A Lake Dwelling in its Landscape: Iron Age Settlement at Cults Loch, Castle Kennedy, Dumfries & Galloway

296 Pages·2017·47.74 MB·English

by  Graeme Cavers, Anne Crone

A Lake Dwelling in its Landscape
Frontispiece; Cults Loch 3 crannog viewed from the NW. The reconstruction shows the crannog encircled by a light wickerwork
fence, with an oak plank facade on either side of the entrance onto the settlement. A post-built causeway connects the crannog
to the shore, sediments and vegetation gradually building up on either side of it. Within the crannog Structure 2 is occupied,
reconstructed as an archetypal Iron Age roundhouse with conical thatched roof and wickerwork walls. A post-and-plank wall
divides the interior, while an entirely speculative smaller roundhouse is being constructed in the S half of the settlement. Evidence
for many of the structures in the reconstruction is presented in this monograph but much is of course, speculative. Nonetheless,
the reconstruction evokes the size and spaciousness of the crannog as well as its proximity, and consequent vulnerability, to
the shore (created by Marcus Abbott, York Archaeological Trust).
A Lake Dwelling in its Landscape
Iron Age Settlement at Cults Loch,
Castle Kennedy, Dumfries & Galloway
Graeme Cavers & Anne Crone
Oxford and Philadelphia
Published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
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Front cover: Reconstruction of Cults Loch 3 crannog viewed from the NE (created by Marcus Abbott, York Archaeological Trust)
Back cover (top): Cults Loch, showing the excavation of the crannog (Site 3) underway, with Cults Loch crannog Site 1 in the
background; (bottom left): excavation of the Cults Loch crannog (Site 3) in progress in 2010; (bottom right): souterrain, post-excavation
Contents
Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................................................viii
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................1
The research framework ..........................................................................................................................................1
The landscape setting; geology and hydrology .......................................................................................................4
A history of previous archaeological investigations at Cults Loch ........................................................................6
Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................................10
The community initiative.......................................................................................................................................11
Note on site labels ...........................................................................................................................................11

2 Cults Loch 3; the promontory crannog .............................................................................................................13
2a The structural sequence .........................................................................................................................................13
Phase 1; construction of the crannog mound ........................................................................................................13
Phase 2; structure 1 ................................................................................................................................................17
Phase 3; structure 2 ................................................................................................................................................19
Phase 3; deposits and structures in the N quadrant ..............................................................................................23
Phase 4; structure 3 ................................................................................................................................................26
Phase 5; the decay horizon ....................................................................................................................................29
Access onto the crannog ........................................................................................................................................30
A trackway across the crannog ..............................................................................................................................31
The final act? .........................................................................................................................................................32
2b Chronology, by Anne Crone ..................................................................................................................................33
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................33
Radiocarbon dating ................................................................................................................................................33
Dendrochronological studies .................................................................................................................................33
14C wiggle-match dating and the structural sequence at Cults Loch 3,
by Piotr Jacobsson, Derek Hamilton & Gordon Cook .............................................................................50
Comment, by Anne Crone & Graeme Cavers .......................................................................................................55
2c Ecofact analyses ....................................................................................................................................................57
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................57
Phase 1; the crannog mound..................................................................................................................................57
Phase 2; structure 1 ................................................................................................................................................60
Phase 3; structure 2 ................................................................................................................................................64
Phase 3; deposits in the N quadrant ......................................................................................................................71
Phase 4; structure 3 ................................................................................................................................................74
Phase 5; the decay horizon ....................................................................................................................................80
Deposits off the crannog mound ............................................................................................................................82
The macroplant assemblage, by Jackaline Robertson...........................................................................................82
Insect remains, by Enid Allison .............................................................................................................................87
Micromorphology, by Lynne Roy ..........................................................................................................................91
2d The artefact assemblage ........................................................................................................................................93
The wooden artefacts, by Anne Crone...................................................................................................................93
The shale, by Fraser Hunter ...............................................................................................................................104
The glass bead, by Fraser Hunter .......................................................................................................................105
The coarse stone, by Dawn McLaren ..................................................................................................................106
The chipped stone assemblage, by Rob Engl ......................................................................................................114
vi Contents
The burnt clay, by Dawn McLaren ......................................................................................................................116
Synthesis of the material culture from Cults Loch 3 by Dawn McLaren ...........................................................116
2e The structural timbers .........................................................................................................................................121
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................121
Vertical components .............................................................................................................................................121
Horizontal components ........................................................................................................................................121
Woodworking debris ............................................................................................................................................127
Charred timbers ..................................................................................................................................................127
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................127
Wood use on the crannog ....................................................................................................................................129
2f Summary of evidence for construction and occupation on Cults Loch 3 ...........................................................131
Duration and continuity .......................................................................................................................................131
Construction ........................................................................................................................................................131
The floor surfaces and living conditions on the crannog ....................................................................................134
Domestic and agricultural activities ...................................................................................................................134

