Recommended Publications
Here are some Industry-Related publications, as recommended by AOC.
STAR MONOGRAPH SERIES
(published by the Scottish Trust for Archaeological Research)
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About one third of this cliff-edge site had been lost to coastal erosion when it was excavated in 1984 and in situ preservation was not possible. Full excavation facilitated detailed analysis of the architecture and depositional history of the site while extensive radiocarbon dating demonstrated intermittent use for inhumation and constant exploitation of the site by otters, dogs, birds and latterly by rabbits. The site's interpretation implies, inter alia, that chambered cairns were easily erected and as easily lost from the field record; that inhumation was the common burial practice and that totemism did not form part of the Neolithic rituals associated with chambered cairns. |
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The Archaeological Investigation of a Prehistoric Landscape: Excavations on Arran 1978-81
Survey and excavation were undertaken to inform decision making about the management of the cultural resources around the Machriewater/Blackwater catchment, then under threat from afforestation. Mesolithic spreads, Neolithic settlement sites and field systems, extensive Beaker Period, Later Bronze Age and Iron Age landscapes of hut groups, clearance cairns, burial cairns, field banks and agricultural remains, together with Dark Age fields, all form part of the palimpsest of sites within the research area. Pedological processes like podzolisation, gleying and peat formation have caused geochemical changes in virtually all of the soil contexts of these sites and this aspect of the human interaction with the landscape is considered in some detail. |
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The Lairg Project 1988-1996: The Evolution of an Archaeological Landscape in Northern Scotland
The upgrading of the road between Bonar Bridge and Lairg, Sutherland provided access to an area rich in archaeological remains. From 1988 to 1991 an intensive programme of survey and excavation was undertaken which recorded evidence of vestigial Neolithic settlement, extensive Bronze Age settlement and agriculture and its subsequent collapse. After 500 years, during the Iron Age, settlement and extensive agricultural landuse resumed and persisted until circa AD 1000. Thereafter, the land was dominated by pastural landuse. The final extensive phase of settlement was reflected by the excavation of a turf long-house from which the tenants, like so many of their neighbours, were probably cleared in 1807. Focusing on the dynamic relationship between the successive human populations and the landscape, the project has sought to chart the duration and impact of each major phase of landuse through various artefactual and ecofactual studies. These approaches, including soil pedology, plant macrofossil studies and palynological analysis, were supported by the most extensive radiocarbon-dating programme to date in Scotland. |
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Excavations at Buiston Crannog revealed that extensive occupation deposits still survived, despite drainage of the surrounding loch and subsequent excavation in the 19th century. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the crannog was initially built during the period of Roman occupation, but dendrochronological analysis of the structural timbers has demonstrated that the bulk of the surviving occupation deposits relate to a short period of activity in the first half of the 7th century AD. Settlement on the crannog consisted, at any one time, of a single round house within a defensive perimeter and analysis of the macroplant remains and the invertebrate assemblage have provided insights into the conditions in which these structures were inhabited. A wide range of organic artefacts, primarily wood and leather, was recovered, complementing the rich inorganic artefact assemblage retrieved during the 19th century excavations. The natural environment of the crannog, the nature of the settlement, and the status of the inhabitants and their relationship to the ruling elite of British Strathclyde are amongst the themes explored in this text. |
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Archaeological Excavations at Jedburgh Friary 1983-1992
This report presents an illustrated account of the excavation of the remains of buildings identified as a sixteenth-century house of the Observantine Friars. The evidence points to a gradual development of the Friary, from the initial construction of the north range in the early 1500s through the addition of other buildings which would ultimately enclose a central cloister. The waters of the adjacent Skiprunning Burn were managed by the friars, with drains led into a lade or water-channel diverted from the stream. Analysis of building materials, artefacts and ecofacts recovered during the excavation provides insights into the diet and living conditions of the friars. |
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An Iron Age Coastal Community in East Lothian: The Excavation of Two Later Prehistoric Enclosure Complexes at Fishers Road, Port Seton, 1994-5
The farm lands between the Forth and the Tyne represent one of the richest areas in Britain for crop-mark sites, many of them evidently the remains of Iron Age enclosed settlements. New housing developments at Fishers Road provided a unique opportunity for the detailed investigation of two adjacent enclosures within the space of a single year. Interlinked by a series of over 50 radiocarbon dates, the two investigations encompass extensive studies of the archaeological remains, artefacts, animal bones, plant remains and sediments. The dating programme indicates that the two Fishers Road sites were in contemporary use for at least part of their lives, leading to an exploration in this account of the nature of the relationship between them. |
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease
The impairment of health is of great importance in the modern world. Determining the extent to which disease also affected past populations is a fundamental goal of the study of bioarchaeology. The direct physical evidence derived from the examination of human remains provides a vital mean of understanding illness and its impact on the lives of those who lived previously. In writing this book, we aim to develop the knowledge of past human health through a detailed consideration of factors that can mediate the expression of a particular group of diseases, the metabolic bone diseases. |
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Interpreting Stratigraphy: Conference Proceedings, 25th November 1992, Edinburgh (Paperback)
A Number of themes emerged from the conference on stratification in Edinburgh on 25 November, 1992. The first of these was the evolution of procedures for the post-excavation analysis of very large sites. The lectures by Shepherd, Steane and Hammer, et al are presented here and seem to indicate the emergence of a commonality of philosophy and approach on urban sites which is mirrored in Lowe's description of AOC (Scotland) Ltd's approach to deeply stratified rural sites. |
