Scotland is one of the four nations that make up the plurinational UK. It is as of yet the only one of these nations to have a referendum on its independence. Using Critical Discourse Analysis of 20 newspaper articles at different times in the referendum campaign, I have seen how Scottish national identity has been constructed. The study reveals that far from constructing a national identity based on culture, symbols or historic myth, the Scots base their identity largely on a differing approach to economic policy than the English.

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No / Brochs are one of the ultimate expressions of regional diversity in the British Iron Age, a geographically restricted, monumental and complex variant of the roundhouse. They are the best-preserved Iron Age dwellings in Britain if not Europe, often requiring the visitor to duck to avoid the lintel as they enter the building, and yet too often they have been sidelined as local curiosities in wider narratives of the period. This trend has been bucked in recent years in the specialist literature, with more theoretically-informed interpretations; here Armit sets out to place broch studies before a wider audience.

Yes / The Covesea Caves are a series of later prehistoric sites located on the Moray Firth in north-east Scotland. Human remains have been recovered from several of these caves: the Sculptor’s Cave, Covesea Cave 1 and Covesea Cave 2 (Benton 1931; Shepherd and Shepherd 1979; Büster and Armit 2016), and display unusual characteristics that may indicate complex ritual and funerary practices (Shepherd 2007; Armit et al. 2011). However, there has been less attention given to the significant number of faunal remains from the Covesea Caves. These faunal assemblages are now the subject of research at the University of Bradford. Focused analysis of the taphonomic and processing characteristics observed on the faunal bones will examine the role of animals in the overarching narrative of the Covesea Caves, as well as further investigate the complex funerary treatments to which the human remains were subject. This paper outlines a method-driven pilot study undertaken on unstratified faunal remains from the ‘Wolf Chamber’ in Covesea Cave 2. Results from this study will be discussed and compared to select stratified remains from the main chamber of Covesea Cave 2; this will be accompanied by data collected from assessments undertaken on the main chamber faunal assemblage. Through this, the taphonomic nature of the cave environment and the role of caves in later prehistoric cosmology will be explored.

No / This paper considers the evidence for the abandonment of souterrains in that part of east central Scotland characterized by Wainwright as 'southern Pictland'. The evidence suggests that most souterrains here were deliberately destroyed, or at least infilled, and that none seems to have outlasted the early third century AD. The process of destruction seems to have been associated with a significant degree of ritual activity not previously noted. It is postulated that the evidence would allow for a single episode of abandonment (a 'souterrain abandonment horizon'), in the late second or early third century AD, which might be related to a major reorientation of social and political structures, perhaps associated with changes in Roman frontier policy.

No / Although some limited consideration has been given to the possibility of links between the early medieval ceramic traditions of the Western Isles and the souterrain ware of north-east Ireland, these have tended to be framed in the context of supposed Dalriadic cultural infl uence fl owing from Ireland to Scotland. A re-evaluation of the possible relationships between these pottery styles suggests that souterrain ware might instead be seen as part of a regional expansion of western Scottish pottery styles in the seventh¿eighth centuries AD. This raises the question of what social processes might underlie the cross-regional patterning evident in what remains a vernacular, rather than a high-status, technology.

No / Who are the Celts? Where did they come from? Did the tribes of Iron Age Scotland really belong to a 'European Community' of Celts? What did it mean to be Celtic? In this fascinating book, the results of modern archaeology are used, alongside earlier finds and the historical sources, to illuminate this important but surprisingly neglected period of Scottish history. In this new edition of a classic work, Ian Armit explores the prehistoric world of the Celts, from around 1000 BC to AD 500. Fully illustrated with colour photographs, maps and diagrams, the book covers ethnicity and identity, daily life, Celtic art, the Druids, brochs, hillforts and Celtic warfare and the clash with Rome.