3 Cults Loch 4; the promontory fort ..................................................................................................................137
Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................137
Aerial photography ..................................................................................................................................137
Geophysical survey, by Tessa Poller .......................................................................................................137
Excavation results ................................................................................................................................................139
Neolithic activity ......................................................................................................................................140
Bronze Age activity and the early phase of enclosure ............................................................................142
The earlier Iron Age enclosures ...............................................................................................................143
Interior features ........................................................................................................................................149
Environmental remains, by Jackaline Robertson ................................................................................................149
The form and function of the enclosure ..............................................................................................................151
Inland promontory forts .......................................................................................................................................152

4 Cults Loch 5; the palisaded enclosure .............................................................................................................153
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................153
Geophysical survey, by Tessa Poller & Graeme Cavers ....................................................................................154
Excavation results ................................................................................................................................................155
Earlier prehistoric features .......................................................................................................................155
Phase 1 .....................................................................................................................................................156
Phase 2 .....................................................................................................................................................162
Other features within the enclosure .........................................................................................................168
Modern features .......................................................................................................................................168
Chronology ..........................................................................................................................................................168
Material culture ....................................................................................................................................................171
The coarse stone, by Dawn McLaren ......................................................................................................171
Ceramic and vitrified material, by Dawn McLaren .................................................................................173
Environmental remains, by Jackaline Robertson ....................................................................................174
Cults Loch 5; discussion ......................................................................................................................................178

5 Cults Loch 2 and Cults Loch 6 .........................................................................................................................183
Cults Loch 2; the knoll ........................................................................................................................................183
Cults Loch 6; the pits ..........................................................................................................................................183
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................185

6 Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling of Cults Loch 3, 4 and 5
by Derek Hamilton & Tony Krus .............................................................................................................187
Methodological approach ....................................................................................................................................187
Cults Loch 3; the crannog ...................................................................................................................................187
Cults Loch 4; the promontory fort ......................................................................................................................190
Cults Loch 5; the palisaded enclosure .................................................................................................................190
Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................193
Contents vii
7 The material world of Iron Age Wigtownshire,
by Fraser Hunter, Dawn McLaren & Gemma Cruickshanks ..................................................................195
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................195
Luce Sands ...........................................................................................................................................................197
Material patterns ..................................................................................................................................................198
Stone ....................................................................................................................................................................198
Iron and ironworking ...........................................................................................................................................208
Copper alloys and their manufacture ..................................................................................................................208
Decoration and adornment...................................................................................................................................209
Contacts ...............................................................................................................................................................213
Artefacts and society ...........................................................................................................................................215
The Roman world ................................................................................................................................................216
Conclusions ..........................................................................................................................................................216

8 The environment in and around Cults Loch ..................................................................................................219
8a The offsite palaeoenvironmental programme, by Thierry Fonville, Tony Brown & Ciara Clarke ....................219
Background ..........................................................................................................................................................219
Reconnaissance ....................................................................................................................................................219
Sampling ..............................................................................................................................................................219
Core TCL1; age-depth model ..............................................................................................................................221
Lake ecology ........................................................................................................................................................222
Discussion and conclusions .................................................................................................................................229
8b The on-site evidence for the environment around Cults Loch ............................................................................230

9 Liminal living in a dynamic landscape? ..........................................................................................................233
9a Cults Loch 3; chronology, form and functionality ..............................................................................................233
Chronology ..........................................................................................................................................................233
Form .....................................................................................................................................................................234
Functionality; or reasons for living out on the water ..........................................................................................235
9b The sites in their local and national context; the later prehistoric settlement record of Wigtownshire ............237
Settlement development in the 1st millennium BC in southern Scotland ..........................................................237
The earlier Iron Age settlement landscape in SW Scotland ...............................................................................238
The Cults Loch landscape: settlement, duration and evolution 500–0 BC ........................................................241
Architectural forms in the Cults Loch settlements .............................................................................................243

10 Conclusions .........................................................................................................................................................245
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................................................247

