Evidence from marine crannogs of later prehistoric use of the Firth of Clyde

Sands, Rob; Hale, Alex

doi:10.1179/jwa.2001.1.1.41

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…This is in agreement with a number of studies and Fig. 9 A summary diagram of the biological proxies and stratigraphic data used in the Lough Kinale-Derragh Lough study area excavations of crannogs which have revealed wheat straw (Hencken 1950), carbonized oats and barley (Collins 1955;Raftery 1957;Crone 2002), wild plants such as blackberry, raspberry and elderberries (Crone 2002;Fredengren 2002), and domesticated animals (Sands and Hale 2001). The different diatom assemblages from the three cores are best explained by the proximity to human settlement within each lacustrine cell, with Ballywillin Crannog core being closest to human activity after the construction of the crannog and the lower Lough Kinale core being farthest away from any human activity on either crannogs or the lake shores.…”

Section: Comparison Of the Coressupporting

confidence: 62%

Holocene development and anthropogenic disturbance of a shallow lake system in Central Ireland recorded by diatoms

Selby

Brown

2007

J Paleolimnol

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Three cores from two connected lakes in Central Ireland (Lough Kinale and Derragh Lough) were investigated using diatom analysis to establish the Holocene development of the lacustrine system, any local variations within the lakes and any anthropogenic influences. The study area was situated in a lowland location and the lakes were shallow, unstratified and interconnected. Litho-and bio-stratigraphical analyses of the lake cores and deposits beneath a mire separating the two lakes showed the changing spatial configuration of the lake system in the early Holocene and the separation of the initial lake into three basins (cf. lacustrine cells) and finally into two interlinked lakes. The evolution of the lake system is conceptualised as the development of distinct lacustrine cells, and its sediments have recorded changes in the physical (geography, depth and sedimentation) and chemical (water chemistry) properties of the lakes inferred through diatom analyses. The longest sequence, from the early Holocene, records fluctuating lake levels and these are correlated with geomorphological mapping and surveying of palaeoshorelines. The diatom assemblages of the upper 2 m of the three cores, covering approximately the last 2000-3000 radiocarbon years show considerable difference in trophic status and life-form categories. This is related to the location of the cores in the lake and also the distance from human settlement with particular reference to proximity to crannog (artificial island) construction and use. The most central core from the deepest part of Lough Kinale has the least representation of the human settlement and agricultural activity in the catchment and on the fringes of the lake, whereas the core taken from the edge of a crannog is able to identify when construction and use of the crannog occurred. The local nature of the palaeoecological response to human activity due to incomplete water mixing has the advantage of allowing the lake sediment cores to be used to determine spatially discrete settlement patterns.

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Section: Comparison Of the Coressupporting

confidence: 62%

Holocene development and anthropogenic disturbance of a shallow lake system in Central Ireland recorded by diatoms

Selby

Brown

2007

J Paleolimnol

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“…The close proximity of the terminus of the Antonine Wall (the northernmost Roman fortification in Britain) and the potential association of wetland sites with Roman material culture elsewhere in Scotland (Hunter 1994) have led some to posit that the Clyde crannogs were associated with the Roman occupation of Scotland (e.g. Sands and Hale 2002). If this was indeed the case, the interaction with the occupier could be one of the motives behind building these sites and ought to be taken into account whenever discussing the data derived from them.…”

Section: Case Study: the Clyde Crannogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Legacy radiocarbon determinations from Dumbuck and Erskine Bridge crannogs visualized against the timing of the construction of the Antonine Wall, Agricola's invasion of Scotland and the settlement "event" happening around 200 cal BC. Data fromSands and Hale (2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Wiggle-Match Dating in the Intertidal Zone

Jacobsson

Hale

Hamilton

2017

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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Radiocarbon wiggle-match dating is a technique that can combine the versatility of radiocarbon dating with chronological information from tree-rings. This makes it useful in contexts where timbers are preserved, but dendrochronological dating is impossible. As intertidal and marine timbers are waterlogged, this can favour their preservation and hence allow wiggle-match 14 C dating, which can be of significant help in deriving relatively precise chronologies for a range of coastal structures. As the technique depends on making multiple radiocarbon measurements towards a single date, efficiency in application is the key and hence a number of practical considerations need to be taken into account in advance of conducting a dating programme. This paper discusses some of these practical concerns and reviews them in the context of the intertidal crannogs in the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland.

