Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: fieldwork, rescue and archive

This thesis examines the role and work of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from a geographical perspective in the period 1908 – c.1975, with especial reference to the historical geographies behind the production of the national inventory of Scotland’s ancient and historic built monuments. The thesis examines the sites of practice where the Commission produced the national inventory to explore the doing of the inventory. Fieldwork is a central concern of the thesis. Attention is paid to the spatial aspects of Commission’s work both in the field “out there” and in the office “in here”. The thesis discusses the methods and technologies which fostered the development of fieldwork practices rooted in the office and in the field. The Commission was always ‘doing fieldwork’ and this thesis brings into focus the relationship between the different spaces and places where the Commission undertook what might be labelled as work in the field. The thesis is comprised of nine chapters. An introduction and literature review are followed by an examination of the history of antiquarianism relevant to the establishment of the Commission. A further two chapters provide an overview of the Commission’s history, arranged chronologically, and its archive, understood in relation to relevant archival theory. Three chapters consider the development of the Commission with particular attention paid to fieldwork techniques and methods, the development of rescue archaeology, and the associated technologies which facilitated the Commission’s work within a rescue paradigm before turning, finally, to examine the Commission’s database, Canmore. Examining the Commission in this manner has drawn attention to the ways in which geographers and others conceive of fieldwork and how the development of the Commission was inherently linked to ways of doing work in the field. Through examining the history and geography of the Commission’s work the concern of this thesis is to study how ‘antiquarian research’ was carried out in the field “in here” and “out there” simultaneously. The thesis suggests that narrow definitions of fieldwork overlook the nuances of how ancient Scotland was revealed through suites of different practice. The thesis argues that more fine-grained approaches to understanding the how of the doing of fieldwork might lead to reconceptualisation of the place of work in the field, recognising that different practices helped constitute both ancient and historical Scotland as the object of the Commission’s work and the Commission itself

The end game: As Scotland’s Historic Land-use Assessment project reaches completion what have we learned?

For over a decade the Historic Land-Use Assessment Project, a partnership between Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, has undertaken the challenge of mapping the character of Scotland’s historic landscape. By 2015 the Project will have delivered 100% coverage and, for the first time, Scotland will have a map providing time-depth within the landscape; a map showing both current and relict landscape use. The final stages of this project provide a valuable opportunity for review and reflection. This paper will review where we have reached and will consider some possibilities for the future

The seal matrix of Sir John Campbell and the struggle for Dunyvaig Castle on the Isle of Islay

The great feud between the clans Campbell and MacDonald in the early seventeenth century AD was part of a power struggle for control of Islay, the seat of the Lord of the Isles, and encompassed wider political, economic and religious change in the region and beyond from the sixteenth century. The discovery of a seal matrix found during excavations at Dunyvaig Castle reveals the personal story of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor (1576–1642) in these broader political events

Associative and Spatial Relationships in Thesaurus-based Retrieval

The OASIS (Ontologically Augmented Spatial Information System) project explores terminology systems for thematic and spatial access in digital library applications. A prototype implementation uses data from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, together with the Getty AAT and TGN thesauri. This paper describes its integrated spatial and thematic schema and discusses novel approaches to the application of thesauri in spatial and thematic semantic distance measures. Semantic distance measures can underpin interactive and automatic query expansion techniques by ranking lists of candidate terms. We first illustrate how hierarchical spatial relationships can be used to provide more flexible retrieval for queries incorporating place names in applications employing online gazetteers and geographical thesauri. We then employ a set of experimental scenarios to investigate key issues affecting use of the associative (RT) thesaurus relationships in semantic distance measures. Previous work has noted the potential of RTs in thesaurus search aids but the problem of increased noise in result sets has been emphasised. Specialising RTs allows the possibility of dynamically linking RT type to query context. Results presented in this paper demonstrate the potential for filtering on the context of the RT link and on subtypes of RT relationships

La Visió de la història del paisatge a Gran Bretanya: velles i noves idees

Gran Bretanya ha estat descrita com un “país antic” i el mateix pot dir-se dels seus paisatges, que són complexos, resultat de múltiples capes històriques i sovint icònics. L'estudi d'aquests paisatges és interdisciplinar, enfocat en matèries properes i relacionades entre sí com ho són la història del paisatge i l'arqueologia del paisatge. L'objectiu d'aquest article és revisar breument com s'ha desenvolupat la història del paisatge en termes globals a Gran Bretanya i considerar com es manté en l'actualitat.Britain has been described as an ‘old country’ and the same may be said of its landscapes which are complex, multi-layered and often iconic. The study of these landscapes is interdisciplinary, focusing on the closely related subjects of landscape history and landscape archaeology. The aim of this paper is to review briefly how landscape history in general terms has developed in Britain and to consider how it stands today.Gran Bretaña ha sido descrita como un “país antiguo” y lo mismo se puede decir de sus paisajes, que son complejos, resultado de múltiples capas históricas y a menudo icónicos. El estudio de estos paisajes es interdisciplinar, focalizado en materias próximas y relacionadas entre sí como lo son la historia del paisaje y la arqueología del paisaje. El objetivo de este artículo es revisar brevemente cómo se ha desarrollado la historia del paisaje en términos generales en Gran Bretaña y considerar cómo se mantiene en la actualidad

In the hands of the user: a framework for the analysis of online engagement with digital heritage collections

Within a context of recent and rapid transformation in authorship and participation practices on the Internet, this thesis explores the implications of an emerging digital culture for heritage institutions, such as museums and archives. Combining insights from internet, education and museum theory it explores different experiences of participation and meaning making around digital heritage collections opened to public engagement and contribution. In particular, the investigation analyses and contrasts the online activities of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), partner in the research, with alternative approaches. The thesis applies ethnographic research methods to investigate embodied and virtual settings. Based on the empirical findings, it identifies different theoretical models of online engagement with heritage content. It then extrapolates from these models a conceptual framework that could be used by heritage institutions to analyse and re-assess their online practices, intellectual positioning and strategic ambitions in the context of the paradigm shift brought about by digitality

A Building Stone Assessment of sandstone in Iona Nunnery and at Carsaig quarry on Mull

This report presents the outcomes of a project commissioned by Historic Scotland to determine, using a combination of archival records and geological evidence, whether blocks of sandstone in Iona Nunnery (a Scheduled Monument on the island of Iona) came from Carsaig quarry (a long-disused quarry on the south coast of Mull). The report also considers the feasibility of sourcing new stone to use in future repairs to the nunnery from Carsaig quarry and from the remains of nearby Carsaig pier. Details of the most suitable commercially available stones from elsewhere in the UK are also provided, should it prove not possible or not practical to obtain new stone from Carsaig quarry or Carsaig pier

The national database for Scotland: evolution of the digital resource

RCAHMS maintains the national database and hosts the national collections of the archaeological and built heritage of Scotland, including its maritime waters. In the last twenty years, the database has evolved from a paper-based system to an Oracle database and GIS with well-established online search facilities (Canmore) and partnership applications (SWISH and PASTMAP). As RCAHMS approaches its centenary in 2008, new strategies are required not only to manage increasing volumes of information from professional organisations and amateur groups, but to engage the wider public not only through data mediation and the presentation of information already held in the database, but also by encouraging their active participation. This paper outlines current initiatives at RCAHMS to encourage data standards including the development of a Scottish thesaurus of monuments and the endorsement of the ASPIRE protocol and OASIS application. The database is also evolving to develop the Events-Monuments-Collections model