500BC, and another occupation in the Iron Age, a thousand years later. They were also, or some ot them, reoccupied in the early medieval period [the modern designation for what was formerly the dark ages of the 6th to 8th centuries AD]. No mention, in this instance, of reoccupation in the Early Bronze Age, towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Perhaps they coincided with drier periods rather than wetter ones.
Over the years archaeologists have discovered hundreds of pieces of pottery on the lakebeds close to crannogs. A lot of that pottery appears to be Neolithic – but no doubt a lot was Bronze Age. The full research paper is at https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2025.10145 …