www.archaeologyscotland.org.uk ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018

Archaeology across landscapes The bigger picture

Protecting Reflections landscapes on a long career

Recording routeways Issue No 31 / Spring 2018 08 Got something to say? ISSN 2041-7039 Contents The next issue will be on the theme ‘Archaeology of Animals’, and you Published by Archaeology News Archaeology Scotland, are invited to submit articles relating to this. We also welcome articles Suite 1a, Stuart House, 04 From the Director on general topics, community Eskmills, Station Road, 05 Digging in projects, SAM events and research Musselburgh EH21 7PB 06 AGM; YAC Leaders; Community Tel: 0300 012 9878 projects, as well as members’ © Crown Copyright HES Email: info@archaeologyscotland. Conference letters. Members are particularly org.uk 11 encouraged to send letters, short Scottish Charity SC001723 articles, photos and opinions Company No. 262056 Archaeology across Landscapes relating to Scottish archaeology at any time for inclusion in our 08 Protecting Archaeological Landscapes ‘Members’ Section’. Cover picture 11 A Unified Landscape? Roads through Ross – sites 14 Roads through Ross strategically overlooking the route If you plan to include something were investigated © C McCullagh 17 Over the Hill in in the next issue, please contact 19 Revealing Gaelic Landscapes the editor in advance to discuss Edited and typeset by © HES 22 Battle of Carham 1018 requirements, as space is usually at Sue Anderson, a premium. We cannot guarantee Spoilheap Archaeology 14 to include a particular article in a [email protected] People, reviews particular issue, but we will do our very best to accommodate you! 24 A Career in Ruins Advertising sales 28 60 Second Interview – George Mudie High resolution digital images (300 Advertisers should contact the 30 Anglo-Saxons in Pictland dpi+) are preferred for publication. Archaeology Scotland offices in the Please include copyright details and first instance. a caption. © C McCullagh © Archaeology Scotland Contributions can be sent by post Copyright for text published in 17 24 to the Archaeology Scotland offices Archaeology Scotland magazine will or emailed direct to the Editor rest with Archaeology Scotland and (see opposite) marked ‘ArchScot the individual contributors. contribution’.

Views and opinions expressed within Please send your contributions by Archaeology Scotland magazine are 29 May 2018. not necessarily those of Archaeology Scotland, its Board or the Editor All copy may be edited for reasons © V Turner © N Fojut of length and clarity. A large print version of 19 30 Archaeology Scotland is available on request. Please contact the Find us on the Web Archaeology Scotland office for further information. www.archaeologyscotland.org.uk

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Pollok Park - a cold day in the trenches © Archaeology Scotland

elcome to the Spring We move south and westward to edition of your magazine St Kilda and where the Wlooking at Scotland’s importance of an understanding of archaeological landscapes; the Gaelic language is highlighted Digging in how they are protected and – this is very timely as Historic how we have come to a better Environment Scotland have just Pollok Park, 17th December understanding that they should completed a consultation on cold, dreich day in mid- Christmas morning, the animosity be seen as a whole rather than their Gaelic Language Plan. Also December saw three faded and a truce was called (and as individual sites. Access to timely are the reflections of Noel Archaeology Scotland staff re-enacted that afternoon), which information about our historic Fojut on his career – Noel was a A landscapes is improving all the and twelve enthusiastic volunteers saw the German and British soldiers supporter of our Rural Land Use from the Stobs Camp Project take meet in no-man’s land and share a time and Pastmap (pastmap.org. Adviser project for many years uk) is now being tested out to a bus from Hawick to Pollok Park in drink or two and sing some carols. and was heavily involved in the Glasgow to view the reconstruction be more mobile-friendly and to The wet conditions underfoot and creation of Our Place in Time – WW1 trenches of Digging In. include different mapping options the Historic Environment Strategy the raw cold of the day helped to including aerial photography, for Scotland. This brings us nicely There we sampled Christmas convey the misery of trench life, we mince pies made from war-time were spared the rats, the stench and OpenStreetMap and the Ordnance back to the mention in Lesley rations, and had a tour round the the dead bodies, but a vivid picture Survey first edition maps. All of Macinnes’ article of the Landscape Allied and the German trenches, was painted. these new features make it well and the Historic Environment – a worth exploring. with the chance to ask soldiers about We then went inside to a small, Common Statement prepared by their food and drink, the parcels The Roads through Ross the steering group of Our Place relatively dry, wooden hut and they received from home and other enjoyed a fascinating talk by our project has been uncovering in Time. This calls for a “unifying questions about life during the routeways that connected people approach to managing change Project Officer Andy Jepson about trench warfare of the First World life at Stobs Camp in the Scottish and places in Easter Ross – an in our landscape in ways which War. area previously thought to be maximise public benefit for present Borders during the First World War. The German soldiers were too far north for any significant and future generations” which is We had thawed out, pretty much, loudly confident of a spectacular roads before the modern period all well and good – the reality of by the time we all got home and victory, boasting of the greater – and moving further north to that is still work in progress but a great day was enjoyed by all. comfort and safety of their trench Shetland, we hear about the use something to which we can all Digging In is holding more events in of geoarchaeological coring and accommodation, and generally Pollok Park, and is well worth a visit. aspire and continue to push for. sneering at the inefficiencies and From the Director the challenges of carrying out See http://diggingin.co.uk for more NEWS SCOTLAND ARCHAEOLOGY backwardness of the ‘Tommies’ in watching briefs in peat-covered details. Eila Macqueen the trenches opposite. However, on landscapes. Director 4 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 5 news AGM and Members’ Day - Ardrossan YAC Leaders Workshop n Saturday, late e’ve been working in October last with the Council for Oyear, our AGM WBritish Archaeology’s and Members’ day was Young Archaeologists’ Club to held at the Civic Centre in help to raise awareness and Ardrossan. Not many visitors encourage people to think stop and explore the town, about becoming YAC Leaders. on the drive through it to Join the Young catch the ferry to the Isle of Archaeologists’ Club and Arran, but on this occasion Home Front Legacy teams a good 40 Archaeology for two workshops bringing Scotland members, as well together colleagues from as local people, came community groups, heritage for the day to enjoy our organisations, and those programme and explore working with young people Ardrossan Castle. Most across Scotland. Find members had probably out about YAC and the only seen it from a distance opportunities it offers young but never close up. This people in our first workshop day, however, provided the and learn more about how opportunity to do so. young people can get involved The Black Watch Hospital © ????? Dr Kevin Grant from in Archaeology Scotland’s Heritage Hero Awards, and Historic Environment This year’s Heritage Heroes at the AGM © Archaeology Scotland your place please visit the Scotland, an Ardrossan be inspired to record the First workshop’s Eventbrite page for native, provided us with The morning’s investigations on site and World War Home Front in more information and to book the opening presentation, programme concluded took us round the surviving your local area during the your place. Eventbrite booking afternoon. which was an enjoyable and with the presentation of walls and elements of the form: https://tinyurl.com/ engaging tour through the Heritage Hero Certificates castle. It was interesting to This workshop will take yaf4c9h4 subject of his PhD based to well-deserving and discuss their future ambitions place at The Engine Shed, enthusiastic young people Jennifer Thoms, Archaeology on the archaeology of and the difficulties they on 24th March 2018. who had participated in To find out more and book Scotland the Hebrides in the early experience in clearing the 19th century. Our second the investigations into the first parish church in ground and preserving the speaker was Archaeology site at a time of decreasing Scotland Board member Ardrossan as well as the Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference budgets, especially while Tessa Hill, who talked about Castle Carnival. It is always the possibilities of us helping a pleasure to celebrate sheltering beneath the 017 was the Year of History, Heritage projects. This year it was expanded to a two our society by leaving a the achievements of young barrel-vaulted roof of the and Archaeology – the perfect excuse day event and packed in keynote lectures, legacy in our wills. It may be people during our AGM castle kitchen during a 2to hold an extra special celebration talks, training workshops and guided walks something we have never programme and especially down-pour. of the achievements of community heritage by participants from Scotland, England, to share them with their and archaeology! We have been proud Wales, Bulgaria, America and more. A total thought about or acted upon Next October, come with families and friends. We project partners (along with Historic of 198 delegates attended the conference, – but we could do so. Our us to Dundee and explore can publicly appreciate their Environment Scotland and others) of with 102 participants speaking about their local hosts, the Ardrossan another part of Scotland that Castle Heritage Society gave effort, value their work, and Scotland’s Community Heritage Conference projects. Highlights for us included sharing might not be familiar to you. the morning’s concluding hopefully inspire them to since its inception in 2012, and 2017 saw our work on Stobs Camp and hearing from talk about the history of their develop their interests and Come and meet members, the event held for the first time in Glasgow. Scottish Waterways Trust canal college society and its achievements, skills. trustees, friends and The Conference remains a unique gathering project (of which we play a small part!). Like and prepared us with images The Ardrossan strangers, and take part in within the UK due its core commitment other delegates, we left the event with our and information for the Castle Heritage Society one of our regular activities. to give community groups a platform brains buzzing with ideas! afternoon guided tour. members showed us their You will be very welcome. to present and discuss their community Cara Jones, Archaeology Scotland

