Kim Biddulph, Matt Ritchie, and Caroline Wickham-Jones
Forestry and Land Scotland, Free
ISBN 978-1916016019
Review AB
Download from: https://forestryandland.gov.scot/what-we-do/conservation/historic-environment-conservation/learning/into-the-wildwoods

This teaching resource is a companion to 2019’s The First Foresters (see CA 350), which focuses on the Neolithic occupants of Scotland’s woodlands. Into the Wildwoods delves further back in time, introducing the hunter-gatherers of the later Mesolithic (c.5800-4000 BC) in a way that will engage 8- to 12-year-olds, while also incorporating ideas about the natural world around them.

Aspects of the archaeological record are presented in in a highly accessible way, and the information presented is brought to life by the inventive characters and details of the Mesolithic world woven throughout the book.

This publication is also beautifully illustrated with colourful landscape drawings, lively cartoon characters, and useful photographs and maps. It encourages children to consider the connections between the prehistoric past and today, making it a wonderful resource for later primary school age children, and anyone else interested in the presentation of the Mesolithic.

This review appeared in CA 361. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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Searching for a lost people in northern Scotland

The Picts are a fascinating but archaeologically elusive people who thrived in parts of Scotland in the 4th to 10th centuries AD. What has recent research added to this often obscure picture? Gordon Noble reports.

The Picts are a ‘lost people of Europe’ who continue to be a subject of enduring public fascination. First mentioned in late Roman sources as a collective name for troublesome, barbaric peoples living north of the Roman frontier, the Picts went on to dominate a large part of Scotland until the late 1st millennium AD. The emergence of the Pictish over-kingdom, the precursor of the kingdom of the Scots, was part of broader changes in northern Europe that laid the foundations for the modern states of Europe. Other than their enigmatic symbol stones, though, the archaeological and historical record for this region in c.AD 300-900 is diffuse and difficult – famously dubbed the ‘Problem of the Picts’.

The main Pictish powerbases were long-assumed to lie in central Scotland, but, in a seminal work of 2006, historian Alex Woolf located Fortriu – the most-cited and most-powerful Pictish kingdom – further north in the Moray Firth region. Further research has shed more light on this: in 2012, the Northern Picts Project was established at the University of Aberdeen to investigate an area stretching from Aberdeenshire to Easter Ross, covering the probable extent of Fortriu and a territory of Pictland known as Ce. Funded by a donation to the University of Aberdeen Development Trust, we have taken up the challenge of finding new archaeological features in a period with few identified sites, either in the written sources or the material record.

This unprecedented focus on the Picts was enhanced in 2017 by the Comparative Kingship project (funded by the Leverhulme Trust), and to-date the University of Aberdeen has investigated a whole series of Pictish sites in northern Scotland through large-scale excavation, survey, and targeted fieldwork. There have been some spectacular successes, not least the (re)discovery of a Pictish-period silver hoard at Gaulcross, Aberdeenshire, led by Aberdeen and the National Museum Scotland. In this article we will focus on two key elements: Pictish symbol stones and power centres.

DECODING DUNNICAER

Symbol stones are perhaps the most-celebrated element of Pictish archaeology. There are more than 200 stone monuments with symbols known from eastern and northern Scotland, and repeated attempts to decipher their meaning have been made since the 19th century. Current consensus is that this was a system that expressed names or identities of some kind, and that it was an elite form of expression found in both settlement and burial situations; providing better contexts and dating for this tradition has been a key aspect of our work.

From 2015 to 2017, the Northern Picts Project’s fieldwork targeted Dunnicaer, a towering sea stack just to the south of Aberdeen, where a series of Pictish stones were found in the 19th century. It has been suggested that their relatively simple designs (also seen in other contexts, including caves) might represent the earliest examples of the symbol system, but there has been little in the way of absolute dating.

The first stones were discovered during the gathering of building material at the site, and more examples were identified in 1832 when a group of youths found a low stone wall on the stack and threw a number of its stones into the sea. Since then, few people have visited Dunnicaer, as the site is cut off at high tide and surrounded by sheer cliff-faces – but, with the support of a professional climber, the Northern Picts team carried out three seasons
of (rather intrepid) fieldwork on the stack. This work revealed the remains of a promontory fort, with a timber-laced rampart enclosing a series of buildings (see CA 304 and 307). Much of the settlement had been lost to severe coastal erosion, but it still yielded an exciting range of finds, including Roman pottery and glass – rare imports this far north of the frontier – along with burnishing stones for metalworking.

