Report on the Society's Excavations of Forts on the Poltalloch Estate, Argyll, in 1904-5

A cross-marked quern from Dunadd and other evidence for relations between Dunadd and Iona

“…Archaeological evidence shows that at the same period Dunadd was a site of major regional significance. The wealth of metalworking debris from the old excavations (Christison 1905;Craw 1930) has been supplemented by much new material (Lane 1980; which shows the production of high status jewellery. The large numbers of querns from the site indicate some form of centralized agricultural processing.…”

Reconnaissance excavations on early historic fortifications and other royal sites in Scotland, 1974-84: 1, excavations near St Abb's Head, Berwickshire, 1980

“…Again, both the radiometric dates and the artefacts are fully consistent with the Annals. (Parenthetically, it should be recalled that Scottic Dunadd is another historically-documented fort which did not, however, form part of the campaign, because its artefactual associations were already well known from other excavations : Christison 1905;Craw 1930;Lane 1984. ) In 1980, the campaign was directed to the British or Anglian fort implied in the names Urbs…”

Quern replacement and the origins of the brochs

“…One of the merits of the quern as an object of study in this regard is that it is probably the most imperishable and ubiquitous artefact associated with the broths.The use of the quern as an indicator of chronological differences between sites in Scotland goes back to the beginning of this century. The excavation report of forts on the Poltalloch Estate, Argyll, in 1904 strikingly illustrates what is one of the major technological changes of the Iron Age (Christison 1905). Two photographs (figs 11 and 29 in that report) are of the quernstones from two of the forts excavated, namely Duntroon and Dunadd (pl 8a-b).…”