Strath Tay in the Second Millennium B.C. a Field Survey
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E SECONTH STRATN I D Y MILLENNIUHTA M B.C. A FIELD SURVEY by MARGARET E. C. STEWART, PH.D., F.S.A.SCOT. THE county of Perth covers an area in which geographical features have helped the migration and distribution of prehistoric people. There are three east to west routes in central Perthshire (fig. i) which are accessibl peoplr efo e moving inland from eithe Atlantie rth Norte coaststh a r hcSe o . FIG. i. Central Perthshire mose Th t northerly route follow line Locf th seo h Rannoc Locd han h Tummel. Along this way the heads of Glen Coe, Glen Etive and Glen Orchy are linked with the valley of the Carry and ultimately with the Tay. Glen Coe is linked to the sea t Loca h Linnhe while Glen Etiv Gled ean n reachee Orchb n yca d fro Firte mth h of Lome. The second route is based on Loch Tay and communicates westward by the valley of the Dochart and the shoulder of Ben More with Loch Lomond, Loch Fyne, Loch Lon Locd gan h Awe. Finally Loch Earn provides an alternative route from Loch Long and Loch Lomond either by Inversnaid and Loch Voil or else by Glen Ogle. Eastwards this route connects by long navigable stretches on the river Earn with the Tay estuary. While respecting the dangers of geographical determinism, structural and other remains show that intrusive cultures to the central zone of the southern Highlands r otheo hav e thesf o r on e ef mad o routes e eus . Not all the routes were used equally or contemporaneously. A field survey of the 2 7 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F O S , 1958-59 Loch Tumme Locd an l h Rannoch route show markesa d absenc monumentf eo f so Eare earlied th Bronze nan d th routee an r whereaeAg y s Ta wer e th se much fre- quente secone th n di d millenium e otheth rn O hand. e northerth , n routs ewa patronise y forb d t builder o havwh se left their handiwork scattere n Strati d h Tummel and also in Glen Lyon which connects by a series of easy passes north to Loch Rannoc wesd hGlean o t n Orchy. These people were followed alon same gth e route at a later date by early Christian missionaries from lona. The importance of the Tay and the Earn routes for the archeeology of the second millennium in Scotland was first noted by Mr Lacaille but the subject was first studie late detair Lindsan di th eSi y b l y Scott. r LindsaSi y assumed tha traffie th t c 1 2 was exclusively from the west and based his argument on the Irish and west coast affinities of archaeological material from central and north-eastern Scotland. He should have made allowanc reciprocar efo l traffic fro ease mth t coase t leasth a t o t fertile limith f eo t landStratd Stratan n si y h hEarnbotTa n i r hfo , these valleys ther a typ f s monumenti eo e , almost certainl f seconyo d millenium date, whose riverine distribution indicates inlan westward dan d penetration fro coaste mth f o s the North Sea. Since Professor Piggott published his distribution map of chambered tombs of the Clyde-Carlingford culture in IQ54 outliers to his main area of concentration in south-west Scotland have grown steadil number3 n yi s (fig. 2)curiouA . s feature th f eo whicn i y distributioe extensiohth wa e th s ni f thes no e tombs turns north froe mth Clyde isthmus instea continuinf do g eastward toward t alway no Forthe s sth i s t I . profitable to look for the reason why prehistoric migratory movements made use of a particular route because the reason, if it exists, may not be capable of expression termn i f modero s nsecone societycase th f th y eo d n I Ta millenniu. e th f o e mus Eare th nd routean s ther howeves ei r justificatio seekinn ni explaio gt peoply nwh e dragged their canoes ove 6oo-fta r . watershe muss da t have happened between Glen Falloch and Glen Dochart. It is suggested that the main reason was the heavy oak forest then covering the carse clays above Stirling. Today the remains of this pre- historic fores representee ar t extensivy db e peat bed whicf so largese h th besd an tt known is Flanders Moss. In the last hundred years much of the land underlying 4 pea e bees th ha t n reclaime originae th d dan l forese limit uncertaine th f ar tso t bu it must have come close t5 o the chambered tombs on Stockiemuir6 and Dunbarton- muir. It is from this point that the distribution turns north following Loch Lomond movind an g 7 inland fro heade mth Locf so h Lon Locd gan hLocp u Fyn d h eAwean , crossin watershee gth Crianlarico dt Tyndrud e han th d pioneerind an m an y Ta e gth Earn routes to the east. Mr J. G. Scott has suggested that in their search for good agricultural ground 1 P.S.A.S., LXIII, 325. 