6 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 7 features Protecting Archaeological Landscapes hen the first Ancient Monuments Act Air Force. Later, the value of this aerial remains of complex patterns of past land- was passed in 1882, the focus was coverage was demonstrated by Kenneth use. Today, understanding, conserving and Won preserving famous monuments, St Joseph, whose own wartime experience managing Scotland's landscapes is recognised such as Edinburgh Castle and Maes convinced him that aerial photography had as a multi-faceted endeavour, necessarily Howe tomb. Because the nation's heritage a vital role in discovering and analysing involving a range of partners and agencies. was still largely an unknown quantity, in archaeological sites. Since then, the For example, Historic Environment Scotland, 1908 RCAHMS was established to make accumulating mosaic of cropmark sites, Scottish Natural Heritage and the National an Inventory of Scotland’s ‘monuments many subsequently excavated, have Trust for Scotland, working together in the and constructions’. For many decades, revealed the density and longevity of Strategic Historic Environment Forum, have RCAHMS systematically recorded individual prehistoric and later use of the Scottish recently published Landscape and the Historic monuments – its magisterial inventories are lowlands. The National Collection of Environment – A Common Statement. the bedrock of the National Record today. Aerial Photography, cared for by Historic However, the main legislation in place to We have come a long way since then. Environment Scotland, now contains millions protect monuments, The Ancient Monuments Today we understand that the real of images and the potential for aerial and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, is still significance of Scotland's archaeology photography to illuminate millennia-long aimed at individual sites, even where they lies in our diverse, dynamic and often change in all types of landscape is well form part of wider archaeological landscapes well-preserved landscapes, shaped over known. (the ‘Archaeological Areas’ part of the 1979 millennia by the interaction between people Extensive field surveys took place in the Act was never enacted in Scotland). Some and their environment. Over the past 1980s and 90s in response to landscape- scheduled areas are quite extensive, but 10,000 years, every part of Scotland – from scale threats, such as afforestation schemes, are normally still focused on a single period remote hilltop to fertile plain, from inland and as part of research projects, often or a single extensive site. Archaeological glen to stormy coastline – has been shaped run by universities. In 1990, RCAHMS landscapes usually lack boundaries – almost and moulded by its people. No part of published its first archaeological landscape by definition – while effective statutory Scotland is without its human story. survey, of north-east Perth. By now it had protection depends on defining the extent Scotland was comprehensively abandoned the area-based inventories, of a site. Moreover, the 1979 Act aims to photographed from the air in the Second recognising that monuments form part protect monuments of national importance, World War, including by the German of landscapes, which often include the whereas not all elements in an archaeological

The heart of Neolithic © Crown Copyright HES

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Scottish territorial waters, usually historic shipwrecks whose remains can be scattered across a tract of seabed. As for scheduled monuments, the aim is to preserve the historic asset and it is an offence to remove or disturb material in the protected area. Conservation areas normally identify an area of buildings of architectural or historic importance, but very occasionally relate Glen Shiel Military Road © Crown Copyright HES to an archaeological landscape. An example is landscape may be nationally Gardens and Designed the Brodgar conservation important. It also aims to Landscapes. These are area in Orkney, focused on preserve sites as far as nationally important grounds the world-famous prehistoric possible in the form in which which were intentionally laid landscape around the A Unified Landscape? they have come down to us, out for artistic effect. By their Ring of Brodgar, Stones which is rarely practicable very nature, gardens and of Stenness and Maes Bonawe, Argyll, showing the Iron Furnace surrounded by oak woodlands © Crown Copyright HES for an extensive area of designed landscapes evolve Howe tomb. This same landscape. and cannot be preserved in area forms the core of the ost readers will be aware that there Even basic topography has been affected by is a wide range of archaeological activities like quarrying, from the local and In short, the 1979 Act aspic, but Inventory gardens World Heritage Site known features that can be found small-scale winning of resources throughout is an excellent tool for are a material consideration as the Heart of Neolithic M throughout Scotland’s varied landscape, recognising and protecting in the planning process – Orkney, which means it is history to modern super-quarries. from all periods of our rich past. Most our most important which offers some protection recognised as a cultural Information about the wealth of Scotland’s against inappropriate site of outstanding universal notably perhaps, these include the scattered archaeological and historic landscapes can archaeological assets (there remains of settlements, field systems and development. value. traditionally be found in national and local are around 8,200 scheduled burials; the extensive and highly evocative This patchwork of historic environment and historical records, monuments in Scotland Similar arrangements cleared settlements of the post-medieval designation types and some of it identified and recorded by local today), and it encourages exist for the 40 sites in period; the distinctive designed landscapes mechanisms may not be authorities, owners and the Inventory of Historic of the 17th–19th centuries; the extensive community groups; much of this can now the perfect way to protect land managers to manage Battlefields, which was set footprints of industrialisation and transport be accessed through Pastmap (pastmap. scheduled sites carefully. But up in 2011. Again, only Scotland’s archaeological org.uk). A fairly recent and comprehensive landscapes, but it reflects links; and the remnants of periods of it is not designed to protect, battlefields of national conflict, from the often impressive remains source of information on the historic for example, an extensive significance are included in both the diversity of the dimension of landscape in its widest sense archaeological resource of the Roman invasion, through our tract of upland studded with the Inventory and they are varied battlefields to the still remembered is the Historic Land-use Assessment (HLA), multi-period settlements, afforded some protection and the differing degree which can be accessed and interrogated to which different types of construction of the Defence of Britain. field systems and other through the planning At the same time there is much that is through HLAmap (hlamap.org.uk). In this remains. process. historic asset are vulnerable. digital age other key sources of data can It represents a proportionate less well-known and less visible, such as In recent years area- There are now eight also often be found online, including the response to protecting our the numerous crop-marks in the lowland based designations have Historic Marine Protected invaluable first edition OS maps (maps.nls. rich heritage on the one zone; or less widely recognised, such as been developed for several Areas, the first of which uk). Together this information provides an hand and managing change the impact of human interventions on specific types of historic was designated in 2013. on the other. vegetation, for example woodland planted excellent starting point for anyone wishing asset. There are over 300 These identify historic assets or managed to support human activity or as to find out about the history of their local entries in the Inventory of of national importance in Olwyn Owen part of the policies of designed landscapes. landscape and investigate its diversity.