Appendices ..................................................................................................................................................................259
1. Cults Loch 3; the environmental assemblages, by Jackaline Robertson ............................................................259
2. Cults Loch 3; the insect remains, by Enid Allison ..............................................................................................260
3. Cults Loch 3; soil micromorphology, by Lynne Roy ...........................................................................................270
4. Analysis of the glass bead, by Mary Davis .........................................................................................................276
5. Summary of finds from Wigtownshire Iron Age sites ........................................................................................277
6. Stray finds of certain or likely Iron Age date from Wigtownshire .....................................................................281

Index ...............................................................................................................................................................................283
Acknowledgements
First and foremost we are grateful to John Dalrymple, Earl 2010 terrestrial Vicky Clements, Alan Dalton, Thomas
of Stair for permission to excavate around Cults Loch and Legendre
to Paul Hutchinson of Stair Estates for facilitating access 2011 terrestrial Rob Engl, Thierry Fonville, Kevin Paton,
on to the tenant farmers’ lands. The project would not have Stephen Potten
been possible without grant aid from Historic Scotland;
During the post-excavation programme the authors have
this was managed initially by Noel Fojut and latterly by
been helped by valuable discussions with John Barber,
Rod McCullagh, and monitored by Pauline Megson and
Dave Cowley, Strat Halliday and Fraser Hunter. Jane
John Malcolm. The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland lent
Murray shared her knowledge of Cults Loch gained during
their support in the form of a grant for the gradiometry
her undergraduate dissertation and helped us to locate the
surveys, while AOC Archaeology Group provided staff,
Reverend George Wilson’s manuscripts at the National
equipment, vehicles and administrative support every
Museum of Scotland. Jamie Humble and Gemma Hudson
year. The schools programme and associated exhibition
have prepared all the illustrations except for the artefacts
and activities at Stranraer Museum were made possible
which were drawn by Alan Braby and John Pickin. We
through funding from LEADER II and Jennifer Thoms
are grateful to the Trustees of the Mouswald Trust who
guided entertaining and informative visits to the crannog.
provided financial support for the illustration of long unseen
Staff at Stranraer Museum were always supportive, John
objects in the collections of Stranraer Museum and the
Pickin providing help in a variety of guises over the years,
National Museums of Scotland.
from curator to field archaeologist to illustrator. The off-
Last but not least we would like to acknowledge the
site coring programme was initiated by Tony Brown of
role of other founder members of SWAP, the Scottish
Southampton University who was assisted in the field by
Wetland Archaeology Programme, without whose passion
Laura Basell. The loch sediments from Cults Loch were
and commitment the Cults Loch Landscape project would
then examined as part of a postgraduate study, Human
not have happened. They are John Barber, Ciara Clarke,
islands – palaeoenvironmental investigations of crannogs
Alex Hale, Jon Henderson, Rupert Housley, Rob Sands
in south-west Scotland and Co. Fermanagh, Northern
and Alison Sheridan.
Ireland, by Thierry Fonville and under Tony’s supervision.
The acknowledgements of the individual specialists are
The fieldwork teams varied from year to year and are
presented below;
acknowledged below. However, two people were present
in every season of fieldwork and their contributions are Anne Crone would like to thank David Brown, Queen’s
singled out for special mention; Tessa Poller gave of her University Belfast, for his help in dendro-dating the
holiday every year to dig at Cults Loch and also undertook Cults Loch 3 timbers.
the geophysical surveys of the terrestrial sites, while Alan Fraser Hunter, Dawn McLaren and Gemma
Duffy provided stalwart logistical support ever year. Cruickshanks are grateful to John Pickin for
extensive advice on collections in Stranraer Museum
2007 Danielle Gorke, Gemma Hudson, Heather James
and Monreith House, to Ann Ramsbottom and Alan
2008 Vivian Delf, Maria Grabowska, Hana Kdolska,
McFarlane for assistance in Stranraer, Katinka Stentoft
Sarah Lynchehaun, and Diana
and Jane Flint for information on Glasgow collections,
2009 crannog Vivien Delf, Robert Lenfert, Pat Martin,
Joanne Turner for listings of collections in Dumfries,
Katie McFarlane, Pauline Megson, Stacey Turnbull,
and Dr Susie Kirk for analysis of the Carleton ingot.
Fiona Watson
2009 terrestrial Vicky Clements, Vivien Delf, Rob Engl, Jackaline Robertson is grateful to Dr Allan Hall who
Pat Martin mentored her work on the environmental assemblage
2010 crannog John Barber, Vivien Delf, Anne Dunford, from Cults Loch 3, providing practical guidance on
