scholarly journals Excavation of a Neolithic enclosure and an Iron Age settlement at Douglasmuir, Angus

1996 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 29-67
Author(s):  
Jill Kendrick ◽  
Gordon J Barclay ◽  
Trevor G Cowie ◽  
A Saville ◽  
Jill Kendrick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Internal Ring ◽  
Compressor Station ◽  
Broad Ring ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc

The complete excavation of a post-defined Neolithic enclosure took place in 1979 and 1980 in advance of the construction of a gas compressor station for the British Gas Corporation. The enclosure appeared to have been constructed in two parts. There was little evidence for any associated activity except for a pit in the north half. Three charcoal samples from the post-holes produced radiocarbon dates in the range 3930-3390 cal BC. A small sample of a scatter of pits visible on aerial photographs was also excavated. Six penannular ring-ditch houses dating to the mid first millennium BC were also investigated. The houses were of the broad ring-ditch type with internal ring beam support. Other features included six-post structures and crescent-shaped hollows which might be the truncated remains of further house sites. There was little horizontal stratigraphy. The project was arranged and funded by Historic Scotland and its predecessor departments, with a contribution by British Gas.

scholarly journals The excavation of pit circles at Romancamp Gate, Fochabers, Moray, 1990

1994 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Regional Council ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Mesolithic Period

The excavation was undertaken with the funding and support of Grampian Regional Council to test hypotheses relating to the interpretation of cropmark pit circles: were they Neolithic or Bronze Age ceremonial or funerary structures, or were they Iron Age houses, and to what extent could the two classifications be differentiated on aerial photographs? The excavation revealed the remains of four circles (between 8.5 m and 11.5 m in diameter) of large post- holes, fence lines (one with a gate), and many other pits and post-holes. Radiocarbon dates place the post circles late in the first millennium BC uncal. The pit circles may be interpreted as the main structural elements of four substantial round houses, two of which burned down. Flint tools of the Mesolithic period were recovered.

scholarly journals Trial excavation of a terrace-edge enclosure at North Mains, Strathallan, Perthshire

1991 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay ◽  
Myra Tolan-Smith ◽  
Coralie Mills ◽  
J Barber
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc

A small part of the terrace edge enclosure at North Mains was excavated to test the hypothesis that it was contemporary with one or other of the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age ceremonial monuments immediately to the north. Two cropmark ditches and an entrance through them were confirmed by excavation. The inner ditch was very steep sided; postholes were found on the inner edge of both ditches. Possible postholes were also noted on the outer edge of the outer ditch. Traces of a number of structures were located in the interior, including what may be the slight wall-trench of a circular house. The results of radiocarbon dating may suggest that the ditch was dug in the second millennium bc, while at least one of the structures in the interior was in use in the late first millennium bc. A comment on the radiocarbon dates is provided by John Barber (50--1). An appendix gives details of the `Identification of charcoal from North Mains' by Coralie Mills (52--3). Au

Pre-Roman Iron Age Boats and Rocks in the North: Reality and ReXection

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coles
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

This chapter is offered to Barry Cunliffe as a token of the respect that I have for his immense contribution to studies of the European Iron Age. Our research interests have sometimes overlapped, at the Glastonbury and Meare Lake Villages for example, but in general we have pursued different lines and areas of enquiry. Yet he has been unfailing in support of numerous projects undertaken in foreign Welds and none, perhaps, more foreign than the study of rock carvings in northern Europe, a long way from his beloved Atlantic lands. In 2003 an important documentation on north European late first millennium BC boats appeared, ably assembled and in part authored by Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and his collaborator Athena Trakadas. The boats, dated to the Pre-Roman Iron Age of the north, have been named after a famous discovery at Hjortspring, on the island of Als in southern Denmark. Here, in 1880 or thereabouts, fragments of planking were revealed by peat-digging, along with iron and bone spearheads; all were either burnt on the spot or discarded by the finders, and there the matter rested until a local antiquarian heard of the discovery and alerted the authorities. This led in the 1920s to a remarkable excavation, far ahead of its time in the technical recovery of the surviving evidence, in the documentation of stratigraphy and context, and in the conservation procedures devised. The history of the Hjortspring boat and its huge array of equipment need not delay us here as it is well set out in the primary report (Rosenberg 1937), in a recent analysis (Randsborg 1995) and in the book noted above (Crumlin- Pedersen and Trakadas 2003).What has intrigued me, and I hope will intrigue Barry, is the location of the Hjortspring deposit, the boat lying not by the present or the Iron Age seashore of the island of Als, but near one of the highest points on the island, and well inland. It was deposited in a pond, now a small peatbog some 50m in diameter, about 40–45m above sea level, and some two km from the eastern seaboard and about five km from the Als Fjord on the west.

