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METHOD NOTES 1 Purpose of this CD This CD is provided in order to demonstrate the depth of detail which underlies the development of the maps set out in Chapter 7: The landscape model. The preparation of a comprehensive gazetteer was an essential precursor to drawing up the landscape model but it was not the main aim of the study. By its very nature the gazetteer contains much repetition and chronologically irrelevant material. For this reason only relevant extracts have been included in the main body of the thesis. The full database is presented in this CD as supporting material only, in order to show the workings behind the information used in the thesis, and to set them in context. This electronic document is presented in seven sections as follows: Method Notes Raw data tables Burra Source Maps and Map Notes Houss Source Maps and Map Notes Trondra Source Maps and Map Notes Boundary Maps Large scale map of complex area The source of the contents and the relationship between the sections is explained below. 2 Outline An exercise was carried out to assess and update the known archaeological record for Burra, Houss and Trondra in order to provide a firm foundation for the landscape model which forms a major part of this thesis. A database was created in order to provide an integrated reference point for archaeological sites in the field. The previously known archaeological record for Burra, Houss and Trondra is spread over a number of national and local catalogues and two published surveys. These formed the initial sources of raw data and are described Page 1 METHOD NOTES below. Each catalogue contained a number of records. Each individual record might describe one site, or many. All sites mentioned in the different records of each catalogue were compared and cross- referenced. They were marked on a series of Source Maps which used Ordnance Survey maps as a base. Each site on each map was cross-referenced to a Map Note. The related Map Note listed the record number, the National Grid reference, the site classification and the site description from each catalogue in which that site was noted. All sites were examined in the field, with repeat visits carried out at different times of the year where initial examination had proved difficult. All sites were re-assessed in the light of recent research. In the course of field-walking a number of sites were discovered which had not previously been recorded. A separate record was created for each new site and these were gathered together into a separate catalogue, designated This Survey. The sites contained in this catalogue were added to the Source Maps, and the relevant information was added to the Map Notes. The Source Maps and the accompanying Map Notes were continually updated with information gathered during field-walking such as the condition of the monuments and any other observations which might assist in identifying their purpose and date. Some sites were found to have entered the record inappropriately and were discounted for the purposes of constructing the landscape model. Where this was necessary, the reasons for doing so were recorded in the Map Notes. The Source Maps and accompanying notes were then examined in order to assess how each site might relate to the thesis being examined. A brief discussion was added to the Map Notes, where pertinent. 3 Sources of data Two existing catalogues and two earlier surveys provided the initial data for the database. A separate catalogue was opened in respect of the field work carried out in This Survey. The two existing catalogues covered sites and monuments in Burra, Houss and Trondra. The National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) is held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). Page 2 METHOD NOTES RCAHMS records and interprets the sites, monuments and buildings of Scotland’s past. The local Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) is maintained by the Shetland Amenity Trust. The means by which these records were accessed is described in more detail below. Two separate surveys covering the study area had produced catalogues of sites. The earlier covered only Burra, and was carried out by Parry in 1977. This was subsequently edited and published by Hedges in 1984 (Hedges, 1984). During the 1990s a stand-alone coastal assessment survey of Burra, Houss and Trondra was carried out by EASE Archaeology (Moore and Wilson, 2001). Most – but not all – of the sites noted by these surveys had been incorporated into the two existing catalogues. Parry’s survey had concentrated on particular monuments which might be prehistoric, and later ones were not included. The published article included a catalogue of the sites discussed, and all the sites listed in this catalogue were subsequently incorporated into the NMRS and the SMR. However Parry had also noted a number of walls in the course of his survey. A small-scale map of these was included in the article (Fig. 2 in Hedges, 1984: 42) but only some of those illustrated had been entered in the catalogue which accompanied the article. The only record for the rest was the approximate position indicated on the small-scale map and a passing reference in the body of the article to the existence of stretches of boundary. For these reasons they were taken into the gazetteer by way of initial inclusion in This Survey’s catalogue. The EASE survey produced a catalogue of all sites and monuments in a 20 m strip along the coast. This included many known sites, but also identified a number of new ones. Not all of the sites identified were subsequently incorporated into either or both of the NMRS and the SMR, and so all the records contained in the survey catalogue were re- examined for the purposes of this study. A separate catalogue in respect of This Survey was drawn up. This included descriptions and surveys of all previously unrecorded sites and monuments which were noted in the course of fieldwork. These comprised walls noted on Hedges’ sketch map and a large number of stretches of boundaries on Houss, as well as a number of house sites and other features. The sources of raw data in the gazetteer may therefore be illustrated thus: Page 3 METHOD NOTES Parry’s survey Hedges’ article Own observation in the field This Survey Sites & SMR monuments in NMRS gazetteer EASE survey Figure 1: Derivation of raw data (Source: Lamb) All sites marked on the Source Maps may be traced to one or more of the four catalogues shown feeding directly into the gazetteer. The related Map Notes contain the site descriptions from these catalogues. 3.1 Classification of sites Two particular issues regarding classification arose but neither affects the conclusions of the main study because the main thesis required settlements and resources to be identified for discussion, and this entailed a site visit and assessment in every case. The gazetteer was developed in order to guide and record the associated work in the field. Firstly, the three existing catalogues had not been drawn up with reference to the same thesaurus of monument types. This has led to a slightly different usage of the same term in different catalogues. Differences between the catalogues were in practice easy to reconcile and examination in the field allowed the main thesis question to be addressed, namely whether the site in question represented evidence of settlement occupation. Within a single catalogue, it was often found to be the case that a single record would note alternate site types which on examination were seen to refer not to multiple features but to different interpretations of the same feature. Page 4 METHOD NOTES The second issue relates to the recent introduction of a new site thesaurus by RCAHMS which will undoubtedly become the industry standard within Scotland. Its introduction has led to a substantial review of NMRS records and resulted in the re-categorisation of a number of sites. To that extent, therefore, the NMRS classification information contained in this gazetteer may now be partially out-of-date. 3.2 National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) The Royal Commission Inventory of 1946 (RCAHMS, 1946) and the Ordnance Survey Antiquity record cards together provide the first systematic archaeological survey of the study area. These were supplemented by Calder’s work on “Neolithic” houses, cairns and burnt mounds in the 1950s and 1960s (Calder, 1956, 1963). In 1973 the NMRS was updated to include all roofed and unroofed structures shown on the first edition of Ordnance Survey maps dating to the early 1880s. The catalogue from Hedges’ 1984 article covering Parry’s 1977 survey was also incorporated. These sources together form the backbone of the records contained in the NMRS. Each site in the NMRS catalogue has a linked record and is identified by a unique number. It is referred to by that number in this study e.g. NMRS # HU33SE4. Information collected by RCAHMS in the course of its work, which includes specific programmes of record gathering, is transferred to the NMRS database in order to make it available to the public. The database contains details of many thousands of archaeological sites, monuments and buildings as well as maritime sites in Scotland, together with an index to the drawings, manuscripts and photographs in the Collections of the NMRS, held in Edinburgh. Periodically, it is updated to include information from local SMRs around Scotland. The database is web-based and searchable. New functions have since been added to the service but at the time the gazetteer was being compiled the NMRS database could be queried remotely, using either of two linked systems.

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