Even more surprisingly, radio- carbon dating of samples from the fort suggests that its use began c.AD 105-225 and ended c.AD 350-450. Fort-building is rarely attested in the Roman Iron Age in Scotland, but Dunnicaer clearly flourished at this time, reaching its height in the same period as the first Roman reference tothe Picts (AD 297). While it remains impossible to directly date the symbol stones, the youths of 1832 described finding them in a wall surrounding the site, and the rampart around the southern edge of the stack which best fits that description was constructed c.AD 245-380. If the symbol stones are from this timeframe, they are much earlier than many scholars had countenanced for this tradition.

EXCAVATIONS AT ‘ROYAL’ RHYNIE

Another key focus of our project has been the Aberdeenshire village of Rhynie. Its name includes a form of the Celtic word for ‘king’, *rīg, and our work at the site suggests the surrounding valley was an elite Pictish centre from the 4th to 6th centuries AD (see CA 289). Rhynie has long been known for its notable concentration of Class I Pictish stones, and in March 1978 a particularly spectacular example was ploughed up by a local farmer at Barflat farm, just to the south of the modern village. Known as ‘Rhynie Man’, it depicts a bearded figure – possibly a pagan deity – carrying a distinctive axe that may be associated with animal sacrifice.

The field where Rhynie Man was found is home to another Pictish stone, the Craw Stane, which still stands in situ. In 1978, council archaeologist Ian Shepherd captured aerial photographs showing a series of enclosures surrounding the monument, and more than three decades later our project returned to the site to explore these features. Between 2011 and 2017, excavations by the universities of Aberdeen and Chester established that the Craw Stane stood towards the entranceway of the enclosure complex which, in an early phase, comprised ditches (and presumably banks) surrounding a low glacial knoll. A later phase saw the construction of an elaborate timber wall of oak posts and planks, inside which we found the footprints of a series of buildings and a rich array of finds hinting at a community with far-reaching connections.

As well as sherds of Late Roman wine amphorae imported from the eastern Mediterranean, there were fragments of glass drinking beakers from France, and one of the largest assemblages of metalworking production evidence known from early medieval Britain – from moulds and crucibles for making pins, to brooches and even tiny animal figurines that resemble the animals carved on Pictish stones. One of the most-remarkable finds was an iron pin shaped like the axe carried by Rhynie Man – tangible links between objects from the site and the iconography of the stones.

A few hundred metres to the north, where another of Rhynie’s carved stones (depicting a warrior) is recorded to have been recovered from a cairn, we have also found traces of a contemporary barrow cemetery. One of these mounds contained the partially preserved remains of a woman, and it is thought that two square enclosures located nearby may have been shrines or places for conducting ceremonies associated with veneration of the dead.

This is an extract of an article that appeared in CA 364. Read on in the magazine. Click here to subscribe. 

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David J Breeze and William S Hanson (eds)
Archaeopress, £30
ISBN 978-1789694505
Review Andrew Tibbs

Undoubtedly, Professor Lawrence Keppie has made some of the most significant contributions to our understanding of the Antonine Wall, as well as to the rest of Scotland during the Roman period. It is therefore fitting that this volume has been produced to honour his work.

This book contains 31 papers and gives an update on current research and understandings of the Roman Wall. Appropriately, it begins with an insight into the life and achievements of Keppie, and what has motivated him to study Scotland’s Roman Wall. This is followed by a summary of current knowledge and thinking relating to the Antonine Wall, which is particularly useful given the recent application of new analytical techniques that are shaping our interpretation.

Other papers include a new summary, the first in 15 years, of the environment at the time of the Wall’s construction, and a discussion of the impact of the Wall on the Iron Age population living around it. Several papers look at the planning and construction of the Wall, including a summary of the Hidden Landscapes of a Roman Frontier project, which has analysed laser scans of the Wall and its fortifications, leading to several new insights.

This is a diverse volume that explores many different areas of research, such as the evidence for women in lowland Scotland, an area of study that has received little previous attention. There are also comparisons between fortlets on the Antonine Wall, Hadrian’s Wall, and the Upper German frontier; updates on the current thinking about the strength of the army occupying the Wall; and a new study into pottery and cereal supplies to the frontier. However, it is the penultimate paper that reminds the reader of one of the most significant achievements in recent years, securing World Heritage Site status for the Antonine Wall, along with the impact and influence this has had on communities living alongside this monument.

David Breeze and Bill Hanson have done an excellent job in bringing together a range of papers on what is a fascinating and important area of Roman research. It is a fine tribute to the career and scholarship of a remarkable individual.

This review appeared in CA 365. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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Gregor Stewart
Amberley Publishing, £14.99
ISBN 978-1445688909
Review Amy Brunskill

In this volume, his second on the military heritage of Scotland’s cities, Gregor Stewart presents the history of Stirling, from Roman invasion in the 1st century AD through to the present day. The city’s location, at the lowest crossing point of the River Forth, has positioned it at the centre of many important military events in Scotland’s history, and evidence of this can be found throughout Stirling, even today.

