Gordon Noble

Between prehistory and history: the archaeological detection of social change among the Picts

The development of small-scale kingdoms in the post-Roman world of northwestern Europe is a key stage in the subsequent emergence of medieval states. Recent excavations at Rhynie in north-eastern Scotland have thrown important light on the emergence of one such kingdom, that of the Picts. Enclosures, sculptured ‘symbol stones’ and long-distance luxury imports identify Rhynie as a place of growing importance during the fifth to sixth centuries AD. Parallels can be drawn with similar processes in southern Scandinavia, where leadership combined roles of ritual and political authority. The excavations at Rhynie and the synthesis of dated Pictish enclosures illustrate the contribution that archaeology can make to the understanding of state formation processes in early medieval Europe.

Ritual and remembrance at a prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland: excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross

Aerial photography and excavations have brought to notice a major prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland comparable to Stonehenge, although largely built in earth and timber. Beginning, like Stonehenge, as a cremation cemetery, it launched its monumentality by means of an immense circle of tree trunks, and developed it with smaller circles of posts and an earth bank (henge). A change of political mood in the Early Bronze Age is marked by one of Scotlands best preserved dagger-burials in a stone cist with an engraved lid. The perishable (or reusable) materials meant that this great centre lay for millennia under ploughed fields, until it was adopted, by design or by chance, as a centre of the Pictish kings.

Excavations at a Multi-period Site at Greenbogs, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and the Four-post Timber Architecture Tradition of Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland

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.

Re)discovering the Gaulcross Hoard

Abstract Modern excavations can sometimes provide surprising new insights on antiquarian finds of metalwork. The Pictish silver hoard from Gaulcross in north-eastern Scotland provides an excellent example. Recent fieldwork, including metal-detecting, has clarified the size and composition of the hoard, and uncovered 100 new silver items, including coins, fragments of brooches and bracelets, ingots and parcels of cut, bent and broken silver known as Hacksilber. Comparisons with other hoards and with Pictish symbol stones illustrate the circumstances and date of deposition, the origin of the silver and the forms of society emerging in Scotland in the post-Roman period.

The Monumental Cemeteries of Northern Pictland

THE EMERGENCE OF FORMAL CEMETERIES is one of the most significant transformations in the landscapes of 1st millennium ad Scotland. In eastern and northern Scotland, in the lands of the Picts, square and circular burial monuments were constructed to commemorate a small proportion of the population — perhaps a newly emerging elite in the post-Roman centuries. This paper presents the results of a project that has consolidated and reviewed the evidence for monumental cemeteries of the northern Picts from Aberdeenshire to Inverness-shire, transcribing the aerial evidence of many sites for the first time. In addition, the landscape location of the cemeteries is assessed, along with their relation to Pictish symbol stones, fortified sites and settlement landscapes of the 1st millennium ad. Two particular elements of the burial architecture of northern Pictland are highlighted — barrow enlargement, and the linking of barrows through the sharing of barrow/cairn ditches. Both of these practices are suggested here to be implicated in the creation of genealogies of the living and the dead during an important transitional period in northern Europe when hereditary aristocracies became more prominent.

The development of the Pictish symbol system: inscribing identity beyond the edges of Empire

The date of unique symbolic carvings, from various contexts across north and east Scotland, has been debated for over a century. Excavations at key sites and direct dating of engraved bone artefacts have allowed for a more precise chronology, extending from the third/fourth centuries AD, broadly contemporaneous with other non-vernacular scripts developed beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire, to the ninth century AD. These symbols were probably an elaborate, non-alphabetic writing system, a Pictish response to broader European changes in power and identity during the transition from the Roman Empire to the early medieval period.

Early medieval shellfish exploitation in Northwest Europe: investigations at the Sands of Forvie Shell Middens, Eastern Scotland, and the role of coastal resources in the First Millennium AD

ABSTRACT Coastal shell middens represent a well-known element of the archaeological record of island and coastal regions across the world and shellfish have been an important resource for subsistence since the mid Holocene. However, the factors that influence shellfishing remain poorly understood and in many regions investigations into the role of shellfish gathering often have remained focused on prehistoric examples to the detriment of shell middens of later dates. This article reports on the emerging evidence for large-scale exploitation of shellfish during a hitherto understudied period for shell midden archaeology in northwest Europe: the first millennium AD. The article includes a review of a series of previously unknown large mussel-dominated middens in eastern Scotland, an outline of their chronology and character, including Bayesian modeling of dates, and a synthesis of the emerging evidence for shellfish gathering in northwest Europe during the first millennium AD. The research represents the first investigation of large-scale early Medieval middens in Britain and the first review of their international parallels and the important new information they can provide for the early Medieval economy.

