The history of the study of marine exploitation in Scotland is outlined prior to the presentation of an overview of the evidence for its practice in both earlier and later prehistory. This overview is based on a corpus of Scottish prehistoric sites known to include evidence for marine exploitation. Marine shells are found on a variety of archaeological sites, many of which cannot be described as shell middens. They are defined in this work as sites given over to the primary processing and consumption of marine resources, most obviously represented by marine shells. A simple classificatory system is introduced in order to allow further discussion of the similarities and differences between various types of deposits. The material culture related to marine exploitation is discussed and ethnohistorical sources are used to demonstrate some of the ways in which similar elements of material culture have been utilised in more recent times. Issues discussed here include not only shellfish exploitation but also whaling, fishing and the use of seaweeds. The utilisation of various kinds of raw materials, of both terrestrial and marine origin, are discussed and their contextual relationship to marine resource residues considered. Discussion will then move on to focus more closely on a number of aspects relating to marine exploitation in both early and later prehistory. The 'Obanian' sites in Oban and Oronsay are used as a case study to examine the implications of shell middens being used over long periods of time and as places for burial. The results of survey and excavation work carried out on the 'Obanian' shell midden on Risga are used to supplement a discussion on the nature and role of shell middens. Discussion of the later period is centred upon a contextual study of settlement sites and the relationship between marine and terrestrial resources is discussed. This work draws to a close by considering the role of marine resources in prehistoric ritual practice. The implications of the deposition of marine shells in chambered tombs and the construction of chambered tombs over shell middens are discussed. In the later period the redeposition of midden material appears to play an important part in the development of substantial settlement complexes and may represent a change in the nature of ritual behaviour. The concluding chapter isolates what are felt to be the most important issues raised by this work.

This thesis is an exploration of the nature of archaeological sites presented to the public in Scotland through an analysis of five case studies. The project utilises qualitative in-depth interviews, an approach that, although well recognised in other social sciences, has been little-used in archaeology. For this project, semi-structured recorded interviews were undertaken with participants at the sites, which were subsequently transcribed and analysed using QSR NVivo software. This approach, the rationales behind using it, and benefits for research in public archaeology, will be discussed in detail. This will be followed by an in-depth analysis of the roles and significances of archaeology, the ways it influences and is influenced by perceptions of the past, and the values placed upon it. The essence of the thesis will then focus on the in-depth analysis of the case studies. Backgrounds will be given to each of the sites, providing a framework from which extracts of interviews will be used to elucidate on themes and ideas of participant discussions. This approach allows for the real, lived experiences of respondents to be relayed, and direct quotations will be used to provide a greater context for discussions. This will reflect a number of recurring themes, which developed during interviews, both within sites and across sites. The interviews will also reflect the individual roles and functions of archaeological sites for the public, and the often idiosyncratic nature of participant engagements with archaeology. The information and insights gained from this research will then be considered with regard to potential impacts on the presentation of archaeological sites to the public in general. Themes and ideas which are developed in the case study chapters will be discussed in more detail, before suggestions for changes to the ways archaeological sites are presented are made. Finally, specific suggestions for changing approaches to the case study sites will be considered.

The thesis opens with a statement of the methodological approach of the research, explaining the use of a historical model to inform a field methodology of a combination of prospecting techniques. The model to be used is set out along with a consideration of the expectations of the field methodology and the hypothesis to be tested: that élite sites will have a concentrating effect upon settlement patterns and create "hierarchical" landscapes, in contrast to non-hierarchical landscapes which, in the absence of an élite site, will show no particular clustering. Following this is a statement of the problem of settlement studies in Scotland, with a consideration of previous and current approaches. This is followed by discussion of the available prospecting techniques and a detailed discussion of the chemistry of soil phosphates. The historical and archaeological framework of the period is then presented with a consideration of the evidence available from legal and historical sources and from excavations carried out on élite sites. Agriculture is then discussed, firstly in terms of its productivity and then of the techniques of agriculture to assess the effect of agriculture upon settlement distribution. Finally, the results of the fieldwork are presented, divided between hierarchical and non-hierarchical landscapes. The conclusion assesses the overall effectiveness of the methodology in terms of how well the hypothesis was proved and of the applicability of the methodology for amateurs and lone workers. The results indicate that the general model of social relations being reflected in settlement patterns is broadly correct, but that the effect will not necessarily be one of concentrating settlement around the élite site. At the micro-scale of analysis undertaken within the thesis, the important factor connected with élite sites was found to be the denoting of status by the possession of private space.