A short volume, generously illustrated with colour photographs of the town and surrounding landscape, it offers an engaging introduction to many of the key events and places in Stirling’s military past. The book presents an overview of Stirling’s military story and the key battles associated with the city, namely the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Battle of Bannockburn, before leading readers through significant conflicts from the Reformation up to the Second World War. The events chosen highlight the significance of Stirling’s rich military history, still visible in many surviving buildings and monuments, and its important role in the story of the nation as a whole.

This review appeared in CA 366. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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Excavating Clachtoll Broch

Two thousand years ago, the Iron Age inhabitants of a highland broch fled as their home burned around them. The wreckage of this destruction sealed a vivid time capsule of their lives that remained undisturbed until the present day. What have recent excavations revealed? Mandy Haggith reports.

Imagine a catastrophic fire in a residential tower-building. People flee for their lives, abandoning the meal they were preparing, half-cooked. All their personal possessions, whether neatly tidied away or strewn on the living-room floor, go up in flames, leaving just a litter of scorched materials among rubble and devastation. After the tragedy, the site remains as a relic and reminder. Now imagine, 2,000 years later, the people who now live where the tower once stood, curious about what life was like for those poor tower-dwellers, pick through the wreckage with the help of a team of archaeologists to find out more about their prehistoric predecessors. Over the past decade, in a small community in the north-west highlands of Scotland, this is precisely what has played out.

Sometime around AD 50, Clachtoll broch – a 14m-tall (40ft) double-walled tower – burned down and partially collapsed in on itself. Its interior has been effectively untouched ever since, but, with the sea encroaching, the ruin has been becoming increasingly fragile and dangerous to visitors – and so, over the last ten years, a local community organisation called Historic Assynt has organised a project to conserve and consolidate the monument. This has enabled excavations (carried out with AOC Archaeology) that have uncovered a unique collection of artefacts from the broch’s previously undisturbed floor, giving a fascinating insight into Iron Age life. Alongside these digs, experimental archaeology has also explored how local materials including clay, wood, and wool were used by the broch inhabitants; these investigations, together with Iron Age-style feasts, have given local people a genuine taste of life in the tower. So, what did we find out?

EXCAVATING ASSYNT

As the project’s excavations removed hundreds of tonnes of rubble from inside the broch, a diverse assemblage of objects was revealed, eloquently demonstrating that, around the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain, the Clachtoll community had been part of a sophisticated maritime culture stretching up to the Northern Isles and out to the Hebrides. The objects only reflect a brief window of time, however – something unusual for a broch site, most of which were occupied for long periods, and which were often reconfigured by subsequent generations, meaning that many traces of earlier Iron Age activities were overwritten by later inhabitants. By contrast, Clachtoll lacks the accumulated detritus of centuries. Instead, the rubble from its destruction sealed an unadulterated time capsule from the site’s final occupation around 2,000 years ago.

Among these finds was a wealth of organic materials – charcoal, cereal grains, animal bone – that have since been radiocarbon dated. The earliest dates that these samples yielded are around 400 BC: although mixed with deposits of a later date, they indicate activity at the Clachtoll broch in the early Iron Age. Might they represent the earliest phase of the broch’s existence, or a previous building which had the same large circular footprint? It is a tantalising thought, and one that I have explored – in fictionalised form – in my novels (see ‘Source’ below). Assynt lies on one of the lines of latitude visited by the intrepid Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia, who made a great journey from the Mediterranean to the far north in 320 BC, and who took sun declination measurements in several places where he made landfall. Could these locations have included Clachtoll, and, if so, might there have been a large circular structure for him to visit?

The vast bulk of evidence for occupation at the broch, though, comes from almost 300 years later, with almost all of the radiocarbon dates from the excavation falling between 50 BC and AD 50, after which the broch burned down. The significance of this relatively short final episode in the site’s life was highlighted by Graeme Cavers from AOC Archaeology:

What is impressive about this site is that it shows us a relatively short period of occupation, which came to an end so abruptly, and what was left has been untouched ever since, so the floor deposits were pristine. It therefore gives us a strong insight into life in that period. Of course, there is still a lot we don’t know, and we’ll never be able to be certain when this particular broch was built or why it burned down, but its contents add immensely to what we know about life in the north of Scotland in the Iron Age.

AN UNSANITARY SETTLEMENT?

But while the broch’s floor may be ‘pristine’ from the point of view of being undisturbed in the intervening two millennia, analysis of its make-up revealed that, as a living space, the tower was absolutely filthy. This points to the broch being someone’s home, not a semi-military or ceremonial structure as is sometimes suggested for these towers, as the floor deposits were rich in the remains of species indicating domestic life, such as fleas, bed bugs, and other beetles associated with resident humans, along with plenty of rodents and a litter of animal and fish bones and other food waste.