Archaeological excavations at Nethermills Farm, Deeside, 1978–81

The Mesolithic site of Nethermills Farm, Crathes, Banchory, was identified from fieldwalking that took place between 1973 and 1977 and it was excavated between 1978 and 1981 under the direction of James Kenworthy. Kenworthy interpreted the site as a ‘hunter-gatherer camp’ with probable evidence for a circular structure, but publication of the excavation was never completed. This paper draws on specialist work undertaken immediately after excavation, together with new analyses and radiocarbon determinations from original samples. It focuses on the results of excavation: material from the fieldwalking is briefly considered towards the end of the discussion, but detailed analysis of the lithics from fieldwalking is left for future research. A number of stratified features were excavated and recorded, together with a lithic assemblage of over 30,000 pieces, which includes many narrow blade microliths. It is not possible to uphold the interpretation that the cut features represent the remains of a specific structure but it is clear that Mesolithic activity took place here, probably comprising repeated visits over a considerable period of time. The radiocarbon determinations cover a wide spread of activity from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age – though there are no clear chronological indicators of later prehistoric activity in the finds from the site. Kenworthy chose to excavate only a tiny proportion of the site at Nethermills, which extends some 2km along the River Dee. The likelihood that stratified features may survive elsewhere makes this a Mesolithic site of considerable significance – especially when considered in the context of the many other Mesolithic sites along the River Dee, from its source to the sea.

Early Medieval Shellfish Gathering at the Sands of Forvie, Aberdeenshire: Feast or Famine?

From 2010 to 2014, extensive shell middens were excavated at the Sands of Forvie, Aberdeenshire, and the wider landscape explored through a programme of soil and geophysical survey. The middens were dated to the 1st millennium ad and appear to represent intensive gathering and cooking of shellfish, particularly mussels. To date, few middens of the scale of the Forvie examples have been identified in Scotland, but the middens share some parallels with similar examples found in a broader North Sea context. This article reports on the findings of the excavations, provides an outline of the chronology of the middens, including Bayesian modelling of dates, and a brief review of the growing evidence for shellfish gathering in 1st-millennium ad Scotland and the wider north-west European context.

The land before symbol stones: a geophysical survey of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire and the excavation of a Middle Bronze Age structure near the Craw Stane, Barflat

