To make it easier for contributors to add new sites, the pages for Scotland are currently being reorganised according to the present Scottish Council areas.
A map of these can be seen on the Gazetteer for Scotland website.
Archaeologists unearth amazing finds on Aberdeen bypass
Artefacts and structures found during archaeological excavations on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project are shedding light on land use and settlement in the north east over the past 15,000 years, including Mesolithic pits, Roman bread ovens, prehistoric roundhouses and a cremation complex.
The "army of builders" of Stonehenge ate animals brought from as far away as the north east of Scotland, according to a new exhibition at the famous Neolithic site in Wiltshire.
Amateur archaeologist finds ‘phenomenal’ trove of rock engravings
From The Guardian...
"An amateur archaeologist has tracked down hundreds of prehistoric rock engravings in Scotland in what has been described as a “phenomenal” contribution to the understanding of Britain’s earliest artworks... continues...
Hunter-gatherers roamed Cairngorms 10,000 years ago
Excavations at sites deep in the glens, on the National Trust for Scotland’s (NTS) Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire, have produced radiocarbon dates which demonstrate a human presence as far back as 8,100 BCE.
TWO of Scotland's main heritage bodies are to merge, it has been confirmed.
The Scottish Government published a strategy document for the "historic environment" yesterday as Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary, launched a Bill to address the management of the nation's built heritage... continues...
Scottish prehistoric mummies made from jigsaw of body parts
DNA tests on British prehistoric mummies revealed they were made of body parts from several different people, arranged to look like one person.
The four bodies discovered in 2001 on South Uist, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides were the first evidence in Britain of deliberate mummification... continues...
Scotland's World Heritage Sites Celebration Planned
Scotlands 5 World Heritage sites are to link up with a series of interactive events exploring the theme of cultural identity. Includes Neolithic Orkney.
Reclusive American leaves Scotland his £2.5m fortune
A 79 year old recluse has left his fortune to the National Trust of Scotland. He had never visited apparently and his conception of Scotland was based on the film Brigadoon. His only friend, the barber, got the pug and a vet's bill.
Ramblers Scotland is backing a petition to force a Scottish Government review on unsightly vehicular hill tracks and electrified deer fencing in the Scottish countryside. "Neither requires planning permission and both cause scars on our wild landscapes" says Helen todd, Ramblers Scotland's development officer... continues...
Mathematical analysis of Scottish Stone Art points to lost language?
At New Scientist web site:
"Elaborate symbols and ornate depictions of animals carved in stone by an ancient Scottish people have given up their secret – to mathematics. Statistical analysis reveals that the shapes are a forgotten written language... continues...
In a silent move, the RCAHMS switched to a state-of-the-art update of the good old Canmore database on 11th March 2009.
It really looks much better and there are obvious advantages over the old format like direct access instead of a log-in procedure and, when available, a 10-digit gridref... continues...
Now downloadable at http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/library/des/index.cfm as a .pdf for each year from 1947-2001. However these are facsimiles, so you really need to know which year you want as these won't be truly searchable
MORE THAN 10,000 of the most important ancient and historical sites around Scotland's coastline are at risk of being destroyed by the storms and rising sea levels that will come with global warming.
Sites in jeopardy include the neolithic settlement of Skara Brae on Orkney and the prehistoric ruins at Jarlshof on Shetland... continues...
The Hunterian museum is re-assembling his(mostly Northern Isles) donation and adding this to their catalogue as they go http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk
At present this is text-only but images will be added over the coming months
The name "Thunderbolt" was also given in Scotland to stone axes until within recent years. A finely formed axe of aphanite found in Berwickshire, and presented to the Museum in 1876, was obtained about twenty years before from a blacksmith in whose smithy it had long lain. It was known in the district as "the thunderbolt," and had probably been preserved in the belief that it had fallen from the sky.
In Shetland stone axes were said to protect from thunder the houses inwhich they were preserved. One found at Tingwall was acquired from an old woman in Scalloway, who believed it to be a "thunderbolt," and "of efficacy in averting evil from the dwelling in which it was kept;" while another, believed to have "fallen from the skies during a thunderstorm," was preserved in the belief that "it brought good luck to the house."
In the North-East of Scotland they "were coveted as the sure bringers of success, provided they were not allowed to fall to the ground."
In the British Museum there is a very fine axe of polished green quartz, mounted in silver, which is stated to have been sewed to a belt which was worn round the waist by a Scottish officer as a cure for kidney disease.
The late Sir Daniel Wilson mentions an interesting tradition regarding the large perforated stone hammers, which he says were popularly known in Scotland almost till the close of last century as "Purgatory Hammers," for the dead to knock with at the gates of Purgatory.
Mr. Stuart adverted to the varying circumstances under which flint arrowheads were found. The popular belief which long regarded them as "elf-darts," and which was not confined to Scotland, had been expressed by the well-known Scottish geographer, Robert Gordon of Straloch, about two centuries ago. After giving some details about them, he adds that these wonderful stones are sometimes found in the fields, and in public and beaten roads, but never by searching for them; to-day perhaps one will be found where yesterday nothing could be seen, and in the afternoon in places where before noon there was none, and this most freqently under clear skies and in summer days. He then gives instances related to him by a man and woman of credit, each of whom while riding found an arrowhead in their clothes in this unexpected way.
Described on p174 of 'The Gentleman's Magazine' Jan-June 1861.
