History Scotland Magazine: Resources

Resources index

Archaeology	History	Heritage
Articles Excavation reports Themes Archives Education/courses Profession/careers National organisations Local council services Local societies UK/world	Articles Themes/on-line exhibitions Documents/sources Libraries/archives Education/courses Profession/careers National organisations Local history Family history UK/world	Articles Major Events Education/Courses Place-names Conservation Gaelic/Scots National organisations UK/world

Archaeology

ARTICLES
On History Scotland website:

Recent finds and in-brief excavation reports + photos (pdf files):

Fife Bronze Age palstave axe; Neolithic arrow heads; polished stone axe. Read Article (pdf 39k)
Fife - Early Christian Carved Stone; Bronze Age Rock Art, Burntisland. Read article. (pdf 60k)
Roman Road, Cramond and Roman marching, camp, Kintore. Read article. (pdf - 88k)
Trinity Church, St Andrews. Read article. (pdf 77k)
Pitmilly pot, Fife, Carghidown Promontory Fort. Read article (pdf 51k)
Runic Inscribed Stone, Gilmerton Cove. Read article (pdf 36k)

Feature articles: (html documents):

Resurrection of the Swan: Archaeology of a Cromwellian Warship. Read Article
Kilmartin House & Glen . Kilmartin has the densest and most elaborate concentration of later Neolithic and Bronze Age rock carvings in Scotland. Read Article
Unravelling the Secrets of Scotlands Newest Early Christian Stone. Read Article.
Scotland's First Settlers. Read Article.

Articles on other websites

The significance of Celtic Coinage
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/celtic.html

EXCAVATION REPORTS

Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports (SAIR) - http://www.sair.org.uk
Free access to the following excavation reports:

SAIR 1: Dundrennan Abbey by Gordon Ewart (2001).

SAIR 2: The origins of the settlements at Kelso and Peebles, Scottish Borders.

SAIR 3: Bronze Age farms and Iron Age farm mounds of the Outer Hebrides.

SAIR 4: Survey at Earl's Bu, Orphir, Orkney 1989-91: geophysical work on a Late Norse Estate Complex.

SAIR 5: A Later Prehistoric house and Early Medieval buildings in Northern Scotland: excavations at Loch Shurrery and Lambsdale Leans, Caithness, 1955, with a note on Lower Dounreay.

SAIR 6: Resistivity imaging survey of Capo Long Barrow, Aberdeenshire

SAIR 7: Forthcoming.

SAIR 8: Excavation of an urned cremation burial of the Bronze Age, Glennan, Argyll and Bute.

SAIR 9: Excavation of an Iron Age burial mound, Loch Borralie, Durness, Sutherland.

SAIR 10: Conservation and Change on Edinburgh's Defences: Archaeological Investigation and Building Recording of the Flodden Wall, Grassmarket 1998-2001.

Published by The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in association with The Council for British Archaeology and Historic Scotland.

Ben Lawers Project

This site provides an outlet for the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project, a five-year long programme of archaeological and historical research into the past landscapes of the Central Highlands of Scotland. The land surrounding Ben Lawers is recognised as being of International importance in landscape and ecological terms. Evidence of the impact of humans within this landscape can be seen from the shores of Loch Tay up to the high peaks of the mountain range. This relict agricultural landscape was once occupied by thousands of people and is testament to how people lived during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in highland Scotland.

http://www.benlawers.org.uk

Braehead Enclosure - prehistoric

The Braehead Enclosure is one of very few large prehistoric settlement sites in Scotland to be fully excavated. Also features a downloadable education pack for teachers and students.
http://www.aocscot.co.uk/AOC%20Projects/Braehead/index.htm

Hilton of Cadboll Excavations - Pictish

GUARD (Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division) undertook the excavations at Hilton, Easter Ross in 2001 when the lower portion of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish cross-slab was re-discovered and lifted from the ground for conservation. Thousands of fragments of the original Pictish carving were also retrieved from the site and are being analysed in an attempt to reconstruct the missing cross-face.
http://www.guard.arts.gla.ac.uk/1078/default.html

