Kilmartin Area

Kilmartin Glen – on the road between Lochgilphead and Oban – is a tranquil place, but it hasn’t always been so.

More info :

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-66696653

Kilmartin Museum in Argyll is one step closer to a multi-million pound refurbishment.

The Heritage Lottery fund has endorsed an application for a £3.1m grant – as well as awarding £400,000 to develop the plans further.

The museum is located in the Kilmartin glen, one of Scotland’s most important prehistoric landscapes.
It currently cares for some of the oldest artefacts in the UK – some dating back to 3,500 BC.

There are 800 known prehistoric and historic monuments within 10 miles of the museum, including the world’s largest prehistoric cup and ring-marked rock and Dunadd Fort, citadel of the Kings of the Scotti tribe from whom Scotland got its name.

The museum – which opened in 1997 – collects and curates almost all of the archaeology in Argyll but it requires a major upgrade.

The announcement of a first-round pass means they are a step closer to a £3.1m lottery grant, which will allow them to redevelop the museum and increase the number of visitors.

They have been given £400,000 to develop the plans further.

The redesign and expansion of the museum will include a new exhibition gallery displaying never-before-seen prehistoric objects and an additional gallery for use by local artists and to showcase temporary exhibitions.

The addition of modern and attractive visitor services is seen as vital to Argyll’s tourism sector.
The museum hopes to have the new facilities in place by 2020.

Gordon Gray Stephens, chair of Kilmartin Museum Trust, said: “We’re really pleased to have the support of HLF for our proposals.

“The Kilmartin Glen landscape is a gem that more people from Scotland and further afield will now be able to discover. We believe that the redevelopment will also create cultural and economic opportunities for Argyll.”

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-33797256

Reiach and Hall, one of Scotland’s leading contemporary architectural practices, has won the commission to design the £3 million museum housing some of the country’s oldest known artefacts.

The Kilmartin Museum in Argyll, near the site of Dunadd hill fort, seat of the first recorded kingdom in Scotland, is to be transformed, with new museum and gallery spaces, an education centre, a café and expanded storage areas.

The commission follows the Edinburgh firm’s success in securing the contract for the new Bannockburn visitor centre, a £9.1m project funded by the National Trust for Scotland in partnership with Historic Scotland, due to open next year. Acclaimed recent commissions include the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney and Forth Valley College in Stirling.

Dr Sharon Webb, director of the Kilmartin Museum, said: “We are a victim of our own success – our archaeological collections have grown hugely over the last 10 years and we need more space to care for them and ensure people can enjoy and understand them.”

David Anderson, senior associate at Reiach and Hall, said: “What makes the job interesting is working with passionate clients who care very deeply about what they do.

“Neolithic Orkney is very well known, but Kilmartin, where pieces of pottery have been found that pre-date anything found at Stonehenge, is now coming into the spotlight.”

Kilmartin Glen in mid-Argyll, 90 miles west of Glasgow, contains more than 800 historic and prehistoric monuments, cairns, standing stones, stone circles and rock art, some dating back 5000 years.

heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/kilmartin-museum-project-is-next-for-scots-architects.22522406

News story in today’s Herald newspaper has more details about this:

theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.1645911.0.0.php

halflife.org.uk/

Thought provoking archaeological artiness at Kilmartin’s Neolithic sites, with NVA
nva.org.uk/
and the National Theatre of Scotland.

From an article by Stephen Stewart of The Herald – 9th September 2004

One of Scotland’s most important museums has been saved from closure by a £100,000 investment package. Frank McAveety, the culture minister, helped broker the deal which will save Kilmartin House Museum in Argyll.

Stars from the world of television archaeology including Tony Robinson, Baldrick in the comedy Blackadder and presenter of Time Team, had rallied to support the museum, which was due to close this month.
More....

by RHIANNION EDWARD of The Scotsman, Monday 5 July 2004

RESEARCHERS are hoping that a computer program will map all of Scotland and give a virtual impression of the landscape as far back as 15,000 years ago.

The team, from the University of Stirling, has started by modelling the village of Kilmartin in Argyll as it was 15,000 and 4,500 years ago. The pictures of 15,000 years ago depict the area as under sheets of ice and a glacier where Loch Awe is now. The pictures of 4,500 years ago depict the area, now lush agricultural land, as dense woodland.

The technology was developed in six months by researchers at the university’s School of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

The university has set up a Virtual Landscape Centre to help bring history to life. The centre’s director, Sandy Winterbottom, said it was unnerving standing in a virtual-reality reconstruction of thousands of years ago of an area she knew well.

She said: “We have reconstructed the Kilmartin landscape for two periods – 15,000 years ago and 4,500 years ago.

“The first period was in an ice age and the whole area was covered in sheets of ice. Very little grew, just moss and lichens. The landscapes are desolate and cold,” she said.