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“…Furthermore, there is a degree of structural variability in the estuarine sites that perhaps warns against categorizing them as one site type. Munro himself had doubts about categorizing the site at Dumbuck as a ‘crannog’ (Munro 1905, 133; Sands and Hale 2001, 47), yet it has certainly been demonstrated that there are a range of lake dwelling sites in Scotland that do not conform closely to what constituted Munro's definition of a ‘crannog’. Sands and Hale's justification (2001, 47) of the label may leave room for inclusiveness, but, as they argue, there are obvious reasons for including the estuarine sites reported by Hale as closely related to the overall ‘lake’ dwelling theme in Scotland.…”

Section: Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sands and Hale (2001, 50) consider that the range of estuarine dates in the Late Bronze and Earlier Iron Ages is due to an accident of preservation, and that other similar sites from earlier and later periods have been lost owing to changes in river patterns. While it is impossible to disprove this contention, this chronological range sits well in the context of a late first millennium BC crannog construction horizon, evident in both the Highlands and the south‐west of Scotland, and it is perhaps unsurprising that the estuarine sites seem to be firmly located in this chronological range.…”

Section: Scotlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Bronze and Iron Age Lake Settlement in Scotland and Ireland: The Development of the ‘Crannog’ in the North and West

Cavers¹

2006

Oxford J Archaeology

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This paper considers the evidence for the origins and development of the lake settlement tradition of Scotland and Ireland in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Considering a crannog 'event horizon' around the mid-first millennium BC, dating and structural evidence are compared and contrasted, and the evidence for non-domestic activity including ritual and votive deposition is contextualized. It is argued that the concurrent appearance of crannogs with the flourish of domestic monumentality in Scotland and Ireland can be seen as a consequence of the fusion of ritual and domestic spheres of life in the later first millennium BC, integrating the themes of architectural monumentality and the Iron Age reverence of water.introduction The longevity of the chronology of crannogs has been known for some time (Morrison 1982). Since the discovery of Eilean Domhnuill on North Uist it has been considered a possibility that lake settlement forms in Scotland have been in existence since the Neolithic (Armit 1996), while in Ireland the existence of related lake 'platform' structures dating to the Mesolithic has been established (O'Sullivan 1998;Fredengren 2002). However, closer analysis of the dating evidence for crannogs has indicated that the majority of sites belong to the 'Later Prehistoric' period, broadly taken to be the period 1000 BC to AD 500 (Crone 1993; Henderson 1998). The aim of this paper is to identify the evidence for the origins of lake settlement forms in Scotland and Ireland, considering the likely origin of the concept of the 'crannog', as well as the physical evidence for the structure of early lake settlements and their relationship to contemporary terrestrial settlements.The archaeology of lake settlement in the late second and early first millennium BC is better documented in Ireland than in Scotland, where so far the earliest dates for a fully developed 'crannog' structure come from Loch Tay, from the contemporary sites at Oakbank and Fearnan Hotel that may be as early as the ninth century BC (Dixon 1982). Lake settlement in the Later Bronze Age is well represented in Ireland, and several large-scale excavations have meant that the nature of this early horizon of lake and wetland habitation is relatively well documented. Besides a range of sites which have been demonstrated to have been constructed, inhabited and abandoned in the Later Bronze Age (e.g. Cullyhanna, Hodges 1958; Lough Eskragh, Collins and OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 25(4) 389-412 2006

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Evidence from marine crannogs of later prehistoric use of the Firth of Clyde

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

Holocene development and anthropogenic disturbance of a shallow lake system in Central Ireland recorded by diatoms

Holocene development and anthropogenic disturbance of a shallow lake system in Central Ireland recorded by diatoms

Radiocarbon Wiggle-Match Dating in the Intertidal Zone

Late Bronze and Iron Age Lake Settlement in Scotland and Ireland: The Development of the ‘Crannog’ in the North and West

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