Loch Lomond Archaeology

Glossary

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Artefact

Artefacts are objects made or modified by people. They can be made of any kind of material, but typically archaeologists find things like stone, pottery, bone, metal, glass and sometimes wood and leather. Artefacts can give us insights into how groups and societies lived in the past . Once an artefact is recovered from the field, it is examined by a specialist and may need to be conserved. Groups of artefacts found together (that is, on the same site, but not necessarily of the same type or period) are known as 'assemblages.' The composition of assemblages can suggest what activities were taking place at a site.

Bloomery

Bloomeries are sites where ironworking took place. The process of heating iron ore, charcoal and limestone produced a 'bloom' – a lump of iron at the bottom of the furnace. This could then be forged (hammered) to remove impurities and worked into tools, weapons and other metal objects.

Bronze Age

Period from c 2400 - 800 BC. Traditionally defined as the time when bronze working was introduced and was the main type of metal working practised. However, this period also saw changes in burial practices and settlement patterns that suggest societies became increasingly hierarchical.

Burial

Burial is one of many ways of disposing of the dead. This process involves the laying out of the body, either in the ground or in a natural or artificial chamber or receptacle (such as a cist or urn). The buried remains may be articulated, disarticulated or cremated and may include one or more individuals. Different burial practices can give insight into how past societies and groups lived and died, how they treated their dead and how they understood the afterlife.

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Cist

A stone box constructed specifically for burial. Short cists (small, square or rectangular stone boxes) were mostly built during the Bronze Age, while long cists (much longer rectangular cists, about as long as a human body) were mostly built in the Roman Iron Age and post-Roman periods for burials.

Conservation

The stabilisation of artefacts to ensure that the process of decay does not continue. This may also include the cleaning and rebuilding of broken items to bring them closer to their original appearance in the past.

Context

This is a basic unit of archaeological analysis. A context is the physical trace of a discrete, identifiable event. Several contexts may be related to form a feature and several features may be combined to form a structure. For example, a posthole feature is composed of several contexts: the cut for the posthole (the result of the act of digging the hole), the fill of the posthole (the decayed or burnt remains of the wooden post, or of silt that filled up the hole after the post was removed), and packing stones (which were placed around the post to keep it upright. The term 'context' can also be used to refer to the location of an object.

Cremation

A mortuary rite which involves burning human bodies on a wooden pyre.

Environmental Archaeology

The study of past environmental remains (bones, seeds, sediments, pollen) to build up a picture of past environments and how they may have changed through nature's inter-relationship with past societies.

Evaluation

A standard archaeological technique for assessing how much buried archaeology survives in an area. It usually involves digging trial trenches that amount to a certain percentage of the overall area. This often happens in advance of development or road-building. The results of the evaluation are used to estimate how much archaeology is likely to be in the rest of the area.

Excavation

A systematic method of uncovering, recording and analysing the physical remains of past societies.

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Hogback

A 'hogback' tombstone is a monument carved from a single block of stone to form the shape of a house, with a convex curve forming the 'roof'. Examples are rare, but several are housed in Govan Old Parish Church.

Horizon

A horizon is a horizontal change in the soil. Frequently these changes are caused by human activity. For example, on the site of a fire, all of the burnt material will remain and eventually be buried. When archaeologists find this horizon of burnt material they can determine that there had been a fire on that spot.

Hut Circle

A hut circle is the archaeological remains of a form of building used in prehistory. These buildings were made of timber or stone and were circular in shape, with thatched roofs. These structures are related to roundhouses.

Iron Age Period

The Iron Age in Scotland extends from approximately 750 BC to AD 600. From about AD 43 to 410 AD, it overlapped with the Roman period; this is often called the Roman Iron Age.

Landscape

The spatial and temporal interrelationships between people, their cultural and natural environment and their belief systems.

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Medieval

In Scotland this period is usually interpreted by historians and archaeologists as the period between 1000 and 1500 AD. The most prominent surviving remains dating to this period are castles, churches, cathedrals and monasteries. Over the last few decades archaeologists have become increasingly interested in understanding rural settlement and material culture from this period, shifting the focus of research away from castles and towns to villages and farmsteads.

Metallurgy

The skills and technology involved in metalworking, including the cold working of native metals such as copper and gold, the smelting of ores and the casting of metal. Metallurgy may have been viewed as a magical skill during the past, with smiths treated differently from the rest of the community.

Microliths

Small stone tools carefully produced using a particular technology. Microliths were probably usually hafted in groups to form composite tools, such as arrowheads or sickles. Microliths are usually associated with the Mesolithic.

Midden

A dump of household rubbish and waste. A midden may consist of fragments of broken artefacts that were incorporated with household sweepings, kitchen rubbish and animal waste. Some middens may have been behind houses or alternatively spread across fields to help improve the soil’s fertility.