Medieval or Later Rural Settlement (MoLRS)
The site, created by the Medieval or Later Rural Settlement (MoLRS) Working Group, has details of up-to-date research by archaeologists, historians, ethnologists and scientists into the traces of our agricultural landscapes of the past 1500 years. Visitors can see the latest news about current work, and also find out how to learn more through local archaeological and historical groups.
http://www.molrs.org.uk

Newbridge Iron Age Chariot Burial
The remains of an Iron Age chariot burial, dating from around 250BC were found on the site of a major new development 10 km west of Edinburgh in 2001
http://www.headlandarchaeology.com/Projects/ Newbridge_Chariot/Newbridge_main-page.html

Quoygrew, Westray, Orkney and the Viking Age Transitions Project

Quoygrew is a well-preserved Viking Age, medieval and post-medieval rural settlement in Westray, Orkney. The Viking Age Transitions Project was begun in 1997 to investigate the relationship between five aspects of the 11th century transition from the Viking Age to the Middle Ages in Norse Scotland:
http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/quoygrew/

Shetland/Hentins

Quarterly Heritage Newsletter for Shetland. Includes reports on archaeology and local history. Available as a pdf file.
http://www.shetland-museum.org.ukgov.uk/

The Shiant Isles

Extensive site including excavation reports, index of sites, maps and photographs.
http://www.shiantisles.net/archaeology/index.htm

THEMES

MEGALITHIC/ Ancient monuments

Mine Howe , Orkney

In the spring of 1946, a massive earthen mound known as Mine Howe in the East Mainland district of Tankerness in Orkney, was opened for the first time.
Over fifty years later it is still be capturing the imagination of the world.
http://www.minehowe.com/

Stone Pages

Extensive online guide about European megalithic sites and other ancient monuments. Includes: Scotland, Wales, Southern England Sardinia, France, Apulia and Corsica
http://www.stonepages.com/

Stone circles trail Aberdeenshire

Map recording sites of stone circles and photographs
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/web/
archaeology.nsf/html/5MBEDN?OpenDocument

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PICTISH AND EARLY MEDIEVAL CARVED STONES

Scotlands Early Medieval Sculptured Stones
www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/projects/SSEMS_web/index.html

Pictish Arts Society
www.pictarts.demon.co.uk/

Dark Isle Pictish slabs and Pictish symbols of Scotland
http://www.darkisle.com/picts.html

Medieval Scotland
http://www.medievalscotland.org/

The Whithorn Trust

Whithorn is the home of the earliest recorded Christian community in Scotland and was the episcopal seat of St. Ninian, the apostle of the southern Picts.
http://www.whithorn.com

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ROMAN

Carpow Roman Fort
http://www.ttforumfriends.com/carpow_roman_fort.htm

The Roman Gask frontier
http://www.morgue.demon.co.uk/Pages/Gask/

The Roman Fort and Bath at Bearsden, Scotland
http://www.athenapub.com/britsite/bearsden.htm

Vindolanda Tablets
Written in ink on postcard-sized sheets of wood, the Vindolanda tablets constitute a fascinating record of life in Roman Britain in the area around Hadrian's Wall during the first and second centuries AD.
http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

The Trimontium Trust
http://www.trimontium.freeserve.co.uk/

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VIKING/NORSE Viking Unst Project

Exploration of Shetland's first Viking settlement in Shetland, and its after-effects on the landscape and people.
http://www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/ amenitytrust/archaeology/unst/unst2001.html

ARCHAEOLOGY ARCHIVES

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland archive

Archive of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and the Archaeology Data Service comprises over 3000 articles and book chapters on Scottish archaeology.
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/psas/

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Huge database of NMRS national monuments, built environment, aerial photographs, standing stones etc.
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk