Open Access E-Books

The Lands of Ancient Lothian

Tue, 14 May 2024 00:00:00 +0100

The upgrading of part of the A1 road in south-east Scotland prompted the excavation of eleven archaeological sites. These spanned a period of 5,000 years from the early fourth millennium BC to the early fifth century AD. This volume draws together the results of the excavations and presents the story of human endeavour in the changing landscapes of ancient Lothian. In spite of the chronological range and diversity of the archaeology, evidence has emerged from the excavations for common threads across the millennia: long-held concerns with sustaining life through farming, the symbolic potency of certain objects, and the enduring perceived significance of certain places in the landscape.

On the Fringe of Neolithic Europe

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The stalled cairn of Holm of Papa Westray North (OR K 21) in the far north of Orkney was excavated in 1854 and 1982–3. It was preceded by a small cell in a round cairn, which was amalgamated within the rectangular cairn of the stalled chamber. The cell was filled and walled off within the life of the stalled chamber, and the latter, with its entrance passage, was similarly filled at the end of its use, with evidence of deliberate selection of organic material included in the filling, particularly limpet shells and red deer antler. The remains of a minimum of eight to nine human individuals were found within the tomb, and the remains of neonate lambs show that sheep had access to the stalled chamber before it was sealed. Plain bowls were associated with the chamber deposits and Grooved Ware and beaker with secondary structures outside the cairn. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the tomb was in use for burials during the period from about 3520 cal bc to about 2900 cal bc and thus was contemporary with both the
settlement at Knap of Howar in adjacent Papa Westray and the stalled cairn at Point of Cott in Westray. Stable carbon isotope and iodine analysis of teeth has demonstrated that the Neolithic sheep on the Holm were eating seaweed in the winter months, and isotope analysis of human bones indicates that the local population had a diet that included a small amount of marine protein. Vole remains exhibit the features that make the modern Orkney vole unique and thus confirm that this divergence from the European norm dates back to later Neolithic times. The fishbone assemblage indicates both otter and human activity within the chamber.

Canmore ID 3243

The Moon and the Bonfire

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This volume presents the result of three excavations and two field walking surveys in Aberdeenshire. They were intended to shed new light on the character, chronology and structural development of the distinctive recumbent stone circles which are such a feature of north-east Scotland. Although the monuments share certain elements with other traditions of prehistoric architecture, and, in particular, with the Clava Cairns of the inner Moray Firth, no excavations at these sites had been published since the 1930s and their wider contexts had not been investigated by field survey. The new project took advantage of techniques which had not been used before, including pollen analysis and soil micromorphology, in an attempt to interpret these monuments in their wider chronological and geographical contexts. In that respect this work was the sequel to an earlier investigation of the Clava Cairns.

The Traprain Law Environs Project

Fri, 26 May 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This volume presents the results of fieldwork on the East Lothian coastal plain in south-east Scotland investigating the nature later prehistoric settlement around the hillfort of Traprain Law. Following geomagnetic surveys at thirty sites, six enclosures were excavated, three extensively. All six had complex occupation histories, involving multiple acts of enclosure, as well as phases of open settlement and use for other purposes such as burial. Their combined chronological span extends from the fourth millennium BC to the dawn of the Early Historic period.

The four curvilinear enclosures were apparently constructed in the later second or early first millennium BC. The short-lived hillslope enclosure at Standingstone occupied the site of an earlier Bronze Age burial ground and open settlement. At Whittingehame, a later scoop within a ravine-edge enclosure was still a focus of agricultural activity as late as the sixth century AD. The two rectilinear enclosures were foundations of the later Iron Age, although a scooped settlement within the site at Knowes was inhabited well into the Roman Iron Age.

Thanks to these excavations and the wider studies of the cropmark record and material culture from East Lothian presented here, we can now begin to reconstruct settlement dynamic in the Traprain Law area and relate this to the sequence of activity on the hilltop between the second millennium BC and the mid-first millennium AD.

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This collaborative programme of research represents an exemplary landmark, and all involved deserve support and congratulation.

– Dennis W Harding (Antiquity)

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Canmore ID 56406 – East Bearford

Canmore ID 56215 – East Linton

Canmore ID 56315 – Foster Law

Canmore ID 57720 – Knowes

Canmore ID 56438 – Standingstone

Canmore ID 57809 – Whittinghame

The Antiquarian Rediscovery of the Antonine Wall

Lawrence Keppie (Author) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The Antonine Wall has been visible as an upstanding earthwork across the central belt of Scotland since its construction by the Roman legions over 1,850 years ago, in the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. This book takes up its story from the time of its abandonment in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and charts developments in our knowledge about it through the Middle Ages and after, up to the early years of the twentieth century, by which time the earliest scientific excavations had taken place.

The book is profusely illustrated with maps, portraits of prominent antiquaries and nineteenth-century watercolours.