Adding to this rather unhygienic picture, there also appear to have been animal carcasses buried in the layers of peat, sand, and ash making up the floor. The archaeological team is still trying to interpret the semi-articulated bones of two sheep or goats, one of which had been placed close to the hearth: it seems that the animals had been skinned, but not butchered for eating. It is not unusual to find evidence of ceremonial burials underneath Iron Age structures, so one possible interpretation is that the animals represent some kind of offering made at the time of reoccupation of the broch, perhaps when it was rebuilt. (Analysis of its walls suggest that the structure suffered some form of collapse and was reconstructed shortly before the final phase of its use.) For now, however, their purpose remains speculative.

Meanwhile, a wide scatter of more-conventional animal remains shed vivid light on the diets of the broch inhabitants. Sheep/goats, deer, and cattle dominate this picture, while pigs are present in much-less-substantial numbers. Cattle were also kept for their milk: residue identified on pots and other vessels indicates that they had once contained dairy products, as well as meat fat and vegetables. Other residue includes beeswax, perhaps used in ointments, raising speculation about beekeeping at the site.

Alongside meat, grain was another important food. Large quantities of cereal caryopses have been found, identified as six-row hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare L), along with chaff fragments and weed seeds which were all burnt in situ. While some wheat, oats, emmer, and flax have also been identified, six-row hulled barley was the chief cereal species, and the grain was both processed and stored within the broch, with what appears to be a sheaf of unprocessed ears of grain placed in one of the chambers by the entrance and strong evidence of milling taking place within the structure.

In the north-east part of the broch’s interior, a large igneous boulder had been set into flagstones that were roughly laid over a spread of compact brown-orange clay. This boulder was a mortar or ‘knocking stone’, with a central V-shaped hole about 25cm deep, like an upturned witch’s hat. It would have been used for threshing: the ears of wheat or barley were placed into the hollow and pounded to remove their tough outer husks. This particular knocking stone was found to be full of carbonised barley, so it is highly likely that it was actually in use when the broch was destroyed. Several rotary querns – used for grinding grain for flour – were found too, together with what is thought to be the iron spindle from one of them. This latter item was a rare find, as metal is rarely preserved from such sites, but it was not alone: the team also discovered a cluster of reaping hooks, which appear to have been stored together, completing the picture and suggesting a harvest successfully brought in for the winter.

IRON AND INDUSTRY

In fact, a considerable amount of iron tools have been preserved at Clachtoll broch. Graeme Cavers describes them:

We have quite an extensive collection of iron objects, amounting to almost a full toolkit. As well as the reaping hooks, we have a substantial sickle, more like a scythe, plus a spade shoe, a couple of axes, an adze, some sharp blades, and even what looks very like a bucket handle.

The remarkable preservation of such a collection is presumably due to oxidation being limited by a coating of ash from the fire, and a good seal under the rubble.

By contrast, pottery finds were relatively scarce: around 200 sherds were recovered from the broch, far fewer than would normally be expected for such towers, where occupation would have continued for hundreds of years. ‘What is interesting’, Graeme comments, ‘is that, because we have a short occupation period, this gives us a realistic snapshot of what kind and volume of pottery would have been in use at any time.’

These sherds come from probably fewer than 20 vessels, and the decoration on them is similar to that found in the Outer Hebrides – not surprisingly, given that Lewis lies in full view less than 40 miles across the Minch. Experimental archaeology with local potters, using local clay fired in a pit kiln, has shown exactly how these pots could have been produced – it is hoped that ongoing chemical analysis will confirm that the pots were made of Clachtoll clay, which is still used by local ceramicists for pottery and glazing today. The likelihood of the pottery being of local origin is made much stronger by the delightful discovery of a sherd decorated with a round indentation, plus a bronze round-headed pin that matches it perfectly. Finds like this make it easy to conjure an Iron Age potter among the broch’s inhabitants.

As well as pottery, there was clearly creative stone-working going on in the building, with a large assemblage of what were initially described as ‘steatite lamps’ and ‘spindle whorls’. Ten stone vessels of a type traditionally interpreted as lamps were found, and they take several different forms, some with handles, some without, and with differently sized bowls and styles of decoration. Analysis by Dr Julie Dunne of the Organic Geochemistry Unit at the University of Bristol identified food residue on some, though, suggesting that this traditional identification may not be correct. Chemical analysis shows that they are not of the same steatite stone found in the Northern Isles and, as a similar stone is found only a couple of miles south of Clachtoll, they are probably made of local material.

