Rural society & settlement: isolated monuments and farming communities in northern and western Scotland in the late Atlantic Iron Age

The thesis opens with a statement of the methodological approach of the research, explaining the use of a historical model to inform a field methodology of a combination of prospecting techniques. The model to be used is set out along with a consideration of the expectations of the field methodology and the hypothesis to be tested: that élite sites will have a concentrating effect upon settlement patterns and create "hierarchical" landscapes, in contrast to non-hierarchical landscapes which, in the absence of an élite site, will show no particular clustering. Following this is a statement of the problem of settlement studies in Scotland, with a consideration of previous and current approaches. This is followed by discussion of the available prospecting techniques and a detailed discussion of the chemistry of soil phosphates. The historical and archaeological framework of the period is then presented with a consideration of the evidence available from legal and historical sources and from excavations carried out on élite sites. Agriculture is then discussed, firstly in terms of its productivity and then of the techniques of agriculture to assess the effect of agriculture upon settlement distribution. Finally, the results of the fieldwork are presented, divided between hierarchical and non-hierarchical landscapes. The conclusion assesses the overall effectiveness of the methodology in terms of how well the hypothesis was proved and of the applicability of the methodology for amateurs and lone workers. The results indicate that the general model of social relations being reflected in settlement patterns is broadly correct, but that the effect will not necessarily be one of concentrating settlement around the élite site. At the micro-scale of analysis undertaken within the thesis, the important factor connected with élite sites was found to be the denoting of status by the possession of private space

Asset, Burden, Cultybraggan : Community site ownership in a Scottish village

Peer reviewe

“For You, The War is Over? Not a Chance!” captivity and escape at Cultybraggan Prisoner of War camp, Comrie, Perthshire

A project to investigate stories of escape attempts at the Second World War Prisoner of War camp at Cultybraggan in Perthshire undertook geophysical survey and excavation to try to locate escape tunnels. While the limited fieldwork did not locate any traces of the tunnels themselves, the work provided insights into the psychology and practice of escape attempts amongst the German PoWs

Public engagements with Laplands dark heritage: community archaeology in Finnish Lapland

Research project Lapland’s Dark Heritage organized a one-week public excavation in Inari, Finnish Lapland, at a Second World War (WWII) German military hospital site in August 2016. #InariDig took place with the help of international experts and pre-registered volunteers. In this field report, two of the archaeologists leading the excavations and an ethnographer who took part in documenting this community archaeology experiment introduce the excavation sites and activities reflecting on the engagements with volunteers and local community

Military supply, everyday demand, and reindeer : Zooarchaeology of Nazi German Second World War military presence in Finnish Lapland, Northernmost Europe

During the Second World War, in 1941-1944, Nazi German troops held the frontal responsibility of the Arctic front in Finnish Lapland. In this paper, we present the first zooarchaeological study of the wartime faunal remains from German military camps in Lapland. This illustrates the supply situation of both the German soldiers and their multinational prisoners. The official military supply was substantially supplemented with local food sources, namely, with the local semi-domesticated reindeer that dominates the bone assemblage. Bones of cattle, ovicaprines, and pig occur in lower numbers and appear to represent the German long-distance supply chain stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean. The remains of reindeer and wild species remind of the close interactions with locals and of the prisoners' hunting activities to supplement their meager diet. Even if the reindeer bones dominate both the soldiers' and prisoners' faunal assemblages, there are notable differences in the body parts, with bones from meatier portions always found in the soldiers' food waste. Besides highlighting a tension between the military supply and everyday demands, the faunal remains can draw attention to wider anthropological questions that reach beyond the information available in historical documents, such as adaptations into an alien northern environment. This emphasizes the importance of zooarchaeological analyses of recent past faunal materials from superficially familiar contexts.Peer reviewe

The uncommon impact of common environmental details on walking in older adults

Walking is the most common form of physical activity amongst older adults. Older adults’ walking behaviors have been linked to objective and perceived neighborhood and street-level environmental attributes, such as pavement quality and mixed land uses. To help identify components of walkable environments, this paper examines some of these environmental attributes and explores their influence on this population’s walking behaviors. It draws on focus group and interview data collected from 22 purposively sampled older adults aged 60 years and over. These participants presented a range of functional and cognitive impairments including stroke and dementia. In line with past research, we detail how various everyday aspects of urban environments, such as steps, curbs and uneven pavements, can, in combination with person-related factors, complicate older adults’ outdoor mobility while others, such as handrails and benches, seem to support and even encourage movement. Importantly, we delineate the influence of perceptions on mobility choices. We found that, in some instances, it is the meanings and possibilities that older adults derive from aspects of the environment, such as street cameras and underpasses, rather than the aspects per se, which shape behavior. The implications for policy and practice are considered

Now the wars are over: The past, present and future of Scottish battlefields

Battlefield archaeology has provided a new way of appreciating historic battlefields. This paper provides a summary of the long history of warfare and conflict in Scotland which has given rise to a large number of battlefield sites. Recent moves to highlight the archaeological importance of these sites, in the form of Historic Scotland’s Battlefields Inventory are discussed, along with some of the problems associated with the preservation and management of these important cultural sites