“The later landscape shows a densely wooded, leafy and green valley. It comes from the time of many of the exciting finds archaeologists have made in the area, like the Temple Wood Stone Circle.”

Dr Winterbottom said the technology could help interest children in science. “This is a new way you can teach people. Museums have to catch up with the technology they are using. Children are used to computers and IT, and exhibits in glass cases don’t grab them anymore.”

Kilmartin House Museum is an independent charitable institution established in Scotland in 1994. The impetus for the museum was the rich archaeological and ecological heritage of the area, which includes nationally important monuments such as Dunadd, a great density of prehistoric rock carvings, cairns and standing stones as well as outstanding environmental habitats.

After the initial development phase, the institution has been funded through ticket sales and income generated in the shop and café. However, as with all museums, that will never be enough. If KHM are not able to persuade national and local government bodies and other agencies of our worth, and secure further funding, the Museum will have to close. They currently receive no core funding from local or national government.

If you think it’s important that Kilmartin House Museum doesn’t close, you can help. KHM needs to persaude local and national government that the Museum is worthy of support, so you can call into the museum, sign the online petition (kilmartin.org/) or write to the Chief Executive of Argyll and Bute Council: Mr James McLellan – Chief Executive Argyll and Bute Council, Kilmory, Lochgilphead Argyll PA31 8RT Scotland. So that KHM can monitor support, please also copy your letter to the Curator, Dr Sharon Webb, Kilmartin House Museum, Kilmartin, Argyll, PA31 8RQ, [email protected]. The petition will be sent to Argyll and Bute Council and copies will be sent to the Scottish Executive.

Source: Archaeo News (22 May 2004)

From The Herald 22 March 2004.

A birdwatcher who unearthed the 4000-year-old cremated remains of a young man has given archaeologists fresh insight into the close, superstitious bonds between humans and animals in prehistoric society.
Experts have conducted a detailed analysis of the discovery of a Bronze Age burial urn which contained the remains of a male aged between 25 and 40, found within a boulder shelter at Glennan, Kilmartin, in Argyll.
After his demise, the man had been ritually burned alongside a goat or sheep. Their remains were deliberately mixed, giving evidence of a perceived bond between farmers and their animals which may have been thought to transcend death itself.
Dr Gavin MacGregor, of Glasgow University archaeological research division (Guard), explained the significance of the vessel and its contents.
He said: “Although the sample is small, the evidence suggests that, depending on the burial rite, some species of animals were considered more appropriate than others for inclusion. Pigs are associated with inhumation (burial) and goat or sheep are associated with cremation burials.
“The choice of a domesticated animal to accompany the mortuary rites may reflect the perceived inter-relationship between the cultural landscape of people and their livestock.
Dr MacGregor said the upland location of the Glennan find was also interesting.
“It indicates that, while many of the more visible ceremonial and funerary sites of the second millennium BC may focus on the floor of the glen, other parts of the landscape were also significant for such activities,” he said.
Analysis of the deposits found below the peak of Beinn Bhan, also revealed that the man had suffered from slight spinal joint disease and mild iron deficiency anaemia, though neither seems likely to have affected his general health.
He was cremated soon after death, together with a young sheep or goat, and their remains taken from the pyre and co-mingled before burial in the urn. An unburnt flint knife was also recovered.
Patrick Ashmore, principal inspector of ancient monuments at Historic Scotland, said the Glennan urn burial raised fascinating questions.
He speculated that the man was not buried in the burial cairns in nearby Kilmartin Valley because these were reserved for special people, or because he may have been an outsider.
He added: “But the most intriguing possibility is that the cairns were only part of a much wider sacred landscape, and that this spot on the far slope of Beinn Bhan from Glennan was selected as a special place.”
The burial was discovered during the exploration of a boulder shelter at Glennan. A local birdwatcher had begun to clear the area for use as a hide when burnt bones were noticed amongst debris from the interior of the site.
Radiocarbon dating, organised by the National Museum of Scotland, dated the remains at 2030-1910 BC.

‘Ancient Scots may have enjoyed sophisticated economic, social and cultural links with the builders of one of the world’s most mysterious ancient monuments, according to new research.

Experts have revealed a previously unknown link between the elite of ancient Scots society and Stonehenge, dispelling the myth that Scotland’s Bronze Age tribes were uncultivated barbarians.’ says STEPHEN STEWART of ‘The Herald‘

Read whole story here

Computer age recreates prehistoric sites in search of answers to carvings mystery

From Scotsman.com’s Heritage News

THREE-dimensional computer images of life 5,000 years ago are being created to help archaeologists decipher mysterious rock markings at the site of Scotland?s ancient capital. The virtual-reality reconstruction of hundreds of locations around Kilmartin in Argyll is expected to shed new light on the so-far unexplained “cup and ring” carvings. The project, by Warwick University, is also likely to improve knowledge of key sites such as Dunadd, a hill fort which was the Scots? capital from the 6th to 9th centuries. Standing stones, cairns, stone circles, Celtic crosses and gravestones in the area, which is regarded as Scotland?s richest surviving ancient landscape, are also among nearly 300 ancient monuments to be included.