The established view of urban medieval iron-working in Scotland is that urban smiths depended on rural bloomeries for the supply of processed raw materials. This view is challenged on the basis of chemical/mineralogical analyses of industrial waste from several urban medieval excavations in and around the town of Perth. Archaeological evidence and the composition of iron-working debris in Perth suggests that the town smiths may not have been dependent on rural supply, but practised primary extraction themselves, thus controlling all aspects of output and development in the ironworking industry from perhaps as early as the 13th century. This paper is funded by Historic Scotland and forms part of ongoing research on the Scottish Bloomeries Project.The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine is one of the treasures of National Museums Scotland. This paper reassesses the circumstances of its discovery, its context and importance, and its role as a relic of a saint, not Moluag, as previously suggested, but possibly Columba. The wider use of handbells in the early medieval church is also considered. The bell-shrine was found in 1814, on the farm of Torbhlaren, in the parish of Kilmichael Glassary, in mainland Argyll. probably near to where it was venerated. The bell inside it dates to the 7th-9th century, the shrine to the first half of the 12th century. The latter bears evidence in its design of a mixed artistic heritage, including local, Irish and Scandinavian influence. Alternative hypotheses, that it represents the artistic output of the Kingdom of the Isles or Dunkeld, in the kingdom of the Scots, are presented. Details are provided of a technological examination of bell and shrine and a list of other early Scottish handbells is included.Excavation of a well-preserved upstanding roundhouse revetted into a steep hillside at Navidale has revealed a structure with unusually sophisticated architectural traits dated to around 1400–1200 bc. The house was built within an agricultural landscape but its abandonment appears to have been linked to a cessation of agriculture within that landscape, possibly part of a wider environmental decline across northern ScotlandRecent finds of copper alloy and lead figural sculpture from Roman Scotland are presented and discussed. These are rare finds in this frontier area, and represent a significant addition to a small corpus. Discussion considers whether such finds offer clues to the location of shrines or other sacred places in the wider landscape, a question that has largely been ignored in research to date. The rarity of such finds among the Roman imports on Iron Age sites leads to a discussion of the uptake and impact of such naturalistic imagery on the local population. An appendix catalogues the finds.Excavation of a well-preserved upstanding roundhouse revetted into a steep hillside at Navidale has revealed a structure with unusually sophisticated architectural traits dated to around 1400–1200 bc. The house was built within an agricultural landscape but its abandonment appears to have been linked to a cessation of agriculture within that landscape, possibly part of a wider environmental decline across northern Scotland.The aim of this summary paper is to review the success of chemical sourcing in the study of the Scottish medieval Whiteware and Redware ceramic industries and outline the methods and protocols that the authors feel should be used to take the technique forward.Erosion of sand dunes in the Bay of Skaill, close to the Neolithic site at Skara Brae, exposed a spread of faunal remains and stone tools representing a Late Neolithic butchery site separated by a wall from a deposit of articulated red deer bone. This is an unusual and significant bone assemblage comprising both fragmented and articulated remains of red deer together with some domesticates. Also a whale mandible was closely associated with the butchery area. An interpretation of the site incorporates a reappraisal of the role of red deer and cattle elsewhere in Late Neolithic OrkneyIn April 2004, an archaeological evaluation took place prior to development at Beechwood Park, adjacent to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness. A pit was found to contain both an undecorated Beaker and a plano-convex knife at the base, with later slag from iron smithing dispersed in the fill. These associations are discussed and placed in their local and national context.This paper discusses aspects of Scottish rotary quern use which have received little attention in the past, such as handling systems (particularly horizontal slot-handled querns), decoration and an unrecognised class of miniature examples. The growing corpus of rotary querns is starting to reveal regional patternings and concentrations of particular decorative styles. This ongoing investigation suggests that the picture is more complex than previously understood.An assemblage of flint and quartz artefacts recovered during the destruction of Kilmelfort Cave, Argyll, in 1956, was initially attributed to the Mesolithic period. In this paper the assemblage is reanalysed and the conclusion that it represents the residue of human occupation at the site during the Late Glacial Interstadial is reached. Typological considerations indicate the assemblage is of Curve-Backed Point Group (Federmessergruppen) affiliation and likely to date to the 12th millennium 14C yr bp. Significantly, the evidence from Kilmelfort provides the first substantive