Rhum

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This volume is the report of the archaeological excavations that took place on the island of Rhum between 1984 and 1986. The text contains details of the stratigraphical remains on site, and in particular the large body of Mesolithic material recovered. It describes the methodology, detailed analyses of the artefactual assemblages as well as the environmental and geophysical studies that were carried out in conjunction with the excavations. A section on the use of raw materials in the west of Scotland takes the coverage beyond Rhum, and the final section presents an interpretation of the site in the early settlement of Scotland.

Detailed information relating to the methods and results of analyses and the full accounts of specialist work are included in microfiche scans at the end of the chapter list.

Anatomy of an Iron Age Roundhouse

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Wheelhouses were Iron Age buildings of great sophistication. Although found only in northern Scotland, they belong to a much wider “roundhouse tradition” that, before the arrival of the Romans, covered the whole of Britain. When tidal erosion on Cnip beach in west Lewis uncovered a spectacularly well-preserved wheelhouse complex, it presented a rare opportunity to shed new light on the extraordinary architectural phenomenon. The uniquely detailed sequence at Cnip enabled the excavation team to trace the settlement from conception to abandonment, dissecting the buildings and generating new insights into the daily lives of the Iron Age islanders, their relationships with their environment, and with their neighbours. This volume sets out the results of the excavations, placing them in the wider context of the British and European Iron Age.

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This report provides an excellent source for readers to appreciate the archaeology in the Western Isles.

– Professor Niall Sharples (Antiquity)

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Canmore ID 4009

Darkness Visible

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The Sculptor’s Cave is one of the most enigmatic prehistoric sites in Britain. Excavated in the 1920s andâ€¯1970s, new analysis of the archive has revealed a complex history of funerary and ritual activity from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age. Using innovative methods and new techniques, this volume re-examines the results of earlier excavations and places the site in its wider British and European context.

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Winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Research Book of the Year 2021

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Armit and BÃ¼ster’s handsomely produced volume transports us back in time to both the late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age, revealing exciting new evidence for the treatment of the dead in both periods.

– Professor Gordon Noble (Current Archaeology, 2021 'Darkness Visible: the Sculptor’s Cave, Covesea, from the Bronze Age to the Picts')

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Darkness Visible is a valuable guide to a remarkable cave.

– Professor Benjamin Hudson (Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies XLIV: 2022)

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Canmore ID 1627

'Remember Now Thy Creator'

Naomi E A Tarrant (Author) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Embroidered samplers show the one aspect of girls’ education that leaves the most lasting and tangible memorial of that part of their lives. This book considers samplers made in Scotland; it aims to situate them within the social context of the period and to examine their role in the education of girls. The time span covers the first emergence of a specific Scottish style and ends with the introduction of the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act, which made schooling a local government responsibility and led eventually to downplaying the importance of sampler making. Girls in Scotland made samplers within a general British tradition, but some designs appear to have developed that are specifically Scottish, such as the use of red and green alphabets.

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Many questions [â€¦] are raised in this magnificent volume and the author’s analysis of the different elements in the samplers is superbly illustrated by the 121 full coloured plates. This is a very important volume for helping our understanding of the history behind these labours of love that some of us are privileged to own.

– Barbara Crawford (The Antiquaries Journal)

Remember Now Thy Creator certainly achieves Tarrant’s stated aim of showing how fascinating these samplers are as windows onto the social, religious, political and gendered history of Scotland.

– Sally Tuckett (Journal of Scottish Historical Studies)

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Culduthel

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Iron Age settlement at Culduthel (NGR: NH 664 414) is one of the most significant later prehistoric sites identified in mainland Scotland. Archaeological excavation in 2005 revealed a craftworking centre which had specialised in the production of iron, bronze and glass objects between the late 1st Millennium BC and early 1st Millennium AD. This volume combines illustrated catalogues of finds with expert analyses to offer a unique insight into manufacture, trade and exchange of an Iron Age community in north-east Scotland.

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‘[Culduthel] brings together 20 years of painstaking research into the finds to share extraordinary insights into life between 200 BC and AD 200 in the Moray Firth.’

– Susy Macaulay (Press and Journal, ‘Sophisticated, artistic, well-travelled: what the Culduthel dig tells us about pre-historic Highlanders’)

The Fortification of the Firth of Forth 1880–1977

Gordon J Barclay, Ron Morris (Author) — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Fortification of the Firth of Forth describes the story of the great Forth Fortress from 1880 to 1977, when the final traditional defensive capabilities were abandoned. The authors combine archival sources with new fieldwork and oral histories to not only describe what was built, but when and why.

This meticulously researched, richly illustrated volume relates the defences in the Forth to the wider political and military context and also describes the human side of the defences: the men and women who manned the fortress. This is a fascinating resource for those interested in Scottish military and naval history, and conflict and battlefield archaeology.

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A seamless study of an area long significant in naval history. [â€¦] The authors address a clearly defined but multi-faceted subject with perception, authority, and panache. Anyone with interests connected in any way with the subject will learn much by reading this volume.’

– Robert J C Mowat, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (volume 48)

‘[The authors] have to be congratulated on putting together a massive amount of research with informative text and numerous plans, charts and photographs. This book is a ‘must have’ for those interested in the recent archaeology, military or local history of this area.’