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This information about the historic and archaeological impact on landscape is helpful not only to those interested in archaeology, but also to those engaged with the landscape more broadly, as it adds the historic dimension to other landscape records, particularly those relating to natural heritage. While the archaeological and natural aspects of landscape are the responsibility of different national organisations (respectively Historic Environment Scotland (HES) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)), and are usually managed separately, in reality they often share the same physical space. A good example of this can be seen at Scott’s View in the , a viewpoint which became popular as a spot favoured by Sir . It is famous for its views across Melrose to the Eildon Hills, a spectacular area protected for its scenic and natural landscape qualities. It is well- known that the view takes in Melrose Abbey, a monument in State Care, but it is perhaps less widely appreciated that the perspective also contains many less obvious elements of the area’s past, including designed landscapes and conservation areas, the monumental Iron Age hill fort of Eildon Hill North, the extensive Roman military complex at Newstead and numerous archaeological cropmarks. In similar vein, the oak woodland at View to Eildon Hills, Scottish Borders © Historic Environment Scotland Bonawe in Argyll, now a National Nature agencies at both national and local levels. Charter. Over the years there have been put into practical effect, particularly in the Reserve because of its outstanding natural positive developments in planning, with the heritage, was originally planted in the The first Statement of Intent between context of major developments. While 18th century for the Bonawe Iron Furnace, Historic Scotland (now HES) and SNH holistic concept of place-making seeking recognising intellectually that the landscape now managed by HES, and forms an that recognised the mutual relationship to improve our living environments in an is more than the sum of its parts is still integral part of the historic landscape of between the natural and cultural landscape integrated way; and in land management, difficult to translate into active decision the industrial age. In practical terms a heritage was agreed over 20 years ago, with recognition of the importance of making, current collaboration is helping to landscape valued for its natural heritage and the period since then has seen much landscape in Scotland’s Land-use Strategy. move us further towards a unified approach and one valued for its archaeological or collaboration in policy and practice. For Most recently, the relationship between to landscape characterisation, planning, cultural heritage is most often one and the example, SNH, HES and local authorities landscape and the historic environment protection and management. Developing same landscape looked at from different have worked closely together on policies has been strengthened through the work of this integrated approach is surely the perspectives. for protected landscapes including National the Strategic Historic Environment Forum, corollary of recognising the underlying unity Of course, the synergy between the Parks and National Scenic Areas; on the as expressed in Landscape and the Historic of Scotland’s landscape and the ultimate historic and natural landscape has long application of the European Landscape Environment – A Common Statement. aim of those of us interested in its past, been recognised, both by practitioners Convention in Scotland; and, with others, It is important that policies for an present and future. in each field and also by the responsible on developing Scotland’s Landscape integrated approach to landscape are Lesley Macinnes

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of a thoroughfare of approximately 50km, connecting a network of antiquated Roads through Ross routeways in Easter Ross. Whilst there is no single linear feature spanning the entire route, its trajectory can be picked up in the repeated occurrence of a suite of consistent characteristics, most often preserved in woodland. Some of these fragments remain as upstanding features comprising a double-embanked level surface, between 5–11m in width. In some places, the route is preserved by field boundaries or modern roads, in others it is revealed through appearances in historic records and old maps. The project’s participants have also considered associated sites and features along the routeway, exploring possible connections that might point to the antiquity of the network. Numerous medieval castles and later ‘grand’ houses sit directly along or very close to the route, suggesting that it might have been a primary avenue through the former Province of Ross. Indeed, the topography of some sections indicates pre- modern construction and use. The fragment running from the high ground boundary of the parishes of Dingwall and Foulis, across the strath of the Peffery, climbs steep hillsides, suggesting deliberate avoidance of the area around present-day Dingwall, believed to have been an impassable, tidal marshland until the later medieval period. Volunteers carried out plane table and measured survey © Cait McCullagh One poignant outcome of the project’s nderstanding the ways that people substantive roadmaking north of Inverness is examined historic maps, aerial photographs, investigations has been the identification have travelled across Easter Ross’ unlikely to predate the modern period, RTR and archives, following-up findings through of the coffin road between Mulbuie and U‘Firthlands’ illuminates the complex participants believe they have found: traditional methods including field visits Fodderty, surviving as a zig-zag upstanding history of this region. From 2008 to 2011 • a new monument class of early roadways and creating measured survey plans. They feature on Knockfarrel Hill, above Fodderty the North of Scotland Archaeological and increased understanding of the have also experimented in the realms of Cemetery. Whilst surveying, participants Society’s (NOSAS) Roads through Ross- creation, use and abandonment of relict archaeological imagination, including chatted with residents in the area, who shire (RTR) Project has been investigating routeways in Northern Scotland coordinating the RTR glow – an exploration shared with them the local knowledge that numerous fragments of overgrown or • connection to a medieval pilgrimage of inter-visibility between promontory this feature comprises the remains of a road ploughed-over routeways connecting route features overlooking the route – which created to unite the deceased members passages between ancient and historic • the prospect of a persistent saw participants flashing torches at timed, of the Strathconon community, cleared sites, many of which cross now long-lost communication route from Tarradale to recorded intervals across the Ross-shire to the disparate townships of Mulbuie burns, rivers and sea crossings. They reveal Tain, abraded over time night skies. and Loch Ussie in the 1800s, in a shared a network of relict routeways traversing The project has adopted various The RTR investigators have interpreted burial ground at Fodderty. This recording Easter Ross from the Beauly to Dornoch approaches, exploring both the route and and recorded a linear sequence of double of little-known intangible cultural heritage Firths. Challenging received opinion that its wider landscape. Participants have embanked features that may be the remains associated with the otherwise curious

14 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 15 features Over the Hill volunteers – together to explore the existence of early routes in their local landscape. Collaboratively they have identified the remains of a fragmentary early road system, opening the proposed route for further investigation to elucidate dating, character and uses. Cait McCullagh, Cathy MacIver and A. Mackenzie, AOC Archaeology All involved give great thanks to our funders The Hugh Fraser Trust and The Robert Kiln Trust.