indication of the presence of Late Upper Palaeolithic hunters in Scotland.Two short cists of Early Bronze Age date, containing prehistoric flint artefacts and shale/cannel coal beads, were discovered during topsoiling operations for the Aberdeen to Lochside Natural Gas Pipeline, to the south of Lindsayfield, near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Cremated human bone from one of the cists was radiocarbon dated to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. A pit which contained broadly contemporary prehistoric flint artefacts and pottery was found nearby. The fieldwork and post-excavation work were funded by National Grid Transco.In September and October 2015, an archaeological excavation was undertaken on the site of the former Empire Cinema on Dunbar High Street. In addition to late medieval and post-medieval remains, a cist grave of pre-Roman or Roman Iron Age date was excavated and recorded. Two adult males occupied the cist grave, one of whom was equipped with a sword and a spear, representing a rare example of an Iron Age burial with weapons in Scotland. Partial skeletal remains of two further individuals were also present. This paper describes the cist grave and its contents, and places these in the context of similar remains in Scotland and wider afield, as well as considering the medieval and post-medieval remains, which included a north/south-aligned ditch that may have marked a boundary line to the west of Dunbars High Street. Rubble walls forming a corner of a structure to the west of this ditch may mark the remains of a building of late medieval date, while a relatively homogeneous deposit of considerable depth, built up over a relatively short period, may represent intentional levelling of the Empire site between the late medieval and early post-medieval periods.The Rhynie Environs Archaeological Project (REAP) was initiated in 2005 as a three year (Phase 1) programme of research and fieldwork based in and around the village of Rhynie; the main aim was to study the landscape context of an important group of PictishThis paper examines in detail a number of 18th- and early 19th-century ceremonial chairs in the context of the material culture and social position of the trade incorporation in the Scottish town.The recent discovery of two coin hoards – one from the reign of Commodus and the other from that of Septimius Severus – provides an opportunity for a reassessment of the numismatic evidence for events in what is now Scotland between the abandonment of the Antonine Wall and the period immediately following the conclusion of the campaigns of Severus. It is generally agreed by those who study Roman the Antonine Wall occurred in the early 160s ad, although recent research indicates that the decision to reoccupy Hadrian’s Wall was reached during the latter part of the reign of Antoninus Pius (Hodgson 2011). It is also generally accepted now that the system put in place at that time for the supervision of areas beyond the frontier was essentially that which had, at one time, been ascribed by scholars to Caracalla after ad 211 (Hanson & Maxwell 1983: 194; Breeze & Dobson 2000: 132–3). Outpost forts were occupied at Birrens, Netherby and Bewcastle in the west, and at Risingham and High Rochester on Dere Street in the east. Farther to the north, the forts at Cappuck and at Trimontium/Newstead also continued to be occupied until around ad 180 or just after. The coin series from the fort at Trimontium includes seven coins minted during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and concludes with a single denarius of Commodus for Crispina, dating from no earlier than ad 180. During the well-attested military campaigns that took place during the reign of Septimius Severus, the only known permanent bases are assumed to have been those at Cramond, on the Firth of Forth, and Carpow, on the Firth of Tay. * Department of Scottish History and Archaeology, National Museum of Scotland there, will be discussed below. There were also, of course, a series of temporary marching camps extending almost to the Moray Firth, but few if their dating. There was thus a period of some 45 years between the abandonment of the Antonine Wall and the arrival of Septimius Severus and his two sons in Scotland in ad 208, as attested by Roman historians (Cassius Dio, Roman History: 76.11.1; Herodian, History of Rome: 3.14.1–2), during at least part of which we know that there was a Roman military presence in southern Scotland, but very little else. The only historically recorded event was some sort of military activity on the northern frontier early in the reign of Commodus. It is recorded that a hostile force crossed the mural frontier, which separated their territory from the province of Britannia, and killed a Roman general (Cassius Dio 72.8). Dio does not make it clear whether this refers to Hadrian’s Wall or to the abandoned Antonine Wall, but the former is now considered more probable. The resulting military action has been dated to the period ad 182 or 183 to 184 (Birley 2005: 164) and was deemed to commemorate its successful conclusion. Illus 1 shows a sestertius belonging to an issue of ad 184–5. The imperial titles on the obverse conclude Holmes, N M McQ.indd 133 23/11/2015 12:55 134 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 2014 with the abbreviation BRIT (Britannicus), and on the reverse, the abbreviation vict brit (Victoria Britannica) occurs in the exergue, beneath a on another shield. Apart