 |
| home | contact | about us | archaeology | news | friends | archive | YAC | links | summer of archaeology |
|
News |
|
|
Updated 22nd. March 2011 |
|
2011 This year CAT have started yet another major project. With funding assistance from The National Lottery(Scotland)and Highland Council,through their Leader and Culture programmes, archaeological excavations will take place at Nybster Broch. The work will be carried out by AOC Archaeology Group and under the guidance of Historic Scotland. As any information comes in we will keep you updated. For further details, please follow the links to CAT-Nybster Broch Project.
2010 CAT has at this time an on going exhibition "7000 Years of Mankind" being held at The Gallery room, Caithness Horizons, Thurso., some special events have and are still take place in conjuction with the exhibition. Various talks took place "The Science of Neolithic" ; Rethinking the Picts: the Voice of Ancient Science" and on sat. last, John W. Lord, probably Britain's foremost professional exponent of Flint Knapping gave intersting demonstrations of his skills in the art of flint knapping. He had some interesting flint and wood weapons on show: axe and arrow heads. He was able to demonstrate how with the use of flint bit, a bow and a limpet shell a hole could quite quickly, be made through a piece of an antler. Thursday 14th. Oct. sees the last of the special talks, this time "The Viking Myth." Please come along and hear for yourself. Excavations did indeed again take place at Chapel Hill, Ballachly and at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe. Details from both will be shown on this site when available. 2009 The Caithness Broch Centre July- Saw the opening of The Caithness Broch Centre based in Auckengill Old School. It takes over from the Northlands Viking Centre which has now been transformed into the Caithness Broch Centre. In a collaboration between Caithness Archaeological Trust, National Museums Scotland and The Highland Council exploring the extraordinarily rich archaeology landscape of Caithness. The Caithness Archaeological Trust (CAT) has led on the project since the outset and has overseen the transformation of this Highland Council facility. It has three main narratives: the nineteenth century community who first excavated the brochs; the community who lived in the area two thousand years ago; and the community who now work and live with the brochs. It is as much about the people living today as their ancestors who excavated the brochs in Victorian times and those who built them two thousand years ago. The Caithness Broch Centre Season: www.caithnessbrochcentre.co.uk September - Scottish Archaeology Month, run by the newly named Archaeology Scotland By Derek R. Edwards. Follow Fieldwork link below for details. Scotland’s Rural Past team comes to Caithness There is a huge hole in the archaeological record of Scotland’s past. Throughout recorded history until recent times most of Scotland’s people lived in small dispersed farming communities known as townships; a type of archaeological monument classed as Historic Rural Settlement. The subject has largely been ignored by academic archaeology until fairly recently. A very large number of these sites are currently unrecognised and unrecorded. Most of the croft-houses and steadings still visible in the landscape date to the 19th century. Many of these buildings were recorded to a limited degree by the first Ordinance Survey of the 1870s. However their remit was to record only those building that stood above knee height. Unfortunately most farmsteads built before about 1800 were constructed from turf on stone footings; too low to meet the Ordinance Survey criterion of knee high or above. The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is doing what it can within its limited resources to rectify this situation but it needs our help. To this end the commission set up a five year project called Scotland’s Rural Past project (SRP) which aims to train local enthusiasts in recording the remains of abandoned rural farming settlements before they are lost forever by natural decay and by rural development. Many local volunteer groups have been established elsewhere in Scotland but one is needed to cover Caithness. The SRP training team came to Caithness recently to train a group of local volunteers over two days of intensive work. There are two elements to the work; desk based study that involves researching documentary evidence such as maps, estate records, census returns etc. and field work which records the physical remains such as buildings, enclosures and evidence of cultivation in the form of rig and lazy beds. In our case we worked on the township of Broubster that was cleared in 1839 to make way for sheep. We started our fieldwork by looking at Broubster Village Square, which was built by the estate to house the population cleared from old Broubster. Here we looked at safety issues in surveying old buildings and at evidence for construction methods, building use including