Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are
revealing the very well-preserved re... more Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant, bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined chronology bringing us close to the ‘ …short-term timescales of lived reality’ [Foxhall, L. 2000. “The Running Sands of Time: Archaeology and the Short-Term.” World Archaeology 31 (3): 484–498].
In early 2005 a cluster of orthostat stones was exposed by coastal erosion at Meur, Sanday, Orkne... more In early 2005 a cluster of orthostat stones was exposed by coastal erosion at Meur, Sanday, Orkney. The excavation revealed a stone trough within the centre of an open space defined by walls. It was associated with at least one compartment and a secondary corbelled cistern ...
ABSTRACT This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at... more ABSTRACT This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 cal bc. These were found in association with a range of other features including an oval structure and diffuse areas of burning. The closest parallels for the four-post structures can be found in a slowly growing body of Late Neolithic timber structures, some being interpreted as roofed dwellings and others as roofed or unroofed monuments. This article places the Greenbogs structures in their wider context, identifies a number of unexcavated parallels in the aerial record and addresses the nature of the four-post structures found across Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland and suggests that four-post structures were a more common element of Late Neolithic architecture than previously identified. A common building type appears to have been shared across large areas of Britain and Ireland in a variety of contexts, from the seemingly mundane to the more ‘charged’, as part of elaborate monument complexes. The later prehistoric features identified at Greenbogs include a concentration of Middle Bronze Age features including graves containing cremated human bones, one with an upright urn, and a number of Iron Age pits and other features.
Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are
revealing the very well-preserved re... more Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant, bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined chronology bringing us close to the ‘ …short-term timescales of lived reality’ [Foxhall, L. 2000. “The Running Sands of Time: Archaeology and the Short-Term.” World Archaeology 31 (3): 484–498].
In early 2005 a cluster of orthostat stones was exposed by coastal erosion at Meur, Sanday, Orkne... more In early 2005 a cluster of orthostat stones was exposed by coastal erosion at Meur, Sanday, Orkney. The excavation revealed a stone trough within the centre of an open space defined by walls. It was associated with at least one compartment and a secondary corbelled cistern ...
ABSTRACT This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at... more ABSTRACT This report outlines the unexpected discovery of a group of Late Neolithic structures at Greenbogs, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, along with a series of later prehistoric features in the mid-1990s. Recent radiocarbon dating shows that two four-post timber structures found here date to the period 2890–2490 cal bc. These were found in association with a range of other features including an oval structure and diffuse areas of burning. The closest parallels for the four-post structures can be found in a slowly growing body of Late Neolithic timber structures, some being interpreted as roofed dwellings and others as roofed or unroofed monuments. This article places the Greenbogs structures in their wider context, identifies a number of unexcavated parallels in the aerial record and addresses the nature of the four-post structures found across Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland and suggests that four-post structures were a more common element of Late Neolithic architecture than previously identified. A common building type appears to have been shared across large areas of Britain and Ireland in a variety of contexts, from the seemingly mundane to the more ‘charged’, as part of elaborate monument complexes. The later prehistoric features identified at Greenbogs include a concentration of Middle Bronze Age features including graves containing cremated human bones, one with an upright urn, and a number of Iron Age pits and other features.
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revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age
settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber
structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily
occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of
the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved
roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected
to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant,
bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal
steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will
enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life
cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and
construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely
function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to
view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined
chronology bringing us close to the ‘ …short-term timescales of
lived reality’ [Foxhall, L. 2000. “The Running Sands of Time:
Archaeology and the Short-Term.” World Archaeology 31 (3):
484–498].
revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age
settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber
structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily
occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of
the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved
roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected
to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant,
bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal
steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will
enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life
cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and
construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely
function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to
view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined
chronology bringing us close to the ‘ …short-term timescales of
lived reality’ [Foxhall, L. 2000. “The Running Sands of Time:
Archaeology and the Short-Term.” World Archaeology 31 (3):
484–498].