The Coffin Road on the slopes of Knockfarril © C McCullagh Find out more... landmark was one of many such discoveries Visit the project webpage hosted by the in this community-based project. Historic Environment Record: Some areas of the route may be related http://her.highland.gov.uk/SingleResult. to medieval pilgrimaging. The King’s aspx?uid=%27THG6371%27 LinearLinear DevelopmentsDevelopments andand ArchaeologyArchaeology inin ShetlandShetland Causeway is a scheduled section of a broad More details can also be found in Discovery cobbled roadway with ditches running either Neolithic site at Firth’s Voe under excavation © V. Turner and Excavation in Scotland vol. 12, for 2011, side. Dated to c.1527 in the Old and New or search DES Online. henever I am asked to provide an and developer work together to move Statistical Accounts, the cobbling of the archaeological constraint map for development, perhaps by as little as a route is described as necessary for James Wany part of Shetland, I have to resist few metres, to avoid any impact on the IV’s peregrination to the Sanctuary of Saint the temptation just to follow the coastline. archaeology. We help developers to Duthus, Tain, a pilgrimage destination Shetland is so rich in archaeological microsite development as far as possible, that may have earlier sacral origins. The remains that it could almost be considered and have had particularly good success accounts infer the augmentation of a pre- a single, island-sized, site. Looking at the working with Scottish and Southern existing route across the marshy ground in Sites and Monuments Record, a developer Energy on projects large and small, where this area, later depicted on Sangster’s Map might take issue with that point of view, for fencing sites off during development and of Tain, c.1750. there are also large areas with no recorded micrositing, combined with having an ‘RTR Glow’ enabled participants to explore sites. It is a myth, borne of enthusiasm, that archaeologist on site, has meant that the the idea that elevated, multi-phase sites it is possible to see, and indeed trip over, all unexpected has rarely happened. The most may have been used during one snapshot of Shetland’s archaeology – although this difficult features to protect are the prehistoric period, ‘remembered’ in the route’s is certainly the case where the peat cover is dykes which often extend for miles across trajectory, even though it may have been light. Often, the visible survival of prehistoric the hills. Cutting through them is frequently later abraded. Standing at designated houses and field boundaries in the unavoidable, and section drawing, with soil spots in the landscape, participants landscape is second to none, and ancient sampling should buried ground surfaces flashed coordinated lights, visually linking dykes can regularly be seen disappearing be revealed, is generally the best we can strategic sites overlooking the routeway, into the peat, re-emerging at intervals. achieve. recreating their proposed inter-visibility, However, the apparently ‘empty’ areas are, Perhaps the biggest challenges are and the significance of the sites’ locations. invariably, upland where the peat can be linear developments which cross previously Participants new to archaeological 5–7 metres deep. undeveloped hillsides. In recent years investigation were fully engaged in this The Archaeology Service at Shetland there has been an increase in this type imaginative event. Amenity Trust works hard with developers to of development, as wind farms have The project brought people with diverse minimise the risk of unexpected discoveries gained in popularity. However, it was levels of interest – including experienced Sections of double embanked route were preserved in woodland © occurring during development. Micrositing TOTAL’s development of a gas plant, with archaeologists and newly interested Cait McCullagh is the process whereby the archaeologist its associated road and pipeline, which

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watching brief. It also survey, provided to the archaeologists by highlighted suitable areas the developer, had missed a localised for fuller environmental deeper pocket of peat. As a result, both sites coring. This was carried were completely excavated and both have out by Bob McCulloch, proved important to our understanding of University of Stirling, whose Shetland’s earliest settlers. core at Garths Voe identified The site on the pipeline, Firth’s Voe, was a a thick layer of coarse beach Neolithic House dating to c.3400–3100 cal sand and silt under 2.5m of BC. Although the walls had been reduced peat, which in turn overlaid to a discontinuous single course by stone peat deposits incorporating robbing, possibly in the Neolithic, and 20th- waterlogged wood. This century wartime reuse of the platform, the has been interpreted as in situ floor deposits were well preserved. Prehistoric landscape at the Loch of Kellister (with modern ‘planticrubs’) © V. Turner marine inundation during As might have been wished for, there were the Storegga tsunami in dense scatters of plain pottery, carbonised enabled us, working area being examined cores c.6200–6000 cal BC plant remains and worked quartz (flint with Orkney-based were taken on a 20 x 25m (McCulloch 2011: 8; Core does not occur naturally in Shetland and archaeological contractors staggered grid in order to SC2, illus 1). quartz is frequently used as an alternative). Alette Katenburg undertaking peat coring © V. Turner ORCA, to develop and test get the best coverage. In the event, two sites Unusually, the finds included 271 pieces a methodology for dealing The sediments were were excavated during the of felsite, a stone rarely recovered from with such sites. cists, one of which contained three felsite examined in the field for development. The first was early prehistoric domestic sites in Shetland. axes and evidence of 35 pottery vessels Once the standard artefacts, archaeological already recorded by the Torben Ballin believes that the discoveries which had held barley and some quartz walkover and Desk Based indicators (eg charcoal) or Shetland SMR (HER) but may represent the re-working of felsite debris. There were a further three cairns, as Assessment had been soil changes which were could not be avoided due to tools, rather than being a workshop for the well as several dykes, which were interpreted completed, it was clear that potentially anthropogenic. the limited flexibility of the manufacture of traditional blanks and tools. as an enclosure for keeping livestock. The conventional geophysical Subsequently, samples were gas pipe. The second was It is also possible that the debitage resulted most recent feature on the site was a heel- survey would not be effective also wet sieved. This did not found during the watching from just a few knapping episodes. All the shaped cairn, which partly overlay the house in areas where the peat conclusively identify any new brief and lay within the activities represented were spatially discreet, and contained pottery and felsite, though no was over 4m deep or sites, but it highlighted areas footprint of the gas plant with an emphasis on the entrance way to bone survived. Radiocarbon dating evidence where it was treacherously itself. It had not been of particular significance the house, suggesting a desire to maximise suggests this was constructed after 2025– boggy, or where peat- found during the augering and helped inform the the available light, although the door was 1880 cal BC. cutting had created an subsequent archaeological because the peat depths north-facing. Overall, this evidence suggests irregular surface covered that this was a domestic house in which Both sites have shed valuable new light on in ‘cliffs’ up to 0.75m high. lithic working took place. The authors of the domestic and funerary practices in Neolithic Alette Kattenberg, at that forthcoming report, Daniel Lee and Dave Shetland. Crooksetter, in particular, could time the geophysicist with Reay, have suggested that the house might have easily been missed without the ORCA, recommended have been occupied seasonally, over a vigilance of those carrying out the watching geoarchaeological coring period of 200–300 years, with three distinct briefs. Landscape-scale developments in these areas, which she phases of occupation. have high potential to supplement the Archaeological Record for Shetland. They had previously used in the The site under the peat, at the Hill help to populate those areas which long Netherlands. of Crooksetter, revealed a sequence of experience has taught us are in fact rarely The geoarchaeological Neolithic / Bronze Age structures. An early ‘empty’. coring was carried out using Neolithic house forms part of a small-scale hand augering equipment early Neolithic settlement, with several The results of the two excavations will be along the centre line of the secure radiocarbon dates all within the published in a forthcoming volume about 40m pipeline corridor, with range 3610–3515 BC. In the early Bronze the Neolithic of Northern Britain by Colin coring being conducted Age, the site was reused for the construction Richards and Vicki Cummings. every 25m. In the case of an Linda Sutherland excavating one of the chambered cairns, Crooksetter © V. Turner of a series of monuments, including two Val Turner, Shetland Archaeological Trust