New Views on Engaruka, Northern Tanzania

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamo Sassoon
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Stone Structures

This paper describes a large area of stone-built ruins in northern Tanzania which has so far only been briefly excavated, but which is likely to prove to be a key site in the study of the Iron Age in East Africa. In addition to numerous massive stone circles, terraces and cairns, there are extensive systems of fields and enclosures defined with lines of stones. Excavations carried out in 1964 and 1966 have shown that the small terrace-platforms on the hillsides and the stone circles on the flatter land in the valley were occupied at different periods and by different peoples whose pottery is readily distinguishable. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the terrace sites on the hillsides were occupied during the first millennium A.D., and that the stone circles on the lower slopes in the valley were occupied during the fifteenth century A.D. The purpose of the numerous large and well-built cairns is not yet known, but it appears that they were not burial monuments. No evidence has been found that any of the stone structures were built or occupied by immigrants from outside Africa.It has not yet been possible to link the systems of fields and enclosures to the hillside terrace-platforms or to the stone circles. A close examination of the main area of fields and of low-level aerial photographs has not produced any evidence that the fields were irrigated, a fact which raises important agricultural and climatic problems in an area which has an average rainfall of less than 380 mm. (15 inches).The general picture of Engaruka which emerges is of an area which was occupied by different peoples at different times over a period of at least a thousand years. The stone structures which these different peoples built have accumulated to give the impression that there was once a very large population living in the area; in fact it is possible that this population was always less than 4,000 people at any one time.

The Excavation of a Settlement of the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age at Myrehead, Falkirk District

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
G J Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Ring Groove ◽  
Domestic Activity ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Actual Settlement

SUMMARY Myrehead has revealed the eroded remnants of activity from the Beaker period (Period A) onwards, with actual settlement evinced only from about the early first millennium be. The three houses and the cooking pits of Period B may have been constructed and used sequentially. This open settlement was probably replaced during the mid first millennium bc, possibly without a break, by a palisaded enclosure (Period C), which may have contained a ring-groove house and a four-post structure. Continued domestic activity (Period D) was suggested by a single pit outside the enclosure, dated to the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad. The limited evidence of the economy of the settlements suggests a mixed farming system.

Edges and interactions beyond Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Wells ◽  
Naoise Mac Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Temperate Europe ◽  
The North Atlantic

Iron Age Europe, once studied as a relatively closed, coherent continent, is being seen increasingly as a dynamic part of the much larger, interconnected world. Interactions, direct and indirect, with communities in Asia, Africa, and, by the end of the first millennium AD, North America, had significant effects on the peoples of Iron Age Europe. In the Near East and Egypt, and much later in the North Atlantic, the interactions can be linked directly to historically documented peoples and their rulers, while in temperate Europe the evidence is exclusively archaeological until the very end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The evidence attests to often long-distance interactions and their effects in regard to the movement of peoples, and the introduction into Europe of raw materials, crafted objects, styles, motifs, and cultural practices, as well as the ideas that accompanied them.