Warwick University?s e-lab 3D visualisation group is constructing the images using information from past excavations, which include pollen samples that show the extent of past tree cover.
The pollen, recovered by Stirling University researchers, has shown the area would have been covered by hundreds of oaks.
The e-lab hopes the reconstructions will create the most comprehensive picture yet of the area?s past, enabling scientists to make new discoveries by comparing different images.
The virtual reconstructions place the engravings in the wider context of the landscape to show how the art related to its immediate surroundings thousands of years ago. They also show how the vegetation and landscape has changed through time.
The images are also being used to create computer games to enable people to better visualise what the area would have looked like.

Martin Blazeby, a multimedia designer at the e-lab, said: “We are digitising the information that is already there. When we have done that, archaeologists will be able to check the images for similarities and differences. “We do not know what the cup and ring markings were for, but they could be a type of code or descriptions of the constellations. The virtual reality software has been used in computer games to entertain, but is now emerging as a serious tool for transforming how we learn about our history. This new kit in the tool bag of museum displays has massive potential to bring Scotland?s ancient heritage back to life.”

Dunadd was established by Scots who emigrated from Ireland, and was once the centre of the long-lost Kingdom of Dalriada.
The Scots went on to take over south-eastern Scotland from the Picts in the 9th century. The hilltop fort at Dunadd, north of Lochgilphead, is where the Stone of Destiny is believed to have lain before being removed to Scone in Perthshire.

The computer game has used the results of excavations of the site to help viewers experience its panoramic outlook and navigate the area, following the progress of its inhabitants. Previous research by Dr Ewan Campbell of Glasgow University has shown that Scottish kings of that era enjoyed a sophisticated lifestyle from the fruits of international trade, importing herbs and expensive clothing dyes.

Colin Schafer, the director of Kilmartin House Museum, where the reconstructions will be displayed, said: “This project interprets ancient sites by analysing their landscape situation and builds on work reconstructing the vegetation history at rock art sites, and shows how it influenced site location.
“The computer graphics are already turning the heads of academics, historians, architects, teachers and pupils.”

ALASTAIR DALTON
Wednesday, 30th April 2003
The Scotsman

British Archaeology news
Issue 64, April 2002.

An early Bronze Age timber circle containing an inner ring of totem poles set around a deep, sacred pool is thought to have once stood at the head of the Kilmartin Valley in Argyll, site of one of Scotland’s richest concentrations of prehistoric ritual monuments.

Post-excavation analysis of the pits and postholes found when the site was excavated in the 1990s (BA November 1997) has concluded that the timber circle was far more unusual than was initially thought. The circle stood on a terrace overlooking the valley; and at its heart was a large hollow nearly 7 metres wide and 2 metres deep. Now full of peat, the hollow must have contained standing water over a long period of time.

Around this pool was an inner ring of post-holes, thought to have once held totems. At the base of one was a cremation burial under a stone. From the outer ring of 30 oak posts, some 47 metres in diameter, a timber-lined processional avenue appears to have snaked down to the valley floor.

Clare Ellis, in charge of post-excavation at the Edinburgh firm AOC Archaeology, said the pool was likely to have been a ‘votive pool’ – a phenomenon thought to be unparalleled at any other known stone or timber circle in Britain. No metalwork was found in the pool, but offerings of ‘organic materials’ such as sacrificial animals could have been made, from which no evidence has survived. Traces of wood in the pool may have belonged to a fence.

In and around the timber circle were six contemporary cyst burials. In one, a woman in her 20s or 30s was buried with a decorated food vessel. The decoration on the pot had been created by pressing a fingernail repeatedly into the wet clay.

Traces of much earlier monuments were also found underlying the circle. One end of an early Neolithic cursus – a ritual procession monument – was uncovered at the edge of the terrace, a place with a magnificent view across the Kilmartin Valley. The massive structure, some 45 metres wide, was defined not by banks and ditches but by hundreds of close-set oak posts. By the time the circle was built some 1,500 years later, these posts had no doubt disappeared; but the memory of the sacred importance of the site had probably survived. Also found were a number of late Mesolithic cooking pits containing charcoal dated to about 4,500 BC, perhaps marking the site of an overnight camp.

Surviving monuments in the Kilmartin Valley include a ‘linear cemetery’ of Bronze Age cairns, several standing stones, a stone circle and numerous elaborate rock art panels.

britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba64/news.shtml#item3