The assemblage of ‘spindle whorls’ is even bigger: 34 small round stones with holes carved in them (or under construction) were found scattered around the broch. They are decorated with a range of different markings, tempting speculation that these may indicate some kind of symbol system. Although some of them would most likely have been used for spinning wool (and a marvellously preserved piece of spun wool-twine turned up in a chamber between the walls as if to prove this), given the broch’s location on the shore of the Minch, it is more than likely that some of them, perhaps many of them, were weights for fishing lines or nets.

The influence of the sea must be taken into account in interpreting the finds, as it is clear that the broch’s inhabitants were part of a maritime society. The distribution of brochs across the north of Scotland, through the Hebrides and Northern Isles, demonstrates the similarity and cohesion of material culture that could only come about through the use of the sea as a highway. Indeed, this is exactly how it has been used up until very recent times, so it is unavoidable that we should look at the assemblage from a nautical perspective.

SIGNS OF SEAFARING

A strong clue that the broch people had boats is their dependence on the sea for food. Among the food waste in the floor were a lot of fish bones, mostly marine species such as saithe and pollock, as well as shellfish that could have been gathered from the shore. Interestingly, there are no fish skulls. Were the fish brought in as fillets, due to a cultural practice of depositing fish heads in the sea, perhaps, or were the heads just fed to the dogs? Sea-mammal bones form another important part of the assemblage, with whalebone (found both in unshaped chunks and made into tools) and seal bone (much of it scorched). While the seals may have been hunted, it is more likely that the whalebone would have been scavenged from washed-up or beached carcasses.

Driftwood would have been an important product of the sea, too. The broch finds include some pieces of substantial larch timber infested with shipworm, indicating that they had been afloat for a long period; they may have originated in Canada. Other tree-remains reinforce suggestions of a seafaring community: while the wood assemblage includes expected local species, such as a bowl rough-out made from alder, and the remains of objects made of oak, birch, and hazel (interestingly, no willow), there is also a considerable quantity of Scots pine, including carefully shaped square pins, a spatula, and a lot of splinters, which may well have been used as tapers for lighting lamps or, indeed, used as candles. (The tradition of using resin-rich pine tapers, or ‘rosety roots’, for lighting has carried on in Scotland until recently.) Although Scots pine is widespread in mainland Scotland, though, Assynt lies north of its present core area, and its presence here in the Iron Age is uncertain. If, as now, the nearest Scots pine trees were in Wester Ross, this would suggest sea-based, if relatively local, trading.

The wood remains have also helped the archaeologists to piece together the story of the broch’s dramatic collapse. In the initial excavation, hazel roundwood was found on the scarcement ledge where the first upper-level flooring of the broch would have been supported. This has provided fertile ground for discussion and experimentation about the broch’s interior appearance. Gordon Sleight, project leader for Historic Assynt, said:

There have long been disputes among archaeologists about how the upper floors of brochs were built and what they were like. Standard illustrations tend to show nice level floors made of substantial timbers reaching across the whole interior. Charcoal remains and other findings at Clachtoll, however, point to lightweight galleries made from wattle panels.

In order to determine whether this was feasible, Historic Assynt and AOC carried out some innovative archaeological experiments by building a section of mock brochwall, with scarcement ledges for two levels of galleries, making appropriately sized and shaped wattle panels, fitting them, and then loading them with considerable weights. They proved remarkably strong, especially when fitted in a double layer. After allowing the panels to dry out fully, and placing replicas on them of some of the pottery found in the excavation, a small fire was lit beneath them. Within seven minutes, the first-floor panels were ablaze, and two minutes later the upper level was too. Gordon Sleight said: ‘No wonder the excavations at the broch suggested that, on the day of the final fire, the folk inside dropped everything and got out as quickly as they possibly could.’

All in all, the remains that the broch community left as they fled the building 2,000-odd years ago have given us a fascinating insight into a domestic life that had some elements that would be distasteful to us now (not least the apparent poor hygiene) but also many aspects – food and crafts – that are similar to today. Gordon Sleight said:

The most interesting result of the excavation is the vivid picture it gives us of life in the broch in that 100 years. It is intriguing that there is a strong correlation between life then and now. The artefacts show livelihoods that are not so dissimilar to those in Assynt today – whether that’s fishing, crofting, pottery, or craftwork with wood and wool.

Thanks to engagement in the broch project by hundreds of local people and visitors, including all of the local schools, the current generation of Assynt inhabitants now has a tangible and enthralling connection with the tower-dwellers of 2,000 years ago. Charlotte Douglas of AOC said:

Fifty-five volunteers contributed over 2,000 person hours to the excavations, shifting vast amounts of stone and digging in all weathers. It truly was a team effort, just as the construction of the broch must have been many centuries ago.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The archaeology project was organised by Historic Assynt, a local community organisation. Fundraising was carried out with the assistance of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, as part of the Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape Partnership, of which it is the lead partner. Funding was provided thanks to players of the National Lottery through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, SSE’s Sustainable Development Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, Robert Kiln Trust, Highland Council via Landfill Fund, and individual donors.