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Revealing Gaelic Landscapes bard Alasdair MacMhaistair everyday activity along the to the previous pattern. in the Hebrides Alasdair (translated by coastline. This physical change in the Gordon Barr, 2010). landscape would have been The poem is set in Loch Landscape, symbolism, a real manifestation of a Aoineart, and provides and metaphor well-understood symbolic many clues to how local Landscapes can also be connection between a people may have interacted imbued with symbolism flourishing landscape and with this landscape and and metaphor. A common rightful leadership. seascape. The passage metaphorical aspect of Another commonly below appears in a section landscape within Gaeldom understood symbol is that of setting out the role of the was that the land would the Galley or Birlinn, which crew: flourish under rightful represents the ‘ship of state’ Dh’ òrdaicheadh don toiseach leadership and wither of the clan – the chief at fear-eòlais. without it. On St Kilda, at the helm with his clansmen Eireadh màirnealach `na the end of the 18th century at the oars. In early 19th- sheasamh the factor William MacNeil century Loch Aoineart such Suas don toiseach demanded increased `S dèanadh e dhuinn eòlas medieval galleys were seasmhach payments in milk and long gone, but the modern Cala a choisneas. butter, which temporarily vessels which arrived in the changed how cattle were Look-out is ordered to the front. bay to collect kelp would Let a mariner rise up at the managed on the islands. have represented a world of front and let him set up After his departure, the older English-speaking merchants An Gleann Mòr St Kilda. Traditionally cattle would be taken into this Glen in summer, but rents demands by successive factors would for us reliable information order of the landscape and which was inaccessible to alter how the landscape was used and experienced. © K. Grant about reaching a harbour. management of the beasts most ordinary Gaels, and and crops on it returned could only be engaged with andscape can be defined and many of us will have seen the monumental The language used in the understood in many different ways. In my remains of feannagan, or lazy-beds, in poem offers us a clue about Lown research into the landscapes of early the Western Isles. Reading these remains landscape. Fear-eòlais is 19th-century St Kilda and Loch Aoineart, is a key tool for landscape archaeology. translated here as ‘look- South Uist, I have found that understanding However, for people in the past these out’ but I would suggest Gaelic language and culture is key to physical impacts on the landscape could a closer reading of the understanding the lives and landscapes of also represent personal meaning and Gaelic suggests something past communities. Both locations were home memory. In a song recorded by a collector else. Fear means a man, but eòlais translates as to Gaelic-speaking communities engaged in on St Kilda in the 1830s the author knowledge or familiarity. subsistence farming to feed themselves, and describes recognising the spadework of Fear-eòlais is a pilot, not a economic activity intended to raise money her husband within the peats placed on the look-out – someone who to pay rent such as cattle farming, seabird hearth. The archaeologist passing a peat knows the dangers, not fowling, and kelping. Although different in bank may understand its function but will someone trying to spot many ways, both communities were part never recognise a loved one in the marks of a wider Gaelic culture that shaped their them. This small detail left by the tairsgeir, the peat-cutting spade. suggests that the people understanding of the landscapes in which In this way routine practice could encode they lived and worked. Drawing on material who lived in Loch Aoineart personal meaning and communal memory had an incredibly detailed from Gaelic oral tradition and culture, I into the landscape. want to consider three ways in which we knowledge of the hazards might reveal how people experienced and Gaelic oral tradition and culture can of the loch and knew how imagined landscape. contain clues which tell us about local to guide a vessels safely people’s connection to their landscape. through its channels. This Landscape and Routine Practice One of the most important and famous intimate understanding of Repeated human activity can literally Gaelic poems is Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill the landscape is evidence North Loch Aoineart, South Uist. Evidence for human activity lies all over the landscape inscribe the landscape with meaning – (The Galley of Clanranald) by 18th-century of continuing, frequent, and – feannagan, fish traps, dykes, landing places. © K. Grant

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Find out more... through the clan elite such as the estate’s Visit the website for more details on how factors and administrators. Such ships to get involved, and to find out about the would therefore be a real-life symbol of battle re-enactment on 7th–8th July 2018: the wealth of the Clan chief. Here again www.carham1018.org.uk Battle of Carham 1018 we see living metaphors in the landscape reflecting economic and political reality. The landscape of the otherworld An ever-present part of the landscape of Gaeldom was that of the otherworld – something which is almost impossible to identify through archaeology alone. On St Kilda, documentary sources identify a large boulder as Clach a’ Bhainne – ‘the Milk Stone’. This entirely natural feature was used to leave offerings of milk for the gruagach, ‘the long-haired one’, similar to the Brownie of Scots folk-lore. Such milk stones occur across the Highlands, where offerings of milk were commonly thought to maintain the health of the herd which provided it. The stone gives Was a crossing of the between Birgham (‘bridge settlement’, left) and Carham (right) the focus of the battle in 1018 that confirmed the river as the national boundary? © J. Dent us clues as to how the wider landscape was understood and used – it lies along ‘ham’ place name and the site’s location on a route walked daily by the women in the he Carham 1018 Society is celebrating Arnhem (1944) amply testify. the millennium of the event which the margins of a known royal estate, since summer months to milk the cows kept A bridge would also explain why in 1290 confirmed Lothian – including the the cost of works on such a scale would in Gleann Mhòr on the other side of the T Birgham was chosen as the diplomatic present Borders – as part of Scotland as require the kind of resources that only a island. This area was therefore one of meeting place where representatives of a result of the victory of the combined Scotland and England concluded the treaty wealthy landowner could provide. transition between the village and the armies of Malcolm II of Alba and Owen more remote landscape of Gleann Mhòr, agreeing that Margaret, granddaughter and The church of St Cuthbert at Carham the Bald of Strathclyde over that of the Earl heiress of king Alexander III was to marry occupies the site of an Augustinian priory and was often associated with cattle. of Northumbria. The date of the battle, the Edward of Caernarvon, son of King Edward founded by Walter Espec after 1131 at a Such locations in the landscape are identity of the Earl and the location of the I of England. Her untimely death and the reputed resting place of the saint’s coffin frequently connected with the otherworld battle are open to dispute, but place names in Gaeldom, showing how routine activity and archaeology suggest that a thousand destructive wars that followed could explain on its journey from Lindisfarne to Durham. in the physical landscape can influence years ago Carham possessed a special why no bridge survived to receive specific The site of the chapel of St Mary Magdalene the landscape of the otherworld. strategic importance which drew the armies mention in subsequent histories. at Birgham, recorded in 1250, is now represented by a shallow depression in the Trying to understand how people in there. In Yorkshire in 1982 evidence of an early bridge was found that confirmed the graveyard beside the lane that terminates the past understood their landscapes is Carham sits on the Northumberland on the north bank of the Tweed opposite highly challenging for archaeologists. bank of the River Tweed opposite the name origin of the neighbouring village of Brigham. There, a gravel causeway 300 Carham church. The river has meandered Luckily for post-medievalists, we often Berwickshire village of Birgham and both much in the past thousand years and has settlements have ‘ham’ names which argue metres long crossed the valley of the River have the words of the people of past cut a channel right up to the rocks on which for an early Anglian foundation, perhaps Hull and at the waterside archaeologists communities as a source of evidence. In Carham church stands, though in 1018 it my experience, a critical understanding in the 7th century AD. Of the two it is excavated a two-phase oak pile structure with its origins dated by tree rings to AD may have flowed closer to Birgham village. of Gaelic oral tradition is essential Birgham – Brycgham in earlier forms – that 657. Two centuries or so later it had been Should any remains of a bridge still survive to unravelling the past landscape of is particularly significant, since it means rebuilt and in the process many tools and beneath later flood deposits, they are Scotland’s Highlands and Islands. ‘bridge settlement’. Throughout history river crossings have been fought over, as wood offcuts had settled on the river bed, perhaps most likely to be located close to Kevin Grant, Historic Environment the battles of the bridges at Milvian (312), along with key dating evidence in the form the track which may once have linked the Scotland Stamford Bridge (1066), Stirling (1297), of a ‘Viking’ sword. The 7th-century date two churches. Cropredy (1644), Arcole (1796) and for the initial construction fits well with the John Dent