Physical discipline of children is currently a subject of major debate within and beyond the UK. Mainly in relation to children's disciplinary relationships with teachers and parents, this topic is repeatedly the subject of high profile parliamentary and media debates, campaigns, legal cases and international political pressure. However, the perceptions of those in the social position to receive such physical discipline have rarely been included in the legal and political debates or in research studies. When young people's views have been sought it has been on issues and in terms determined by adults. This thesis specifically aims to address this gap in the research literature and to inform the debates on physical discipline by highlighting the issues of particular importance to young people. This is in line with recent legal, political and scientific shifts towards valuing the voices of children on all matters affecting them. Adopting a broadly interpretivist methodological approach, and drawing on the new 'sociology of childhood' paradigm, the study is grounded in the young people's own perceptions. It elicits their views at an abstract level and examines perceptions thematically in relation to their underlying frameworks of reference. The fieldwork involved focused interviews and focus groups with 227 participants aged 11-12 and 14-16 years from schools in central Scotland. In addition, the adult debates and interviews with 25 carers are analysed to further illuminate distinctive features of the young people's perceptions. Themes emanating from the young participants are organised into three dominant areas: purposes and immediate effectiveness of acts of physical force; concerns and contingencies surrounding acts of physical force; and relationships, rights and power. Young participants perceived the use of physical force as legitimate for certain disciplinary purposes. These are grouped in four main categories: to communicate with the child; to teach appropriate behaviour for the future; to restrain or remove the child; and to enforce overall adult control in specific situations. The term 'punishment' was associated by young participants solely with retribution, which they rejected as an illegitimate purpose for physical force. The widely perceived immediate effectiveness of physical discipline was seen as dependent upon the influence of certain contextual conditions, such as the child's personality and peer influence. Perceived effectiveness did not imply support for physical discipline. There was a strong theme of unease with its use but a lack of confidence in finding any alternatives. Contextual concerns about the application and short term negative effects of physical discipline are analysed as containing six dominant themes: whether the acts fulfilled legitimate purposes; avoidance of pain or injury; the extent of adult control of actions; the degree of embarrassment and humiliation; the precise bodily target of force; and the appropriate age of the child. The study found that these reservations led to participants introducing relatively fixed contingencies that physical discipline would have to meet in order for it to be considered acceptable. It is noted that the terms child abuse and violence were reserved by young participants for acts with specific characteristics which mark them as particularly unacceptable. Child abuse referred to acts without a legitimate purpose which focused on the needs of the adult rather than the child. Violence referred to acts in which the adult does not observe an appropriate limit to the force. Concerns about the longer term implications of physical discipline are identified as focused on the risks of: these fixed contingencies being broken by the adult; lasting physical or psychological damage; damage to the disciplinary relationship; and the child copying the behaviour inappropriately. Conversely, it is found that there was a subsidiary theme of concern that children not receiving physical discipline would grow up spoilt and wild with negative implications for wider society. The rights of adults to physically discipline children were assessed by young participants according to perceptions about the particular relationship and the constituents' social roles. Parental rights were presented by participants as exceptional because of a parents responsibility for a child's moral development and peculiar intimacy with a child. Parental delegation of rights to other adults, including teachers, was rejected by young participants because these relationships lack this intimacy. However, the study reveals a theme of resilient frustration at the 'unfairness' of one-sided rights surrounding all physical discipline. Moreover, it is found that young participants analysed acts of physical discipline as manifestations of a power imbalance in the adult-child relationship. Although young participants noted that adults can take advantage of their position, they also presented children as active agents who find strategies to challenge this power imbalance. A substantial body of opinion considered that the risks outweighed the rights of adults and necessitated a legal ban on all physical discipline, although participants were concerned with practical problems which might be caused by a gap between legal and attitudinal change in society. Overall, the study identifies two dominant discourses underlying young participants' perceptions of physical discipline: developmentalism, which portrays childhood as a natural progression towards competency; and rights, which stresses the fixed entitlements and responsibilities for active agents and social actors irrespective of competency. These two discourses are accommodated in the young participants' model of a dynamic power balance between active social actors in the disciplinary relationship. The perceptions of young people presented in this study form a competent and sophisticated interpretation and critique of adults' use of physical discipline. Moreover, the study identifies substantial differences between the young participants' perceptions and the views expressed by the carers interviewed and actors in the wider legal, political and research debates. These differences highlight peculiar features in young people's perceptions. For example, young participants stressed the purpose of physical discipline for moral development, whereas both carers and the adult debates have focused on social development and obedience to adult authority. The contingencies which young participants placed on disciplinary acts were less flexible than carers' across different situations. Young participants' rejection of parental rights to delegate disciplinary rights was not shared by carers or featured in the adult debates. Carers did not share young participants' concerns with the imbalance of rights and power in disciplinary relationships with physical force. The study concludes by underlining the implications for policy, practice and research on physical discipline that are presented by the distinct perspectives of young people.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the classroom experiences of current secondary school students, in light of the present policy drive towards participation. Using an approach with ethnographic intent (participant observation, interviewing, shadowing and field notes) this research explores six students’ experiences, in one secondary school in Scotland. Emerging themes from the literature, regarding participation and participatory approaches, suggest that these can be understood in different ways, ranging from economic instrumentalism to democratic renewal. This study took a fresh theoretical approach, employing an ecological, temporal-relational understanding of the achievement of agency. This understanding acknowledges a young person’s awareness of, and capacity to engage with, a range of different possible actions, by means of a particular context at a particular time. This approach provided theoretical tools, with which to interpret aspects of these students’ school experiences. The findings are detailed in terms of teacher-student relationships, the cultural realm, and young people’s aspirations. Students’ achievement of agency in the school setting is complex, but one major finding is that the quality and type of teacher-student relationship are significant in enabling these students to achieve agency. Peer relationships and ties beyond the school gates are also significant. The ecological understanding of agency provides a basis for educators to better understand the interdependence of the individual and the environment and to explore how participation might afford a wider range of possibilities for young people. This reflection on participation is important if we want to shape educational ecologies to encourage practices which facilitate the achievement of agency by young people.

This thesis looks at some of the intellectual and educational relations between Scotland and the Netherlands in the period 1680-1730. Although the importance of such an exchange has been a long acknowledged fact, an overview has hitherto been lacking. By charting the extent and the nature of the Scottish student community at the four main universities in the United Provinces - Leiden, Franeker, Groningen and Utrecht - the thesis aims to provide as full a picture of the Scots' experience of Dutch education as the available resources will allow. At the same time, it re-examines the well-known idea that the United Provinces provided a model or example for Scotland and the notion that there such a thing as a specifically Dutch root to the Scottish Enlightenment. The thesis is divided in two parts. The first offers the most complete study of the Scottish student community in the Netherlands so far undertaken. Based on the hard figures provided by the matriculation lists of the Dutch universities and the private accounts of Scottish students, both the number of students and their personal experiences are described and analysed. The infrastructure and mechanics of the resultant community are subsequently established as being very specific to the Scots and prone to change over time. The exchange in ideas is analysed by looking at both the different curricula of the Dutch universities and the Scotto-Dutch book trade. These studies lead to a number of revelations, most notably that universities other than Leiden had a lasting influence on the Scots and that this influence was not always as 'modern'as has hitherto been thought. In the second part, two case studies of famous 'Dutch' Scots, William Carstares and Charles Mackie, are used to illustrate and test these claims.