A Lake Dwelling in Its Landscape

Graeme Cavers is a director at AOC with responsibility for survey and geomatics. He has been involved in research on Iron Age Scotland for almost 20 years, with a particular focus on wetland and drystone settlements of the Atlantic west. Anne Crone is a Project Manager for AOC Archaeology Group, responsible for the management of post-excavation programmes through to publication. She specialises in the study of all aspects of ancient wood, both structural and artefactual, and has been instrumental in developing dendrochronology in Scotland. She is a leading expert in the study of Scottish crannogs and has undertaken excavation and research on these sites for many decades.

1 introduction

 The research framework

 The landscape setting; geology and hydrology

 A history of previous archaeological investigations at cults loch

 Methodology

 The community initiative

 Note on site labels

 

2 Cults Loch 3; the promontory crannog

2a The structural sequence

 Phase 1; construction of the crannog mound

 Phase 2; structure 1

 Phase 3; structure 2

 Phase 3; deposits and structures in the n quadrant

 Phase 4; structure 3

 Phase 5; the decay horizon

 Access onto the crannog

2b Chronology, by Anne Crone

 Introduction

 Radiocarbon dating

 Dendrochronological studies

 14C wiggle-match dating and the structural sequence at Cults Loch 3, by Piotr Jacobsson, Derek Hamilton & Gordon Cook

 Summary

2c ecofact analyses

 Introduction

 Phase 1; the crannog mound

 Phase 2; structure 1

 Phase 3; structure 2

 Phase 3; deposits and structures in the n quadrant

 Phase 4; structure 3

 Phase 5; the decay horizon

 Deposits off the crannog mound

 The macroplant assemblage, by Jackaline Robertson

 Insect remains, by Enid Allison

 Micromorphology, by Lynne Roy

2d the artefact assemblage

 The wooden artefacts, by Anne Crone

 The shale, by Fraser Hunter

 The glass bead, by Fraser Hunter

 The coarse stone, by Dawn McClaren

 The chipped stone assemblage, by Rob Engl

 The burnt clay, by Dawn McClaren

 Synthesis of the material culture from Cults Loch 3, by Dawn McClaren

2e the structural timbers

2f summary of evidence for construction and occupation on Cults Loch 3

 

3 Cults Loch 4; the promontory fort

 Introduction

 Aerial photography

 Geophysical survey, by Tessa Poller

 Excavation results

 Environmental remains, by jackaline roberton

 The form and function of the enclosure

 Inland promontory forts

 

4 Cults Loch 5; the palisaded enclosure

 Introduction

 Geophysical survey, by Tessa Poller & Graeme Cavers

 Excavation results

 Chronology

 Material culture, by Dawn McClaren

 Environmental remains, by Jackaline Roberton

 Cults loch 5; discussion

 

5 Cults Loch 2 and Cults Loch 6

 Cults Loch 2; the knoll

 Cults Loch 6; the pits

 

6 Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling of Cults Loch 3, 4 and 5

 Methodological approach, by Derek Hamilton & Tony Krus

 Cults Loch 3; the crannog

 Cults Loch 4; the promontory fort

 Cults Loch 5; the palisaded enclosure

 Discussion

 

7 The material world of Iron Age Wigtownshire

 Introduction, by Fraser Hunter, Dawn Mclaren & Gemma Cruickshanks

 Luce sands

 Material patterns

 Stone

 Iron and iron-working

 Copper alloys and their manufacture

 Decoration and adornment

 Contacts

 Artefacts and society

 The Roman world

 Conclusions

 

8 The environment in and around Cults Loch

8a The offsite palaeoenvironmental programme, by Thierry Fonville, Tony Brown & Ciara Clarke

8b The on-site evidence for the environment around Cults Loch

 

9 Discussion

 Cults Loch 3; chronology, form & functionality

 The sites in their local and national context; the later prehistoric settlement record of Wigtownshire

 Settlement development in the 1st millennium bc in southern scotland

 The earlier Iron Age settlement landscape in SW Scotland

 The Cults Loch landscape: settlement, duration and evolution 500–0 BC

 Evidence for domestic architecture at Cults Loch

 

10 Conclusions

 

 Appendices

 Acknowledgements

 References

 Index