Hut sites are exactly what the name suggests: the ground-level traces of a dwelling, usually a roughly circular or oval foundation of stone, sometimes with associated features such as a hearth or a souterrain, an underground passage used for storage or shelter. They can date from the Bronze Age through to the early medieval period, and their very ordinariness is part of what makes them interesting. These were not ceremonial structures or elite enclosures; they were where people lived.