22 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 23 people A Career in Ruins a life on the digging circuit was not for In the late 80s a sabbatical to the ‘real’ new source of funding, was not actually me, so took a job as a trainee auditor. In civil service saw me working in health the primary objective. The thinking was 1980 I decided to have one last try and, policy, including emergency planning. I that, by attaching a significant business if I got nowhere, to relegate archaeology participated in the last-ever bunker exercise cost to disturbing archaeology, risk-averse to a hobby. SDD(HBM) – as Historic in preparation for nuclear war. In that grim developers would be encouraged to avoid Scotland’s predecessor was called – called imaginary world, I enlisted Orkney-based it. No-one reckoned on how cheaply me for interview. A bit of a surprise, until it archaeologists for a variety of unpleasant excavation work would rank alongside transpired they wanted someone who (a) tasks. Just a few years later, the Cold War other development costs. To some extent, could use maps and (b) was comfortable became history, and our lair in Fife opened today’s workforce of paid, planning- with numbers. Soon I found myself to the public as ‘Scotland’s Secret Bunker’. led archaeologists was an unintended wandering the wilds of Sutherland, mapping That experience sparked a lasting interest in consequence. Though by no means a bad out areas to be left unplanted as the Forestry how ‘stuff’ becomes ‘heritage’. one, since it’s hard to see what other system would have delivered the sheer volume Commission ploughed up the landscape. Returning to Historic Scotland, I looked of new discoveries over the past third of a I’ve been back recently; those trees have all after several thematic interests – forestry century – certainly not state funding, with all been harvested… that really makes a chap again, but also other aspects of rural land the other calls upon it. feel old! management, including liaison with Ministry In 1982 my basic accountancy training of Defence (which meant sight of the only I spent about a decade in charge of became useful, when I took on the co- ‘Secret’ file of my career – sorry, but if I told scheduling, which was a great way of seeing Noel Fojut retired in January after more than ordination of rescue archaeology funding, you…). a huge range of Scotland’s archaeology. which until then had involved different In the days before a dedicated scheduling 40 years working in Scottish archaeology I took on historic shipwrecks briefly, colleagues looking after separate budgets. team, each inspector offered a number of and heritage more widely. We asked him to when responsibility moved to the heritage Even when co-ordinated, the ‘Rescue proposals towards an annual target: my job reflect on his long career… agencies from the Department of Transport, Programme’ was a strange creature: was to ensure common standards, crack the I think in 1991. (Which gave me the only cquaintances used to ask my late without any external advice, the inspectors whip and make up the inevitable shortfall call I ever had to brief 10 Downing Street mother if I was still in archaeology, or sat in a room and made pitches for their with a frantic round of site visits in the – but that’s a story for another time). Last if I’d ‘got a proper job yet’. I’m not pet projects, my job being to balance the middle of the winter. A but not least, I found myself involved with sure I ever provided Mum with a convincing books without obviously favouring my own community archaeology, which at that time Itchy feet got the better of me again, answer. So here goes. pets (though a few digs in Shetland did and I headed off to Strasbourg, to spend was not something which HS was greatly I became an archaeologist by accident. creep in…). We engaged a motley crew 2004 at the Council of Europe drafting involved with. Matters rural and community- Studying geology and geography at of academic staff, freelancers and units to what became the European Framework shaped became very special to me – and Aberdeen University, I fancied myself as direct projects, and my new duties included Convention on the Value of Heritage for retirement is already offering opportunities a future academic. My lecturers included oversight of the former Central Excavation Society – the Faro Convention for short. This to pick these interests up again. a young research fellow attached to the Unit, which went on to become AOC was the first serious international attempt geography department, Ian Ralston. Archaeology. The big event of the mid 90s, in my to answer questions which politicians were I’d heard Colin Renfrew lecture on Inspectors all had an ‘area’ to look after view, was the advent of developer funding. increasingly asking in the early 2000s, in the reconstructing prehistoric territories based – at peak, mine was Orkney, Shetland, the It seems amazing in retrospect that, until climate of the move towards what was later on geographical methods. Casting about Western Isles and Dumfries & Galloway! 1994, it was the state which paid for any called ‘the Big Society’ – what’s the point for a PhD topic which would take me to In the days before many Councils had excavation that was done in advance of of protecting heritage, and exactly who Shetland, with which I’d fallen in love, I archaeologists, that could be pretty development – even private development! should be responsible for it? Though Faro had the idea of applying similar principles demanding, but there were upsides. Life was England introduced developer funding in remains unratified by the United Kingdom, to Shetland’s Iron Age. After all, I thought, more relaxed: I can’t imagine anyone in 1991, and when Scotland followed suit its principles have been absorbed – not least how hard can it possibly be to recognise a today’s HES informing a potential developer a couple of years later, I helped draft the in Our Place in Time. broch… Had I but known! in Shetland, in January, that ‘I can visit guidance along with a colleague from Returning in 2005, I had a second stint I finished my research in 1979, just as the site when I’m up in May’ – and both Scottish Office’s Planning team. in charge of HS’ archaeology programme, the Conservative government came in sides thinking that a perfectly reasonable It’s worth mentioning that creating a cadre taking over as Patrick Ashmore retired. and funding for academia was cut. I knew response! of full time excavators, supported by this As well as Archaeology, where Rod