In Highland Scotland, evidence for Early Medieval and Medieval settlement has proved difficult to recognise, in spite of the fact that recent landscape survey has revealed a dense palimpsest of archaeological remains. The publications of North-east Perth in 1990, the first RCAHMS volume to take a more landscape oriented approach to the recording and presentation of this survey data, made available a wealth of material for a previously little known area of Perthshire. It resulted in the identification of a new building group - the Pitcarmick-type buildings - to which a Medieval, or potentially earlier date, was assigned. It raised the possibility that the general absence of firs millennium A.D. settlement across much of Highland Scotland was not the case in this part of Perthshire, while suggesting the potential for building upon the resource made available by the RCAHMS to further our understandings of upland settlement and land use in the Highlands over a broad chronological framework. This thesis aims to explore ways in which this data can be approached in order to achieve more comprehensive and meaningful understandings of cultural landscapes. This has been done by approaching the archaeology of a particular area - in this case Highland Perthshire - within a variety of temporal and geographical scales. At Pitcarmick North in Strathardle, detailed topographic survey of a discrete area, where the remains spanned a broad chronological range from the later Prehistoric period to the eighteenth century, was undertaken. By utilising the landscape to anchor the often divergent and competing strands of evidence produced by detailed documentary research, alongside analysis of the physical remains at Pitcarmick North, it has been possible to glean a greater comprehension of the immediate historical and social frameworks within which these cultural landscapes developed.

This thesis examines the nature of Early Mediaeval trading and manufacturing settlements in Scandinavia, and in the Scandinavian-influenced area of England. Using previously unpublished material from the 1990-1995 excavations at Birka, in Sweden, resulting from the author's work on the excavation report from the Birka Project, it provides an analysis of the development, and character of this Viking Age settlement. This forms the basis for an assessment of the nature of various contemporary non-rural settlements in Scandinavia, and thus of the context of the settlement at Birka. The history and archaeology of the central places of the northern eastern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are then considered, with an examination of York forming the core of the second part of the thesis. The physical and socio-economic transformation of these settlements at the end of the ninth century is discussed, and the resultant tenth century patterns compared with the political and socio-economic patterns revealed in the contemporary and earlier Scandinavian settlements. The thesis concludes with an examination of the similarities and differences between the Early Mediaeval settlements of Scandinavia and the Danelaw, and considers which can be recognised as 'towns'. It assesses the nature of the Scandinavian impact upon the development of urban settlements in the North and East of England, and the degree to which this elucidates the socio-politics of urban development within the Scandinavian world.

This study is concerned with the technology and utilisation of skeletal hard tissue in prehistoric Scotland. The natural properties of skeletal tissues were considered, their reaction to particular methods of manufacture and utilisation were studied and a detailed examination made of material from a number of archaeological sites. Whilst the conclusions reached are site-specific, their usefulness as general statements on technology and utilisation are explored. There are two volumes - volume I containing the main text and volume II the catalogues and illustrations. Volume I begins with an introduction (Chapter 1). There then follow two sections. Section I starts by examining the approaches which were taken, identifies parallel studies, the range of techniques which were used in the study and the nature of the generalisations presented here (Chapter 2). The structure and properties of skeletal materials, and the determinant effect which these have on the techniques of manufacture, are discussed in Chapters 3 & 4. Section II comprises four case studies of large assemblages from settlement sites which date from the Mesolithic Period to the Iron Age - the site of Risga, Loch Sunart, Ardnamurchan (Mesolithic, Chapter 5); Skara Brae, Orkney (Neolithic, Chapter 6); Midhowe in Rousay, Orkney and Cnoc Sligeach at Sollas, North Uist (both Iron Age, Chapters 7 & 8). In each study the site and its excavation are discussed. All the objects from the sites were examined afresh and those from animals sources analysed in terms of skeletal origin, techniques of manufacture, object classification and distribution on site. Volume I concludes with Chapter 9 in which the results are summarised and the general applicability of the results is discussed. Volume II contains simplified object catalogues for each site which are intended as a concordance to enable the individual objects studied to be identified by others. Illustrations are given of representative objects within the categories. For ease of reference volume II also contains the bibliography and all the other illustrations for the study.