8 P.P.S. (1951), Part I, Paper No. 2, p. 16. 3 Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles (C.U.P., 1954), 153, fig. 23. 4 Cadell, StoryM. oH , f the Forth (1913). 5 There is a noticeable absence of chambered tombs along Loch Katrine and Loch Vennacher and in the valleTeite th f hyo probably indicatin necessite foresth proximite k gd th oa crosan te yo t watershe e th f sth y o d northe th o t . 6 P.S.A.S., LXXXIII, 230. 7 Discovery and Excavation, Scotland 1956, 15. E SECONTH STRATN I D Y MILLENNIUHTA M B.C.-A FIELD SURVE3 7 Y FIG. 2. Clyde-Carlingford chambered cairns in Central Scotland (with the exception of Derculich) 74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1958-59 without the necessity for extensive forest clearance the Clyde-Carlingford people may have been forced int centrae oth lsouthere zonth f eo n Highlands because eth e Grearoutth p tu e Gles closen wa them o t d . They were probabl e firsth t t yno chambered tomb builders to reach Scotland and Professor Piggott has suggested that the Great Glen route to the north-east had already been pioneered by Passage Grave builders.1 r LacaillM describes eha ruin e lona th f sdgo e b whacairy t Stuckindroinnma ta near Ardlui at the head of Loch2 Lomond and there is a similar site on the farm of Auchtertyre near Tyndrum.3 From just wes Killif o t chamberee nth d tomb builders could either folloturniny b , w or gLoc y southTa h through Glen Ogle, they could enter Strath Earn. In Strath Tay two new sites of chambered tombs have been identified. The first is below the village of Dull.4 There is little to be seen here apart from a portal entry segmentea stonee e tope th b whaf f th y s o o d ma td an chamber (PI. XIIe , i)Th . second site lies further east abov fare eth Derculich.f m o l thaAl 5t remain situe n si ar the three uprights of the polygonal chamber of a passage grave (PL XII, 2). Ther foue ear r site Stratn si h Earn between Comri jusd ean t eas Crieff o t f with an outlier in Wester Glenalmond. The most westerly site is the long cairn at Kindrochat excavated by the late Professor Gordon Child 192n ei d ig3O.9an 6 Rottenreoch,7 just wes Criefff o tn a s i , unexcavate tope dslabf th so sitt sebu formin chambega eastere th protrudd n ri nen e throug turfe hth . t Cultoquhey,A 8 between Crief d Methvenan f originae th , l Clyde-Carlingford traditio s degeneratenha d int osegmentea d cist inserted intperiphere oth a f yo mound (PI. XII, 3). The character of this mound is uncertain as it has not been examined. It is probably natural but appears to have had an artificial capping of eart smald han l stones. Pottery with characteristic finger-tip ripplin founs gwa t a d Cultoquhey warfabrie e th Th this ef har.d i co nan d wit hfina e blace kth slid pan ripplin bees gha n carried ove simplra e rolled rim. Parallels come fro habitatioo mtw n sites t Lyle'a ; s Hil northern li n Irelan t Eastertoa d dan Roseislf no Morayshiren ei . The ware is common in the Clyde-Carlingford type tombs of northern Ireland. Wit pottere hth t Cultoquheya inhumen a s ywa d burialeaf-shapea d lan d arrowhead of flint. If there is a primary burial under the capping of the tumulus at Cultoquhey it would provide a relative time scale for the arrival of Clyde-Carlingford tomb builder areae th .n si On moorland9 behind the policies of Clathick House between Crieff and Comrie the end stone and cover-stone of a megalithic cist are exposed (PI. XIII, i). They lie on the summit of a low knoll which is natural but may have had an artificial capping of cairn material. similarite 1Th 0 y with Cultoquhe enhances yi slatald e th blen y db whic botn hi h cases projects several feet abov . side G tope th e e. f th J slabs so r M .