from this, the material evidence comprises almost entirely a series of hoards of coins, almost all of silver denarii and concluding with issues of Marcus, Commodus, Pertinax or Severus, which have been found in territory to the north of Hadrian’s Wall. Until recently there were thirteen of these ending with coins of Marcus or Commodus, most of them found a very long time ago and not adequately recorded. (Early Severan hoards from Scotland are discussed below.) The list comprised the following: Hoards closing with coins of the reign of Marcus Aurelius (ad 161–80) Linlithgow, West Lothian (1781): ‘about 300’ silver (Robertson 2000: 55, hoard 268). West Calder, West Lothian (1810): unknown number, silver (Robertson 2000: 54–5, hoard 267). Mindrum, Northumberland (1826): ‘500/600/ nearly 700’ silver, according to different accounts (Robertson 2000: 56, hoard 274). Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire (1893): possibly 47 silver (Robertson 2000: 57–8, hoard 282). Inchyra, Perthshire (1993): eight silver (Bateson & Hall 2002). The authors suggest a date of deposition early in the reign of Commodus, although the latest coin in the hoard was minted in ad 178. Kirkton Barns, Tayport, Fife (2009–10): 16 silver, unfortunately in very poor condition (Holmes 2011). In addition, a hoard found at Carstairs, Lanarkshire (1781) is said to have comprised ‘a hundred or more’ bronze coins (Robertson 2000: 54, hoard 266). Hoards closing with coins of the reign of Commodus (ad 180–93) Muthill, Perthshire (c 1672): ‘a considerable deal of monye’ in silver (Robertson 2000: 74, hoard 348) Pitcullo, Leuchars, Fife (1781): 19 silver (Robertson 2000: 73, hoard 345). Strathaven (Avondale), Lanarkshire (1803): ‘about 400’ silver (Robertson 2000: 74, hoard 347. Illus 1 British Victory sestertius of Commodus, minted ad 184–5. Diameter of coin is 30mm Holmes, N M McQ.indd 134 23/11/2015 12:55 THE SYNTON AND KIPPILAW DENARIUS HOARDS | 135 Shotts, Lanarkshire (1842): ‘several hundred’ silver (Robertson 2000: 73–4, hoard 346). Broch of Lingrow, Orkney (1870–1): four silver (Robertson 2000: 74, hoard 349). Briglands (Rumbling Bridge), Kinross-shire (1938, 1948–57): 180 silver to ad 186–7 (Robertson 2000: 71, hoard 335). To this list can now be added the 228 denarii found in 2011 at Synton, Ashkirk, Roxburghshire, closing with a single coin of Commodus for his wife, Crispina. Appendix A contains information and a complete list of the coins. Research on hoards found across Europe has demonstrated that Roman denarii were being exported across the imperial frontiers into barbaricum in large numbers during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus and the very early part of that of Septimius Severus (eg Berger 1996; Bursche 1996). It seems probable that late second-century hoards found beyond the frontier in Britain comprised coins which arrived as part of that process. In the case of Commodan hoards, however, the possibility must also be considered that they may in some way have been connected with the military campaign of the 180s ad. In the case of the Rumbling Bridge hoard, the date of the latest coin (ad 186–7) would seem to suggest that concealment of the hoard took place after the conclusion of the campaign, since Commodus issued Victory-type coins in ad 184– 5, but it is impossible to be certain whether this date truly marked the end of military operations beyond Hadrian’s Wall. In the case of the Synton hoard, the sole coin from the reign of Commodus is otherwise undated, but the very fact that there is only one coin of this reign strongly suggests that deposition took place in the very early 180s ad. Since Rumbling Bridge and Synton are the only two Commodan hoards from Scotland which are large enough and well enough recorded to permit detailed analysis, it is necessary to identify some hoards of similar date from within the province of Britannia for the purposes of comparison, and the following have been selected: Wreningham, Norfolk (1994) (Davies & Orna-Ornstein 1997): 186 denarii to ad 180. This contained no coins of Commodus, but the latest coin of Marcus Aurelius dated from Ollerton/‘Edwinestow’, Nottinghamshire (1910 and 1988) (Carradice & Burnett 1992 (nb published total of 417 coins is incorrect)): 419 denarii to ad 180. This included one coin reign. Barway, Cambridgeshire (1960 and 1988– denarii and one As to ad 181.Coins and other numismatic finds from 219 locations across Scotland are listed and discussedThis is the third of a series of four papers that present the excavations undertaken on the Uig Peninsula, Isle of Lewis, as part of the Uig Landscape Project. We present the archaeological evidence from An Dunan, a causewayed tidal islet in the salt marsh of Uig sands, a liminal and potentially ritual site dating to the Iron Age and medieval period. The first main Middle Iron phase was characterised by activities centred on an ash mound, demarcated by four large orthostats, within an essentially rectilinear structure containing internal cellular divisions. The activities within the structure have been interpreted as non-domestic in nature. The second main phase involved the medieval re-use of aspects of the Iron Age building to create a small boat-shaped structure, with very little associated material culture. The structural, artefactual and environmental evidence from the site is presented, before being interpreted within the wider research context of the archaeology of the Western Isles and Atlantic Scotland.