This thesis presents accounts of two Highland Scotland landscapes: Badenoch and Strathnaver. The threads of archaeological evidence - as well as topographic context, historical evidence and other pieces of data - are drawn together and woven into an understanding of the inhabitation of these landscapes at different times in the past. Two chapters are devoted to exploring the archaeological landscapes of each study area. The thesis is founded on certain perceptions of archaeological practice: that it constitutes a dialectical process of engagement with archaeological remains, in which the archaeologist fashions meaning from the raw material of the evidence. This process is a kind of dwelling, in some ways akin to how people make meaning of the landscapes in which they live, through coming to know them, to shape and be shaped by them. Writing about archaeological landscapes should reflect and be a working out of that process. The study areas were chosen for their contrasting and complementary characteristics. Strathnaver, in the far north of Sutherland, borders the coast; Badenoch, in the central Highlands, is landlocked. Both areas have a topographic coherency, formed around river valleys and their watersheds. The remains of prehistoric communities survive to a greater extent in Strathnaver than in Badenoch, while in Badenoch the remains of Medieval or later settlement remains are most prominent. Both study areas contain evidence for the early Medieval organisation of the landscape in the form of chapel sites; the settlements to which they provided pastoral care may have continued in use through the Medieval period. As an important routeway through the Highlands, Badenoch served as the seat of some of the most powerful figures in Medieval Highland Scotland, and the process of feudalisation appears to have strongly influenced the development of its settlement pattern. Strathnaver, lying along a maritime route and forming part of the Norse earldom of Caithness, saw settlement by Norse farmers; that history is reflected in its numerous Norse place names, and many of its townships may have their origins in the Norse period of settlement in the late first millennium A.D. Both Badenoch and Strathnaver were the focus of Improvements in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, resulting in the clearance of townships, although those in Strathnaver were more widespread and brutal. In both areas, these changes left the earlier settlement pattern fossilised as the remains of townships.

This work starts with a brief history of interpretation, bringing the reader up to date with how lithic studies have been conducted over the past three centuries. The disparate knowledge concerning scatters in Scotland led to the creation of the Scottish Lithic Scatters Project, which is outlined in chapter one. Of specific concern is the Lithic Scatters Database, and its analysis. Descriptions of each field give an intriguing insight into the extent of bias which is incorporated into the final data. It is also made clear that much information concerning the lithic scatters resource which can be related to a social landscape is gained through the creation of the database, rather than any final analysis of the data. Chapter two turns to the processes whereby lithic scatters are created in south and central Scotland, as it is through a study of these that an understanding of the information contained within the database can be gained. The creation of the lithic scatters resource is intimately bound to the practices and routines of individuals, as well as to the natural occurrences across the country today. These range from the farmer ploughing his field, to the movement of sand dunes in storms. Ultimately, it is the fieldwalker him/herself who creates the recorded scatter. The fieldwalkers who have created the scatter resource, are described in chapter three, and the extent of the resource across south and central Scotland is given. The people mentioned in the previous chapter are described more intimately, and it is possible to gain a glimpse of the faces responsible for the scatter resource. The discussion also centres on the fact that the information within the database is not necessarily representative of prehistoric activity; rather the activity of collection and recording in recent history. By looking at the database alone, and ignoring the background information given in this chapter, only an apparently polished set of data would be seen. The way data is often accepted in archaeology today can be seen as a major problem. Chapter four considers this problem in more detail and shows that personal experience must be documented to place the data within a social, historical and cultural context. Recent thinking in theoretical archaeology has led to similar strands of thought, especially where the recording of the process of fieldwork is considered.