Ackergill Links ND35NW 9
November 1st 1864 "The Orcadian" excavation of cists by Mr Laing April 24th 1866 "The Orcadian" Petrie says the mound is natural September 18th 1866 "The Orcadian" Laing gives reasons why Long Mound is not wholly natural
Birkle Hills ? ND35NW 5 ?
October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal"
Birkle Hills ND35NW 5
October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal"
April 24th 1866 "The Orcadian"
September 18th 1866 "The Orcadian"
October 18th 1893 "Orkney Herald"
Dingwall
December 3rd 1870 "The Orcadian" previous Tuesday 2 E/W aligned cists found 6' apart in gravelly eminence at W end of Dingwall a few feet under clay subsoil. One disturbed previously, other had two decorated urns in fragments with human bones at eastern end
Ha' of Bowermadden ND26SW 7
October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal"
Keiss North/White ND36SE 3 Keiss White Gate Broch
October 18th 1893 "Orkney Herald"
Keiss Road ND36SW 1 Churchyard Mound / Churchyard Road Broch / Kirk Toft
September 18th 1866 "The Orcadian"
October 18th 1893 "Orkney Herald"
Keiss South ND36SE 2 Harbour Mound
October 18th 1893 "Orkney Herald"
Kettleburn ND35SW 11
November 8th 1864 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal" cists have been found in adjacent field on Long Hills ridge October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal" referred to as only properly explored broch in Caithness, dug by Henry Rhind
Kirkatahos
April 24th 1866 "The Orcadian" worked iron fragment found in chambered tomb in middle of Kirkatahos moor on hill/ridge
Long Hills
November 8th 1864 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal" in next field to Kettleburn broch 4' by 3' cinerary cist found on Long Hills ridge. Similar cists have come from the ridge in the past and a bronze brooch found in one by landowner James Henderson of Bilbister sent to Society of Antiquaries museum
Thurso ND16NW 17
July 22nd 1896 Orkney Herald" discovery location and description
Yarrows
November 1st 1864 "The Orcadian" roughly 2 years before Ackergill Links ND35NW 9 dug J.G.T. Sinclair of Ulbster excavated Bronze Age cist in conical mound on a hill summit in Yarrows with skeleton similarly interred with shore material brought from some distance away. Found with bronze spearhead, 10" long porphyry lance-head, black clay-slate.battle axe with 7" blade, porphyry knife and arrowheads, broken black stone knife and a mallet head broken at the ends
Wester Broch ? ND35NW 4 ?
October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal"
Wester Broch ND35NW 4 Keiss Wester Broch
October 3rd 1865 "The Orcadian" from "John O'Groat's Journal"
April 24th 1866 "The Orcadian"
September 18th 1866 "The Orcadian"
October 18th 1893 "Orkney Herald" reporters did not have time to look at
Insular stone Circles :-
In a talk on Wednesday by Colin Richards his subject was the Stone Circles in Orkney and Lewis, which contrary to expectation turned out to be of different natures and for different purposes. Those in Orkney are constructed of material from seperate areas (Stones of Stenness five different sandstones, Ring of Brodgar twelve different geologies in distinct segments of the circle that significantly aren't always curved arcs) whilst those on Lewis are built of rock from their immediate vicinity (also the evidence is that both Orcadian circles were intentionally incomplete, from which he infers the rituals of the construction were an end in themselves). His ?new idea is that those on Orkney had place as the key factor (place of origin, spatial community) whilst those on Lewis had folk as the key factor (family, dispersed community [moiety ?] }.
From which is extrapolated that our obsession with geometry and algnments isn't theirs, that what looks incomplete to us is meant as is, and that whatever comes after is most likely not the original intent, that being the construction process itself.
Citizen Cairn's somewhat random selection of those enigmatic 'old piles of stone'. Guaranteed not to have included your favourite. Sorry about that :-)
The interactive website of SHARP, Scotland's Coastal Heritage At Risk Register. News, events, interactive map of the 940+ sites at highest risk. Report via it any deterioration. A useful and worthy resource. Some of those sites may undoubtedly be yet to added to TMA too.
"I left Banks very happy and made my way to the Tomb of the Eagles. In comparison to Banks this place seems better organised in terms of signage and parking. I paid my entry fee (£6.80 I think it was) and was led into an adjoining room where a member of the staff was talking to a small group of visitors about the tomb."
"I was awoken at 5am by some other person arriving and parking right next to me with their radio blasting out… what is it with people and their need to make as much noise as possible regardless of what other people might think… I was very glad when the ferry arrived and I booked in, boarded and sat down somewhere quiet."
"After successfully transferring from train to bus and finally plane, I arrived in a reasonably sunny Inverness. It was about 4pm and after picking up the hire car I made my way towards the Bronze Age Clava Cairns, a short distance east from the city. On the way I noticed a sign for the Culloden battle field and decided to take a quick look (well, I was already going past it after all)..."
16/05/2024 - A sunny day trip to House of Dun near Montrose. It's a lovely walk up the Den of Dun with just a little clamber up a slope at the end to see this nice small stone with 14 cup marks.
There is a minor junction off the A77 at NX 0820 7530, c. 80 yards SW of the Dupin Farm junction on the Glen App straight. There is room for one car to park at the locked gate. It is the start of a forest track winding uphill for c. 1.3 miles to a modern fire tower. Millmoan Hill Cairn is located c. 100 yards S in a wide clearing. My route can be viewed on Millmoan Hill Cairn. (I saw several deer grazing on my way back as this is a road less travelled.)