Place and Memory : Excavations at the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries and Galloway, 1994-8

by Thomas, Julian; Leivers, Matt; Roberts, Julia; Peterson, Rick; Ashmore, Patrick (CON)

• ISBN13: 9781842172476
• ISBN10: 1842172476
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

This volume is concerned with the investigation of three complexes of prehistoric ceremonial monuments in the immediate environs of Dumfries in the south-west of Scotland, conducted between 1994 and 1998. These were the Pict's Knowe henge, the Holywood cursus complex, and the post alignments/cursus at Holm. The field research was designed in such a way as to recognise that prehistoric monuments often have complex and individual sequences of construction and use, while also acknowledging that detailed studies of particular sites and local contexts will ultimately advance our understanding of monumentality in prehistoric Europe. The three sites of the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm have proved especially helpful in addressing questions of how particular places maintained their importance over long periods of time. In each instance the location was characterised by features which possess a high degree of archaeological visibility. In the former case it was the upstanding earthwork of the bank and ditch that identified the site as a henge monument, while Holywood and Holm were discovered through aerial photography. Each of the sites investigated had complex sequences of development, in which the structural elements that were recognised prior to fieldwork were not necessarily the most important or the most long-lived. This book considers the details of the excavated features, environmental and artefactual evidence, as well as more general concerns. The first part of the volume concentrates on the Pict's Knowe, while the second looks at the more spatially and typologically related sites of Holywood and Holm.

Table of Contents

The Pict's Knowe
Introduction	p. 2
The interaction of site and landscape around the Pict's Knowe	p. 6
Early historic land uses at the Pict's Knowe : palynological evidence from the west cutting	p. 37
Fieldwork at the Pict's Knowe, 1994-7	p. 43
Geophysical survey	p. 95
The waterlogged wood assemblage from the Pict's Knowe	p. 101
Wooden small find 48 : the 'ard'	p. 116
The 'ard' spike	p. 118
Soil phosphate studies	p. 120
Soil thin sections	p. 123
Charred plant remains	p. 126
The Roman shoe sole	p. 128
Botanical investigation of the Pict's Knowe leaf sample PK94 FN47	p. 130
Prehistoric ceramics	p. 132
Worked stone artefacts	p. 136
Iron objects from the Pict's Knowe	p. 139
Fired clay, vitrified material and slag from the Pict's Knowe	p. 140
The Pict's Knowe : discussion	p. 142
Holywood and Holm Farm
Introduction	p. 156
The cursus monuments of south-west Scotland	p. 158
The Holywood cursus complex, excavations	p. 166
Holm Farm, excavations	p. 200
Prehistoric ceramics	p. 221
Lithics	p. 223
Carbonised remains from Holywood cursus complex	p. 226
Soil phosphate studies at Holywood	p. 230
Holywood and Holm : discussion	p. 233
Conclusion
Radiocarbon dates from the Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm	p. 248
Conclusion : the Dumfries monuments and the archaeology of place	p. 260
Catalogue of pottery from the Pict's Knowe 1994/1995 excavations	p. 267
The Pict's Knowe - wood measurements	p. 275
The Pict's Knowe - catalogue of wood finds	p. 279
The Pict's Knowe - soil analyses	p. 286
The Pict's Knowe - archaeobotanical data	p. 291
The Pict's Knowe - plant macrofossils	p. 293
The Pict's Knowe - petrological examination of lithic artefacts	p. 296
The Pict's Knowe - catalogue of worked stone finds	p. 298
Holywood pottery catalogue	p. 303
Calibrated radiocarbon determinations from Holm, Holywood and the Pict's Knowe	p. 307
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.