– Douglas Gray, Kinghorn Chronicle

A Fragmented Masterpiece

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Around AD 800, a superbly carved cross-slab was erected at Hilton of Cadboll in north-east Scotland. The major part of the stone now stands in the National Museum of Scotland, and the story of what happened to it in the intervening centuries is told here. Excavations at Hilton of Cadboll in 1998 and 2001 revealed not only fragments of the missing original carved face but also the lower portion of the stone still set into the ground, and this has allowed the art history of this magnificent Pictish monument to be assessed more fully than ever before.

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The ‘Pictish’ cross-slab from Hilton of Cadboll is one of the glories of the early Middle Ages. This comprehensive – art historical, theological, archaeological, historical and scientific – monumental biography locates its birth in the ecclesiastical structures and religious beliefs of late 8th-century Scotland.

– John Moreland, Medieval Archaeology (volume 54)

There could perhaps also have been more extensive coverage of the context in terms of the Early Historic political geography [â€¦] but none of this detracts from the epic nature of the volume and its important contribution to our understanding of this most complex and important fragmented masterpiece.

– Alice Blackwell, Scottish Archaeological Journal (volume 31.2)

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Canmore ID 15261

Bearsden

Fri, 29 May 2020 00:00:00 +0100

The demolition of Victorian villas in the 1970s led to an excavation of a Roman fort at Bearsden, near Glasgow, on the Antonine Wall, and the discovery of a Roman bath-house and latrine.

The bath-house is the tip of an archaeological iceberg. Over ten seasons a substantial portion of the Roman fort was examined and its history traced. Of particular importance was the discovery of sewage from the latrine which provided intimate details about the life of the soldiers at Bearsden, including their diet and hygiene.

The excavations were led by the principal author of this report, Professor David Breeze, formerly Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland. Over thirty-five specialists have contributed.

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[Bearsden] is a splendid and comprehensive publication that has greatly benefited from recent developments in analytical techniques, particularly in relation to bioarchaeological remains and artefactual evidence.
– Penelope Allison, Antiquity (issue 356)

[David Breeze] has now brought this project to completion with aplomb. The result is beautifully produced and thorough – now a rarity in excavation reports.
– Martin Millett, British Archaeology

This is what we should all be aiming for in terms of sheer quality, impact and readability.
– Jacqueline Cahill Wilson, The Journal of Irish Archaeology (volume XXV)

Portmahomack on Tarbat Ness

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0100

Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula overlooking the Dornoch Firth is a fishing village with a 1,500-year-old history. In the sixth and seventh century it was a high-ranking centre with monumental cist burials and links to the equestrian class in England. In the eighth century it was a monastery, creating manuscripts and making church vessels and a stunning repertoire of carved stone monuments, its monks looking to Ireland, western Scotland and Northern England for their intellectual alliances. Around 800 AD the monastery came to an end following a Viking raid, but swiftly revived as a manufacturing and trading centre, now serving the protagonists of the Norse-Scottish wars. By the eleventh century the site was abandoned, but was remembered again in the early twelfth century when it became the parish church of St Colman. In the later middle ages it experienced an upsurge of activity with fishermen and metalsmiths settling beside an enlarged community church. When the Reformation arrived at Portmahomack about 1600, the village moved to the harbour and the old church of St Colman remained on its own, acting for another four hundred years as a weathervane of local society and its beliefs. Rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1980s, from 1994 to 2007 the site at Portmahomack saw one of the largest research excavations to have taken place in Scotland.

Reviews

“Martin Carver’s ten-year programme of excavations at Portmahomack—the first large-scale investigation of an early medieval monastery in the kingdom of the Picts—has been in the vanguard of [Pictish archaeology] research, and the publication of the culminating monograph represents a major landmark in Pictish studies. [â€¦] Overall this is an expertly crafted volume that does full justice to the spectacular sequence of archaeology unearthed at Portmahomack. It will stand as an enduring legacy for the pioneering achievements of the underlying excavations, and serve as a vital guide for future studies of Pictish and medieval Scotland and the archaeology of Insular monasticism more generally.” – Dr Gabor Thomas, Antiquity (vol. 91)

“In Portmahomack Professor Carver and his co-authors admirably discharge the first duties of archaeological writing: to put the new evidence before us, to give it context and to make us think about itâ€¦It is a ‘must have’ book for students of early medieval society in Britain and Ireland. – Jerry O’Sullivan, Journal of Irish Archaeology (vol. 26)

“This eagerly awaited volume presents the final results of a project that has already transformed our understanding of the origins and development of early medieval monasticism in Pictland. [â€¦] The authors are to be congratulated on a stunning achievement.” – TomÃ¡s Ã“ CarragÃ¡in, The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 98)

The Scottish Antiquarian Tradition

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0100

For two hundred years the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has remained a major guardian of the heritage of the nation in its museum and through the long series of publications by its members that record many of the major discoveries about the early history of Scotland. In 1980 the Society celebrated the bicentenary of its foundation by commissioning this series of essays dealing with its history as the premier Scottish archaeological and historical body.