change of use. We then moved to the more ruinous site of old Broubster to put what we had learned into practice. There were three elements to the recording process, making a sketch plan, photography and plane tabling. We began by learning to make a sketch plan of the site. Sketch plans are seen as important because they require more detailed observation than photography alone. This is done by pacing out the form of the buildings, sketching them as a simple scale plan and adding descriptive notes on particular building features such as cruck slots, cupboards and butt-joints. Butt-joints and slight changes in wall alignment can indicate different periods of construction. The principle recording method we learned is called plane tabling. It produces an accurate measured plan of a site using very simple equipment which is easy to use. The plane table is simply a rectangular board mounted horizontally on a tripod. An ordinary dressmaker’s pin is stuck in the board and an alidade used to sight from the pin to a point on the building such as a corner. A line of sight is then drawn on the plan (called a ray). The distance is measured from the pin to the sight point on the building; this is marked off on the ray to the chosen scale to form a point. The process is repeated for salient points on the building; the points are joined up by lines and hey presto a building plan. I think that most if not all of the 18 participants (and the wasp) found the training interesting and enjoyable. We are looking to form a local group to put the recording into practice. If you would be interested you can contact us through Caithness Archaeological Trust at: Caithness Archaeological Trust Old School House Dunbeath Caithness KW1 6EN Tel: 01593731269 Email:email@caithnessarchaeology.org.uk or Paul Humphreys 01847 851 275 p.humphreys@btinternet.com
October - Homecoming Cultural Programme: 19th. - 30th. October, run by Highland Council. Follow link below. Just Past: August 4th. '09. - Dunbeath Heritage Centre. The centre was vistited by His Royal Highness, The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, where, amongst the exibits he saw the many archaeological artifacts on view. Some of these exibits are on loan from the National Museums of Scotland and some, allocated to the museum under the Treasurer Trove process. The Centre's museum has recently been awarded Full Museum Accreditation status. August - Castle Sinclair Excavation Community dig in August. From 11th. - 26th. August '09. All volunteers welcome, no experience necessary. Castle Sinclair Girnigoe Gatehouse Room excavated. Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd has completed the survey work following its recent excavation of the Gatehouse room at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe. As a result new plans will be drawn of the Castle now, and as it used to look before it was ruined. Sufficient in-tact remains discovered during the excavation work have enabled the archaeologists to work out where the circular staircase was located in the upper part of the Gatehouse as well it size and construction, including its windows. It is the last part of the archaeological excavations in the outer bailey which is now being prepared to be open to the public later this year. Safety barriers are being erected where needed and consolidation of the exposed stonework is also being undertaken by John Munro Joinery. A layer of turf has been laid in the courtyard and exposed rooms to protect the surface and prevent erosion. Throughout August ie 11th - 26th. there will be a community dig of the south barbican in the moat and all volunteers, whether experienced or novice, are welcome to come along and join in. Supervision will be by Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd with the help of Caithness Archaeological Trust. For further details of this please telephone CAT on 01593 731269. MC 7 July 2009. March - Nothing so far reported. April - Thrumster Leans mound to be excavated some time during the month. TBC. (Yarrows Heritage Trust.) May - June / July - Chapel Hill, Dunbeath Excavation New trenches have been put in and work is now going ahead on the buildings on the top of the hill. Lloyd Laing held a very well attended End of Excavation Talk on Thursday evening, 16th.July '09, at Dunbeath Heritage Centre. As soon as we have any reports from him these will be posted on this site. Some "Unofficial" photos of this year's excavation have bee added. See Fieldwork 2009. Castletown Heritage: Caithness Broch Centre:(Ionad Bhroch Ghallaibh) The Caithness Broch Centre was opened to the public on the 25th July 2009, with a day of activities and talks. The centre, based in Auckengill Old School, takes over where the Northlands viking Centre left off some three years ago. The new facility, collaboration between Caithness Archaeological Trust , National Museums of Scotland and Highland Council, will celebrate the extraordinarily rich archaeology landscape of Caithness. |
|
|
|
|
|
all content©caithness archaeology trust 2004 |