Thierry Fonville, Heather James, Robert Lenfert, issues of identification and interpretation, and editing
Pat Martin, Katie McFarlane, Ann Sackree, Glenis the final report.
Vowles
1 Introduction
The research framework
of wetland sites, the then MSP for Culture, Tourism
In 2005, the members of the Scottish Wetland Archaeology and Sport Patricia Ferguson tasked Historic Scotland
Programme (SWAP) hosted the Wetland Archaeological with initiating a programme of research into wetland
Research Programme (WARP) conference in Edinburgh, archaeology in Scotland, with the aim of redressing the
bringing together practitioners of wetland archaeological peripheral role of waterlogged sites and artefacts in the
research from all over world (SWAP 2007). In European study of Scotland’s past (SWAP 2007, ix). The first stage
terms, the timing of the conference was ideal; the major in this process was the compilation of a research agenda
development of infrastructure in Ireland in the early 21st for wetlands (Cavers 2006a), which assessed the extent
century had meant that some of the most important wetland of our knowledge of the resource, and identified a series
discoveries had recently been made, while developments in of primary research questions and themes designed to
continental Europe were continuing to push the boundaries build on current understanding of activity in and around
of a long tradition of prehistoric settlement archaeology. Scotland’s wetlands through history.
Archaeologists specialising in wetland archaeology were Previous studies have shown that, although peatlands
developing new ways of integrating ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ comprise a major component of Scotland’s wetland
sources of evidence to find alternative ways of thinking environment, their archaeological potential is low,
about wetlands (eg Van der Noort & O’Sullivan 2006), mainly because much of it is blanket bog and this was not
and both practical and theoretical aspects of the study intensively exploited in the past (Crone & Clarke 2005, 7).
of waterlogged archaeology were healthy and fertile Occasional artefacts are found, buried in pockets of deeper
grounds. As the home of Robert Munro, one of European peat but structures and trackways are very rare. The small
wetland archaeology’s pioneers (Munro 1882; 1890) areas of raised bog that survive do have more potential,
Edinburgh seemed an apt venue for an international as reflected in the discovery of the Neolithic platform on
gathering of wetland archaeologists, and the conference the edge of Flanders Moss (Ellis 2002), but assessments
took the opportunity to celebrate Scotland’s rich wetland of other potentially significant bogs, Ballachulish (Clarke
archaeological resource. & Stoneman 2001), Moine Mhor (Housley et al 2007) and
However, many of the papers presented at the Achnacree (Clarke forthcoming), the latter two carried out
conference (as well as others published subsequently) took as part of the SWAP programme, have yielded very little
the opportunity to highlight how little is in fact known evidence of human activity.
about the extent and nature of wetland archaeology in What Scotland does possess in abundance is evidence
Scotland (cf Crone and Clarke 2005; Henderson 2004). for the extensive use of open water, and particularly for
The theme of taphonomy explored in the session on lake the settlement of water bodies and their margins (Illus 1).
dwellings served to highlight how our understanding of Crannogs, or perhaps more generically loch settlements of
the mechanics of Scottish crannogs as archaeological sites all forms seem to have been a significant component of the
was still at a very early stage, and as such that few reliable settled landscape of Scotland from at least the middle of
generalisations could be made (Cavers 2007; Henderson the 1st millennium BC through to the modern period, and
2007a; Crone 2007). Several discursive syntheses had there is evidence, from sites like Eilean Domhnuill in North
highlighted that meaningful interpretations of the role of Uist (Armit 1996) that the tradition of living on open water
wetland settlement in prehistory could only be made if has much earlier origins. There are references to just under
these sites were considered an integral part of, not separate 400 ‘crannogs’ or related archaeological sites on islands
from the wider settled landscape (eg Henderson 1998; in Scottish lochs, though, as is often acknowledged, the
Harding 2000a), but by the early 21st century few inroads true number is very likely to be far higher than this, and
had been made and Scottish wetland archaeology seemed where systematic surveys have been carried out (as in
confined to the specialist periphery from which European Lochs Tay and Awe; Morrison 1985; Dixon 1982), the
practitioners had worked to break free (Coles & Coles number of known sites has been greatly increased. The
1996; O’Sullivan 1998; Fredengren 2002; Menotti 2012). impact of this element of historic settlement in Scotland
Acknowledging the dichotomy between the wealth has not been in proportion to the potential offered by
of Scotland’s wetland resource and the lack of study the known levels of preservation typically encountered