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McCullagh ably shouldered much of the it brought have been a success. Almost thinking about the idea of significance on heritage really began to take off – with burden, my small but perfectly formed certainly, it’s still too early to tell. a site-by-site basis – unreasoned protection lottery funding increasingly available. team co-ordinated advice for other grants I do think the 2014 Act deserves to be serves no-one. I think we need to be more Scotland has played a leading role, with programmes. That saw me chairing read very carefully by everyone who cares conscious of the social bargain that is made major milestones along the way – the meetings of historic buildings colleagues about Scotland’s historic environment. From when we allow a site to be excavated, Shorewatch concept (now exported while they ranked building repair grant a position of inherited responsibilities, for whether for ‘pure’ research or to clear the worldwide) and Scotland’s Rural Past stand applications in order of merit – a task to the most part vaguely defined, it provide way for development. That bargain – a out as a game-changers. which I brought what one of them cruelly a clear definition of the functions of the trade-off between physical loss and added And I still get a real kick whenever I hear but accurately described as ‘the impartiality new, merged, body – in effect, of the role knowledge – only works if archaeologists about community-led groups employing of ignorance’. of the state. The functions are broad: there keep their side of the deal and make that professional archaeologists – though My undoubted highlight from that is very little to do with heritage which can’t knowledge widely and quickly available: they are usually tactful enough to avoid period was working with the Society of legally be done by HES under the terms of otherwise the current system simply drives the word ‘using’! I see promising signs Antiquaries and RCAHMS to launch the Act. Yet, to the outside observer – as up costs for developers, end-users and of re-integration between ‘academic’, ScARF, which has succeeded beyond our I now am – sometimes not much seems ultimately tax-payers, to no public benefit. ‘commercial’ and ‘community’ archaeology, boldest dreams, along the way overturning to have changed since HES came into Advances in science and technology, and I’d hope to see more ‘citizen heritage’ gloomy predictions that ‘Dr X’ would never being in 2015. Yes, there have been clear backed up by affordable and ubiquitous opportunities, allowing trained volunteers collaborate with ‘Professor Y’. Jeff Sanders signals of democratic intent, for example computing power, have been nothing short to engage in high-quality off-site activities, built up ScARF with flair and diplomacy. the ‘What’s Your Heritage’ conversation, of revolutionary – whether in DNA analysis such as we are already seeing happening (Jeff also led me astray, into the dark world but alongside these is the strong impression or in virtual visualisations of artefacts or around the digitising and analysis of of pub quizzing, which has afforded ample that duties inherited from the predecessor sites. Our ability to analyse and present historical documents. opportunity to reflect on my increasing years bodies matter more – and that may well be evidence extends far beyond what we I’d also point to the level of political and marvel at the persistence of my memory correct, given how large those duties are. imagined possible in 1980. We can now awareness today, largely arising post- of novelty hits of the 1970s.) It’s clear that the Strategy, to which so many answer questions that, back then, we didn’t devolution, as a really significant factor. I moved to HS’ policy team in 2011. The ‘stakeholders’ (a word I still deeply hate) even know how to ask. Coming years will During the entire 1980s, I met one idea of merging HS with RCAHMS had contributed, impacts on the presentation bring more progress, including ever more government minister, once. Nowadays, just appeared on the horizon again. Past of actions across Scotland – and not just accessible data, ever-simpler and more we routinely expect to see our Edinburgh- merger efforts had come to nothing, but this by HES. But I wonder if the new legislation powerful programmes to harvest information based Ministers out and about, attending was different, under the watchful eye of a changed the substance of what gets done to and to analyse it (soon with intuitive, AI-type events, speaking on our behalf and having determined Cabinet Secretary. Two projects any meaningful extent – has the duty on HES abilities). And perhaps even the end (long- a level of detailed knowledge which would were set up in parallel: the co-creation with to work in ‘collaborative’ mode made real proclaimed but slow to arrive) of the printed have been unthinkable to their un-devolved predecessors. Lines of communication the sector of a shared Historic Environment headway yet? But then, the establishment report as my generation knows it? are shorter and contacts more local, with Strategy (which became Our Place in Time) always evolves slowly. Any large Attitudes to those who work unpaid in regular debates in Holyrood on heritage of began first, followed by preparations for a organisation needs external stimulation, in archaeology have also changed. When I various kinds. But I can’t help feeling that Historic Environment Bill. Luke Wormald led the form of fresh ideas and challenges being began, largely university-based directors we could make more effective use of these the Strategy project, and I was asked to lead brought into the public arena. I wonder talked about ‘using’ volunteers, and I do opportunities – it is, after all, our heritage. the Bill team. if that need is recognised widely enough, recall one director proclaiming, ‘Volunteers? and worry that the ‘external environment’ And so, after all that time, was what paid Although I was initially fairly sceptical Tear one off, use it and throw it away!’ – I for HES is not as stimulating as it might be. my mortgage a ‘proper job’? about the merits of merger, if it was going hope in jest, but fear not. By the early Yes, HES has wide powers and is required to happen then it made sense to get people 1990s, we ‘professionals’ had begun to The then Minister for Culture, Mike by statute to operate collaboratively: but it involved who knew something about realise and respond to the huge potential Russell MSP wrote with pride in Community takes two to tango – are collaborators lining archaeology and heritage, rather than in the British ‘amateur tradition’, partly Archaeology in Scotland 2009, about up out there? leaving it to random ‘policy officials’. I’d like stimulated by debate about whether the UK a ‘new and inclusive archaeology for to think that the informed background of By way of conclusion, I’d like to flag up should sign up to the Valetta Convention, Scotland’. His successor, Fiona Hyslop MSP, those of us who worked on the Bill did bear four big changes over my working life: with its clause limiting participation in addressed the same topic for professional fruit, but that’s really something for others In my early career, we routinely had to destructive excavations to ‘qualified, archaeologists, in IfA’s yearbook a couple to judge. I still feel too close to the Historic justify the principle of protection. Nowadays specially authorised persons’. of years later. If that reflects reality, and if Environment Scotland Act 2014 – a topic on the need to protect our heritage is accepted, Although CBA and then CSA (the my colleagues and I had a part in bringing it into being, then I would indeed count my which I once took the Community Heritage it’s well embedded in planning, and I’d say forerunner of Archaeology Scotland) had time well-spent. Conference’s ‘one-minute madness’ most arguments are about priorities and existed for many years, it was in the early challenge – to assess whether the changes resources. I think there is room for more 90s that what we now call community Noel Fojut, Chirnside, January 2018

26 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 27 people 60-second Interview George Mudie, Senior Consultant, CFA Archaeology Ltd