SOURCE

Mandy Haggith is a writer based in Assynt, and was the broch project liaison officer for Historic Assynt. Her latest books include a trilogy of novels inspired by Clachtoll broch, The Stone Stories (comprising The Walrus Mutterer, The Amber Seeker, and The Lyre Dancers).

This article appeared in CA 367. Read more features in the magazine. Click here to subscribe. 

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Evidence for an extensive settlement, possibly dating to either the Bronze Age or Iron Age, has been uncovered on the outskirts of Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, on a site overlooking the North Sea. It is the first major prehistoric site to be identified near Cruden Bay, making it an important discovery to add to our growing knowledge of Aberdeenshire during this period.

The features were uncovered during excavations by Cameron Archaeology in advance of the construction of a new housing development. Ali Cameron of Cameron Archaeology has been working on the site since 2017, and this previous work had already revealed the presence of prehistoric structures. It was not fully appreciated just how large this settlement was, however, until it was fully opened up.

Commenting on the discovery, Ali Cameron said: ‘The site is higher up and you get this fantastic view over the bay. It’s a great location and you can imagine why people wanted to settle there.’

Previous ploughing of the area had destroyed many parts of the site, but so far the outlines of at least 23 structures have been revealed, encompassing a complex series of post-hole constructions, ring-ditches with stake holes, and some possible enclosures along with a handful of pottery and flint tools. Contextual evidence suggests that the settlement possibly dates between 800 BC and AD 400. But with over 300 samples of charcoal and other organic matter recovered from several layers of the site, radiocarbon dating will hopefully be able to determine a more precise timeline of the settlement’s evolution.

It is also hoped that post-excavation analysis will be able to reveal more about the use of this site: the initial excavation did not reveal whether these structures were purely domestic in nature or whether they served some other purpose. Closer examination of some of the small finds should make the picture clearer.

Ali added: ‘It could be that this was more of an industrial site. There are so many buildings over a huge area. We have got a lot more work to do.’

This news article appears in issue 370 of Current Archaeology. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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Alan Montgomery
Edinburgh University Press, £75
ISBN 978-1474445641
Review Andrew Tibbs

Classical Caledonia explores the antiquarian rediscovery of Scotland’s Roman remains, and how these have influenced and continue to influence Scottish identity, impacting on our interpretation of Roman Scotland today. Various populist and misleading tropes, such as Hadrian’s Wall forming the border between England and Scotland, or the belief that Scots were the only people in the ancient world to successfully resist the Roman army, are, as Montgomery explores, rooted in a need to create a national identity of a land and people who remain unconquerable, something that originates in the narrative established by the antiquarians.

Classical Caledonia begins with an exploration of the lives of the earliest antiquarians and the experiences that influenced their interpretation of the Roman army in north Britain, before contrasting this with the motivation and influence of the English antiquarians on the Roman occupation of north Britain, particularly focusing on the impact of tomes such as Britannia Romana, and how these continue to influence modern views and interpretations. Montgomery goes on to chart the golden age of antiquarianism, exploring how they sought out new Roman sites, plundering (and damaging) them in a bid to collect physical remnants of the past, inadvertently preserving the artefacts and creating collections which form the basis of today’s museums. Montgomery also charts the Roman influence on the Hanoverians, discussing the legacy of the Jacobite uprisings which led to the survey of many Roman sites during the formal mapping of Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Classical Caledonia is much more than a social history of antiquarian Scotland and the search for national identity: it is an exploration of the impact and influence of Rome on Scotland, examining the origins and influences on antiquarian thought and how these continue unduly to influence modern interpretations of Roman archaeology in north Britain. Classical Caledonia is a much-needed and thorough examination of the power and imagery of the Roman incursions into Scotland which continue to form part of Scottish national identity for Unionists and Nationalists alike.

This review appeared in CA 372. To find out more about subscribing to the magazine, click here.

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The traditional story of Iona’s early medieval monastery ends in tragedy and bloodshed, with the religious community wiped out by vicious Viking raiders. Increasingly, though, the archaeological and historical evidence does not support this persistent narrative, as Adrián Maldonado, Ewan Campbell, Thomas Owen Clancy, and Katherine Forsyth report.

Iona was the most famous of all early ‘Celtic’ island monasteries, founded by St Columba in AD 563 off the west coast of Scotland. It was known across Europe as a seat of learning and centre of artistic output of the highest order, playing a central role in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons and Picts. And if you know anything else about Iona, it is probably that the religious community was brought to a sudden and catastrophic end by the Vikings, who subjected the monastery to a series of violent raids from 795 to 825.