A road less travelled? The Society for Libyan Studies and the landscape archaeology of Libya's early civilisations

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 35-46
Author(s):  
David J. Mattingly
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Rural Landscapes ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Advanced Knowledge ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
Early Historic

AbstractThis contribution explores a key dimension of the work of the Society for Libyan Studies concerning the archaeology of Libya's Protohistoric and early historic periods (broadly first millennium BC and first millennium AD). This primarily concerns the archaeology of rural landscapes (including the desert) and the investigation of the ancient Libyan populations that inhabited them. Taking an autobiographical approach, I review the contributions to developing research agendas made by a number of research projects that I have been involved in. The results collectively have advanced knowledge and understanding not only of this aspect of ancient Libyan society, but also have important implications for the construction of Libyan identity and the management of its heritage today. More broadly, they constitute an important contribution to wider re-evaluation of Maghribian and Saharan societies in the Iron Age and Roman periods.

The Archaeology of Nunge Site: An Ancient Salt Making Settlement and Trading Centre in Bagamoyo, Tanzania

Utafiti ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-52
Author(s):  
Emanuel T. Kessy
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
Conventional View ◽  
The North ◽  
First Millennium

Abstract The Bagamoyo area is among the Tanzanian coastal locations where evidence of intercontinental trade dates back to the last few centuries of the first millennium AD. Previous investigations have indicated that the region’s earliest settlement is represented by Early Triangular Incised Ware [TIW] around 600 to 700 AD, at Bwembweni site located two kilometres south of Kaole. During the Later TIW, the population shifted to Kaole Hill during the period noted by the use of Plain Ware, and later moved to the adjacent Kaole Ruins by the thirteenth century. Traditionally, the majority of earlier investigations for such conclusions have been restricted to Bwembweni and Kaole sites, and to a limited extent to Bagamoyo Town itself and its vicinity. However, recent reconnaissance and excavation of Nunge, a single type pottery tradition site located to the north, suggests that although Bagamoyo’s involvement in intercontinental exchange dates back to the seventh century AD, the narrative is more complicated than previously assumed. It appears that between the subsequent ninth to eleventh centuries, the area lost such links, before resurfacing again in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. Within that time frame, Nunge developed into an extensive urban centre whose prosperity was based on salt production for exchange. This discovery suggests that the development to urbanism at (Later Iron Age phase) Nunge-Bagamoyo predates that of the Kaole town, when the area is known to have had a few links with the outside world. These findings contribute crucially to the debate regarding early urbanisation along the Swahili coast, by challenging the conventional view that Arab or Asian settlements were the earliest urban centres along the coast of East Africa.

Excavations and Metal-working at Llwyn Bryn-dinas Hillfort, Llangedwyn, Clwyd

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Musson ◽  
W. J. Britnell ◽  
J. P. Northover ◽  
C. J. Salter ◽  
P. Q. Dresser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Alloy ◽  
Radiocarbon Date ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Alloy Casting ◽  
The North ◽  
Local Evidence

Small-scale rescue excavations at Llwyn Bryn-dinas hillfort, on the Welsh Borderland, showed that the earliest fortification belonged to the late Bronze Age, with radiocarbon dates in the late 9th and 8th centuries be. A terrace, subsequently cut into the rear of the rampart to accommodate a metal-working floor, was associated with a radiocarbon date centred in the late 3rd century bc. Detailed analysis of the metal-working debris suggests that copper-alloy casting, iron forging and possibly bronze production were carried out within a single workshop. The finds include a distinctive form of handled crucible. The industry appears to have been fairly small-scale, of short duration, and probably only designed to meet the internal needs of the hillfort population. The excavation adds significantly to the local evidence for metal-working during the later prehistoric period. A distinctive zinc-impurity pattern in the copper alloy and raw copper, previously identified in material from other sites nearby, confirms the suggestion of an Iron Age bronze-working industry based on a specific metal source in the north Powys area. In addition, analysis of the iron-working debris suggests the exploitation of a distinctive local ore body. The metal-working activity appears to have come to an abrupt end, possibly with the enlargement or local repair of the rampart. Later phases of activity include a final occupation deposit with an associated radiocarbon date centred in the mid 2nd century bc.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document