Theoretical perspectives on landscape and bodily engagement with place inform an approach to the medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Focused primarily, but not exclusively, on the central Middle Ages, this research confronts two core questions: how did transient, mobile groups perceive and experience the diverse terrain of the pilgrim route in northern Spain? And how may their ephemeral presence be traced in the archaeological record? This thesis is underpinned by the conviction that the journey of medieval pilgrims, as opposed to their destination, deserves greater scrutiny. Three topographically distinct Study Areas along the length of the Camino in Navarre, Burgos and Galicia from the basis for the analysis of localised sets of material culture. Within these areas, historical and geographical information, surviving monuments and structures, and a fieldwork plan designed to engage with the processes of making a linear journey, combine to form data-sets from which to tackle more refined contextual research questions. The main thrust of my argument is that large numbers of pilgrims were heavily influenced by contemporary medieval narrative tradition in which landscape was a powerful metaphor for religious meaning, experience and deportment. Material culture along the Camino speaks volumes about a powerful “culture of the route”, ritual performances, thresholds, transitions, and social relations across landscapes. The sum of evidence indicates a radical impact on local landscapes with some sectors of the community benefiting from the unfolding movement while others appear to distance themselves from the perpetual stream of pilgrims.

This thesis is a study of the record of the monuments of the Firth of Clyde region in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Six type monuments which were the foci of ritual and/or burial practices during this period are considered: chambered cairns of the Neolithic, stone circles, standing stones, cup-marked rocks, early Bronze Age burial cairns and unmarked burial monuments. A difference from previous work is the historical perspective of the research. This marks a departure from traditional period based studies, while investigation at a regional level avoids the restrictions of more localised research. The monuments are placed as far as possible in the context of the social relations and routines of everyday life in which they played a part, and transformations which took place are identified in a synthesis of the monument record through time. A catalogue of sites is provided. This was compiled in a form suitable for computer analysis, and a package of computer programmes prepared with specific purposes in view. Quantitative analyses of the frequency of occurrence, spatial distribution and relationship to eight locational factors are carried out for each of the type monuments at the regional level and for sub-regions identified within the study area. The results are discussed in the light of a systematic study of the effects on the formation of the archaeological record of social and economic development in the area of study over the last two hundred years, and in relation to the findings from reviews which are undertaken of the evidence of Mesolithic activity, of settlement and cultural evidence and of environmental studies. Additional insights are gained from considering the architectural form of the monuments in relation to meaning and function. One aspect of the study thus concerns the observation of changes in the relationships between the living and the past, or between the living and the dead, from the spatial location and topographical positioning of monuments, while another concerns the ways in which these are reflected in the architectural form and function of the monuments. It is found that the spatial division of the region in the Neolithic indicates that the chambered cairns do not reflect the full extent of settlement and farming, and that their occurrence, as occasional foci in the landscape, is closely related to land use traditions established in the Mesolithic. With the transition to the Bronze Age a different spatial division is seen to emerge in which stone circles are located in a small number of particular locations, whereas the burial cairns and unmarked burials occur throughout the region, and appear to be much more closely related to areas of settlement than were chambered cairns. Standing stones are known in association with both ceremonial and burial monuments, and their distribution also suggests areas of settlement. Many aspects of cup-marked rocks remain enigmatic, but they seem to represent ritual activity of a different kind, which may have taken place mainly in areas marginal to the main foci of other activities. The island of Arran is found to have played a distinctive role within the region. This cautions against regarding Arran as a typical example of monumentality on the Atlantic seaboard of Europe. Traditions and practices were established in the Mesolithic which were seen to have contributed to this development. In addition it is likely that its physical prominence made it a natural reference point for the region, which through its central location was focal to maritime communications.