Despite these attacks, though, the monastery was never abandoned. There is a wealth of evidence for the survival, and indeed flourishing, of the monastic community on Iona in the following decades and centuries. Yet the Iona story always seems to close with the blood-red curtain of the Viking raids. So compelling is this version of history, it persists in the face of an increasing body of evidence from history, archaeology, and art.

The Viking-induced downfall of Iona is what we call a ‘zombie narrative’, the kind of revenant story that continues to rise from the dead every time it is laid to rest. Not only does it refuse to die, it is still nibbling at our brains. It has become an institutionalised blindness that prevents a proper understanding of the early medieval past, by upholding an outdated, even cartoonish, image of both the Vikings and the early monasteries they looted.

Iona in the early Viking Age

There is no doubting that violent attacks took place on Iona – the first raid was in 795 and others followed in 802 and 806, when 68 monks were slaughtered – but these shocks did not lead to the abandonment of the monastery. An influential community of scholars remained on the island, suffering another Viking raid in 825. Several objects scattered across Europe, from a bronze finial found in a wealthy female grave at Gausel, Rogaland, to a crosier at Helgö, Sweden, have been argued to have come from the looted shrine of St Columba. The 825 raid in particular sent shockwaves as far as the Carolingian monastery of Reichenau, where the scholar Walahfrid Strabo was moved to write a poem about the martyrdom of Blathmac of Iona. His melodramatic account has only fuelled traditions of Iona’s tragic fate, with some arguing that the monastery never recovered, its population reduced to a skeleton staff of hardcore hermits.

It is clear, however, that the monastery went on: contemporary historical sources continue to name senior church personnel on the island, including bishops, abbots, and the head of the scriptorium. Despite this evidence for institutional continuity, that persistent zombie narrative holds that the island monastery, located on the main sea-road through from Orkney to Ireland, was simply too exposed to Viking attacks to survive. This narrative has found its way deep into other corners of the discipline, most notably regarding the Book of Kells, where arguments against its production on Iona revolve mainly around the stock image of a monastery under relentless attack.

It is true that in the 9th century, relics of Columba were taken from Iona to two new daughter houses, Dunkeld and Kells, lying far inland in Scotland and Ireland. The zombie narrative tells us that this was for safekeeping from the insatiable Vikings. If so, the strategy failed miserably: Dunkeld was raided almost as soon as it was founded, in the reign of Cináed mac Ailpín (r. 842-858), and again in 878 and 903, while Kells was subjected to raids in 906, 920, 970, and 997 (and that’s just those in the 10th century). Ironically, Iona had no recorded raids for over 160 years during this same period, despite having numerous other mentions in the annals.

The zombie narrative stems from two historical accidents. The first is that the source material for the Annals of Ulster, one of our primary records of events, had by the late 8th century shifted from being a chronicle kept on Iona to one kept in Ireland. Reporting of all events in western Scotland was less consistent thereafter. But we still have recorded events on Iona, so we should not imagine a complete blackout. The second is a misunderstanding of what happened within the wider family of St Columba’s monasteries in the 9th century. The assumption is that all of the relics of Columba were removed, permanently demoting Iona from acting as the centre of the saint’s cult. The daughter houses of Iona had fanned out across Britain and Ireland to such an extent that these wealthy monasteries ended up in territories of rival kings. This led to factionalism within the familia of Columba, in which the prestigious title of the coarb, the headship, was aggressively contested. Their claims often rested on who had the most authentic relics of the saint.

Even though the headship of the familia did eventually wind up in the former daughter house of Derry in the 12th century, Columba’s tomb and relics remained on the island. Iona abbots were recorded transporting (and returning) relics in the 9th century, and the shrine continued to attract pilgrims, including royal visits down to King Magnus Barelegs of Norway in the late 11th century. While it was never the burial place of all kings of Scots (a zombie narrative for another day!), Iona continued to be favoured for the burial of Gaelic-Norse kings such as Amlaíb Cuarán – also known as Óláfr Sigtryggsson – in 980 and Guðrøðr Óláfsson in 1188. It also remained a focus for wealthy patronage: the high cross known as St Matthew’s dates to the 9th/10th century, and the 12th-century St Oran’s Chapel is one of the earliest examples of Romanesque architecture in Argyll (see CA 378 for more on the high crosses of Iona).