People often think of archaeology as being Can the work you do lead to excavation? chance to meet with and get to know the folk the process of excavating a site, whether a Ideally not! The intention, in the kind of from neighbouring townships? dwelling or a village, but there is much more work we carry out, is to identify the sites and They may well have done so. The sites to archaeology than that. What sort of things the areas of sensitivity and to ensure that, that we found were not that far apart; do you do all day? as far as possible, we can protect it and we’re talking about only a few hundred Indeed, archaeology is not all about preserve the archaeology and the character metres between them, so there would have excavating the minutiae of individual sites. of the historic environment. been plenty of opportunity for interactions but we were able to go out and look in between the groups occupying the shielings. some detail at the relationships between There are times, working in the commercial To record it and protect it – that’s always these different elements of the landscape. environment, that we study large areas of preferable to digging it? Of course transhumance was not primarily My colleague, who undertook the work, landscape, whether town or country, as a social arrangement; it was presumably to I believe it is. We should at least aim to also carried out a bit of additional desk part of what we call Environmental Impact keep the animals off the crops, off the more protect sites where we can. We don’t want to based research; looking at historical Assessments (EIAs). My job, in that respect, needlessly destroy the historic environment lowland arable land. is to work with developers, to provide them documentary records. From that she was where we can preserve it. Yes indeed. It also provided an opportunity able to find out quite interesting information with the information they need to help for the lower lying ground around the make informed design decisions for the Do you have a favourite site or area that about the occupants of the post-medieval townships or farmsteads to recover from the settlement. So, it can be a fascinating developments they are planning: whether you’ve looked at? pressure of winter grazing. activity. Sometimes you have to rein in your that be residential, commercial or industrial I can think of many examples that I’ve The uplands would have provided new, fresh enthusiasm, because the purpose of what developments, or major infrastructure come across or explored over the years. I pasture as well. we do in commercial archaeology is not to projects. Some of these projects can cover have a particular interest in medieval and conduct in-depth research. Our role is to large areas of the landscape or townscape. post-medieval landscapes, particularly Absolutely. You also tend to find that the know what is there, how sensitive it is and to Windfarms, for example, can often cover rural, farming landscapes and I remember vegetation around the shielings is more determine its significance and value to the large areas of upland landscape and a site that we investigated in the southern improved, so they’re obviously having archaeological community and to the local overhead power transmission lines require part of the Isle of Lewis where we found an impact on these upland environments population. We never forget that cultural a study along often lengthy linear corridors, a nicely well-preserved, quite extensive as well – they are fertilising the land and heritage is something that we all share, at times over quite remote and previously transhumance landscape. improving the grazing. Looking at the and that the local community has a vested unexplored areas. individual groups and the remains of the Oh that’s interesting. Transhumance is the structures it was also clear that there was interest in preserving that as far as possible; Interesting, and are these EIAs mostly desk- removal of livestock, and some people, to evidence of multiple re-use of the site, because it is their heritage, after all. based research or do you go out and about upland areas during the summer, isn’t it? with some structures built on top of earlier In both of these examples, you’re looking as well? Yes, to what are commonly called shielings. ones and some structures being quite at a landscape and not a particular site We do go out in the field but, before we do, This was an upland landscape where we complex, figure-of-eight type buildings, or building. You are concerned with how we have to make sure we are fully informed found a landscape divided by large turf perhaps suggesting quite a long history people are interacting with their landscapes, about what is known about the area we are dykes and ditches. Across that landscape of use. It would seem that this activity and is that right? studying; so that when we go out we can we found numerous clusters of shieling huts improvement of the grazing had been going That’s right, yes. We are considering how look both at the existing archaeology – what and it was evident from our investigations on for a long time. people in the past interacted with the that these clusters were discrete groupings we know to be there – and what we might Any other favourites? landscape, how they created places. Then, and separate one from another. Presumably, expect to be there based on desk-based Yes, another that comes to mind is one we are thinking about how people in the they relate to the holdings of individual research. Once we are out in the field, we that we explored in Sutherland, in Strath present, and future, will interact with the townships, or farmsteads, occupying the check the current condition and extent of Brora, where we investigated a multi-period historic landscape and how we can preserve upland moorlands in the inland areas what we find, and assess the character of landscape that included Later Bronze Age and protect the historic environment for the during the summer months as pasture for it, so that we can make assessments about settlement remains in close association with benefit and enjoyment of future generations. their cattle. the significance and sensitivity of what we medieval and post-medieval farmsteads. Landscape archaeology and indeed the find. The key to effective landscape survey is Interesting, I had thought that transhumance Most of what we found had been previously archaeology of landscapes is a quite preparation. gave the people tending the animals a recorded and was already known about, fascinating area of research.

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motif plain to see, one of our party suggested that the Anglo-Saxons comb and mirror might have belonged to a mermaid. We have a similar story about a visit Pictland merman at Orford in Suffolk – but our legend is not 1300 years old. The protective casing of Sueno’s Stone, was a novelty – but such a sensible idea. This sandstone must have been easier to carve than the previous granite and had vast dramatic reliefs, still easily identifiable: a Christian cross on one side and a Left: Studying the reproduction Hilton of Cadboll stone. Right: the encased Sueno’s Stone © D. Leak bloody battle scene on the other. We were all beginning orfolk and Norwich Archaeological to our destination. Norwich Airport has a to want more details. Society (NNAS) was founded in 1846 regular service to Aberdeen which services “Where is the writing?” we Nand has Her Majesty the Queen the North Sea Gas and Oil Industry. By all cried! Only to be told Huntly Castle © D. Leak as its patron. It was once the province of taking advantage of this, we were able to be there was none to be had. seen from this spot. They which must have produced learned, middle-class professionals, many at our destination in 90 minutes. Although only a replica, The perhaps could have been manuscripts. But none have of whom were clergymen. Today, based in Our expedition leader was Brian Ayers, Hilton of Cadboll Stone is used as sea marks rather turned up so far. the vibrant cathedral and university city of who is presently Honorary Senior Lecturer, magnificent. Once again Norwich, it has over 440 members. Many School of History at the University of like our later seaside In four days we visited the Christian element on 24 sites from prehistoric to are academics working in archaeological East Anglia and was previously County one side contrasts with the medieval churches in and historical departments. Others are Archaeologist for Norfolk. His aim was Norfolk. The Tarbat Centre early modern and returned secular elements on the to Norwich exhausted. It was professionals working for the Norfolk to educate us Sassenachs in the ways of other. It is believed that this in Portmahomack was a Museums Service. Some are freelance the Picts. His method was to include what fascinating visit showing a wonderful experience in stone remains near to its most beautiful countryside. historians and archaeologists. However, seemed to be dozens of standing stones. clearly where a Pictish original position overlooking We saw castles, Clava the bulk of our members are simply people Inverness was to be our base. On the way, settlement once was – a wide seascape and that Cairns, Culloden and much who are fascinated by history, archaeology, we stopped first at Easter Aquhorthies Stone other stones could be including a monastic estate buildings and ancient sites, mainly in East Circle (our Itinerary had a note which stated, else, but the thing which Anglia but also further afield. “Free: no toilet” – essential information for stuck with us Sassenachs, The NNAS runs a prestigious lecture series elderly adventurers). The recumbent setting was that the Picts probably each Autumn/Winter with speakers from of the large main stone was impressive. The experienced the same all over the UK and Europe. It publishes full complement of stones appeared in the attacks from Vikings as Norfolk Archaeology, the leading academic shape of a squashed orange. Now tightly we did in Norfolk. The journal for archaeology and history of hemmed in by surrounding fields, it was a difference may have been Norfolk. Trips are organised for members dramatic survival of what might have been that we survived and during the Summer, with leaders having an old field of prayer. integrated with the invaders, specialist knowledge. For many years the During our stay, we became more while the Picts seem to have society has arranged short holidays of enamoured with the tantalising remnants of disappeared. We will look three or four days to explore history and the Pictish civilisation which once inhabited to future archaeological archaeology further afield. this part of Scotland. The Maiden Stone had developments with great In 2017, the Land of the Picts was our remarkable carvings which appeared to be interest. objective and so, for the first time, we flew a man with sea monsters. With the water NNAS group at Easter Aquhorthies Stone Circle, led by Brian Ayers (centre) © D. Leak Derek Leak, NNAS Trustee

30 – ISSUE 31 SPRING 2018 – 31 ARP2018 – Save the Date! The Archaeological Research in Progress Conference will be at The Engine Shed, Stirling this year. All are welcome.

Join us on Saturday 26th May 2018 at this amazing venue.

Supported by Historic Environment Scotland © Rob McDougall © Rob

Archaeology Scotland Summer School 2018 © Sue Anderson Dryburgh, Scottish Borders, 18-21 May

Join us for a weekend in the Borders with professional guides and lecturers. Visit archaeological sites dating from the prehistoric to the 20th-century – forts, settlements, towers, castles, burial grounds, Full information and a registration form from Archaeology Scotland. farmsteads and Stobs military camp. Tel: 0300 012 9878 Enjoy two days of coach-based field visits Email: [email protected] and three evening lectures. Web: https://archaeologyscotland.org.uk/summer-school/