Archaeological evidence, old and new

For a long time, there were very few – albeit highly evocative – finds from Iona dating to the 9th-12th centuries. Most notable among them were a fragment discovered in 1962 of a cross-slab bearing an Old Norse runic inscription, and a silver hoard of Viking Age character discovered in 1950. Both belong to a period of time when Iona jumped back into the political arena, and when we begin to get more notices of it in the Irish annals. Most notably, Amlaíb Cuarán, King of York and Dublin, was defeated at the Battle of Tara in 980 and subsequently went on ‘pilgrimage’ (or forced exile) to Iona; he died and was presumably buried here later that year. In 986, a Danish war-party that had been ravaging northern Ireland sacked Iona, but this was no ‘Viking’ raid like those of the previous century: the events of the 980s were part of a struggle for succession in Ireland that involved attacking rival monasteries.

The Iona Hoard seems to be a product of these events. It is dated to c.986 on the basis of its coins, and was deposited just north of what is now the medieval cloister, at the heart of the early monastery. It contained 363 silver coins, together with some fragments of gold and silver, a characteristic mixed hoard of the late 10th century. The majority of the coins were English, but there were also some of the earliest coins from Normandy to appear in Scotland, Carolingian coins nearly a century old at the time of deposition, and even coins of Amlaíb Cuarán himself from when he was king in York. Some of the earlier coins are bent, a sign of testing for silver quality, which alongside three fragments of silver and gold, are characteristic of the bullion economy of the Viking Age kingdom of Man and the Isles. Two centuries after the first raid, the monastery was still a major pilgrimage destination and prestigious burial place for the Norse-Gaelic elite, the descendants perhaps of those early raiders. What had happened on Iona in the intervening 200 years?

This is an extract of an article that appeared in CA 381. Read on in the magazine (click here to subscribe) or on our new website, The Past, which details of all the content of the magazine. At The Past you will be able to read each article in full as well as the content of our other magazines, Current World Archaeology, Minerva, and Military History Matters.

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The King’s Park fort is part of a long term, relaxed and open series of project to explore the Late Prehistoric settlement patterns of the Forth Valley. The project focuses on a previously unknown Romano-British fort. You will have the opportunity to excavate archaeological remains that have never been examined before.

It costs £300, or £50 a day. The price excludes accommodation and food but the site is a 10 minute walk from Stirling’s city centre. The project is run by Dr Murray Cook.

Location: Huntly, Aberdeenshire
Region: Scotland
Time period: Neolithic and Pictish
Accommodation provided: No
Level of experience required: None
Academic credit available: No
Extra on-excavation activities: Guided tours
Age limit: 17+; under 17s have to be accompanied by an adult
Dates: August 14-19
Cost: £300 or £50 a day
Contact name: Dr Murray Cook
Contact address: 6a Gladstone Place, Stirling, FK8 2NN
Contact telephone: 07929848145
Contact email: info@rampartscotland.co.uk
Website address: https://www.rampartscotlandco.uk
Social media: 
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/146128012088257

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Glengarnock Castle lies just two miles from the town of Kilbirne, and only twenty-two miles from the city of Glasgow. Perched on a narrow outcrop overlooking the River Garnock, the site has incredible views over the surrounding landscape, and is naturally defended by a brawling stream that rushes through a rocky ravine over eighty feet below.

In 1839, this impressive three-storey castle was struck by a huge storm. Today, only half the Keep, a central courtyard, and a vaulted chamber remain standing; the rest lies buried below ground.

Can you help DigVentures reveal more of the original ground-plan? Can we untangle the rest of the ruins? Will we unearth features that were previously unknown, or make new discoveries about its age? Was the castle first built in 1450s? Or was the keep simply a reinforcement to a much older fortress? How much more of this castle is there to be discovered, and protected? Join DigVentures’ friendly team of archaeologists and find out.

You’ll learn how to excavate, interpret your discoveries and record them like a pro. There’ll also be plenty of opportunities to try additional archaeological skills. Most importantly, the things you discover will make a genuine contribution to our understanding of the past.

Location: Glengarnock Castle, North Ayrshire
Region: Scotland
Time period: Medieval
Accommodation provided: No
Level of experience required: No prior experience needed
Academic credit available: Not directly, but we can provide a letter of support which can be converted into credit by the institution
Extra on-excavation activities: Online events will be listed at https://digventures.com/calendar closer to the time – will include a Virtual Tour and at least one other talk/workshop. People can also support the dig as a Digital Crowdfunder and follow our process online (cost: £10-£75).
Age limit: Suitable for all ages with specific sessions suitable for children aged aged 12-16 (DigClub)
Dates: May 14-22
Cost: £185 – £920
Contact name: DigVentures
Contact address: Witham Studios #5, Hall Street, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8JB
Contact telephone: +44 (0) 333 011 3990
Contact email: hello@digventures.com
Website address: https://digventures.com
Social media:
Twitter – @TheDigVenturers
Instagram – @digventures
Facebook – @DigVentures

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