Neolithic Period

The Neolithic period in Scotland extends from approximately 4000 to 2400 B.C. It is generally associated with the adoption of farming, pottery and polished stone implements. This is also the period where the first monuments were built, often for the burial of human remains.

Norse Period

The Norse period in Scotland refers to a time when Scandinavian influence and contact was particularly strong resulting in trading links and settlement. This phase of activity extended from around the 9th century, up until the 15th century. The main power base was centred on the Northern Isles, which were ceded from Denmark to the Scottish crown in 1468, marking the end of Norse rule in the area.

Palaeo-environment

Past environments, studied through the geology, soils, flora, fauna and climate.

Palaeo-botany

The botanical study of past environments.

Palisade

A contiguous row of posts, set in a trench to create a screen or wall, which is frequently defensive in nature.

Phases

Distinct groups of features or structures at a site that are separated stratigraphically and / or temporally.

Pits

Holes dug in the ground. Some were deliberately filled in, while others may have been left open and weathered naturally.

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Post-Excavation

After fieldwork has been completed, the analysis and interpretation of the investigated remains. This can include analysis of artefacts, human and palaeo-environmental remains by specialists, radiocarbon dating, etc. Post-excavation analysis should always result in publication of the results and submission of a site archive to the National Monuments Record of Scotland.

Postholes

Holes dug into the ground, in which upright timbers were set. The holes would have been backfilled around the timbers, and in some cases packing stones were forced in to help stabilise the post. Archaeologists can establish whether timbers rotted in the ground, were pulled out or were burnt down from the shape and fill of postholes. Postholes are usually found in groups that the ground plan of structures, such as roundhouses.

Post Medieval

A useful term in archaeology, which follows on from the Middle Ages (see Medieval), beginning in about 1500 AD and continuing to the Industrial period (early 18th century).

Pottery

Vessels made from clay which has been heated in a kiln to harden it. Sherds of pottery are one of the most common finds on archaeological sites, and they can tell us a great deal about life in the past. Sherds that came from cooking pots sometimes bear the residues of burnt food or soot from a fire. In earlier prehistory, pottery is often found in a ceremonial context: Beakers (finely made, highly decorated vessels) are often found with burials that date from the late Neolithic to the mid Bronze Age (2500 to 1500 BC). Grooved Ware, which is decorated with incised lines) is often found on Neolithic sites (c 3000 BC to after 2500 BC). Impressed Ware pots were made during the late Neolithic to early Bronze Age and are often found in contexts not associated with burial.

Quern

A stone implement used for grinding cereal or seeds to make flour. Saddle querns are large, concave stones that were rubbed with a smaller one back and forth to grind the corn. Rotary querns have a circular upper stone that was rotated on a base stone, with the corn ground between the two. In some communities, large pounders or mortar and pestles were used instead.

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Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon dating is a way of measuring how old an object is by measuring an object's radioactivity. This is particularly helpful with wood. Wood decays or rots quickly, but when it has been burnt it can last for much longer. Another word for burnt wood is charcoal. The older this charcoal is, the less radioactive it will be. When archaeologists can date one object in a certain area they are able to determine the age of other objects nearby.

Roundhouse

Roundhouses were built during the Bronze Age and Iron Age throughout Britain. These structures were built using posts made from trees and were roofed with thatch. In more stony areas like the Highlands, roundhouses had a stone wall-base. In the Lowlands, typically all that remains of roundhouses in the archaeological record are rings of post holes. To see what one might have looked like, check out the Bodrifty Iron Age Settlement Web Site. The BBC also has an excellent animation of a roundhouse being built at the BBC History - Iron Age Web Site, although this page may take a while to load using slower connection speeds. They are also related to hut circles.

Sampling

Sampling is a way of collecting and retaining information from a portion of the resource. In the case of archaeology, this could be a portion of the area being excavated or a portion of the artefacts found. It is possible to arrive at conclusions about something quite large by only looking at a small portion of it. For example, when archaeologists are excavating a site, they usually take samples of different soils. These soil samples are then sieved and examined in a lab to find burnt seeds, wood, nutshells, bones and small artefacts that provide information on the palaeo-environment and on how the soil formed.

Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAM's)

These are sites which have been deemed of National Importance by Historic Scotland on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland, in accordance with the Ancient Monuments Act 1979. These sites enjoy statutory protection.

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Smelting

Smelting is the process by which metals, (e.g. copper, iron, tin or silver), are extracted from raw metallic ores by the application of intense heat, usually in a furnace or crucible. For an example of experimental Iron Age smelting at Scatness in Shetland, click here.

Slag

Slag is waste created when people work with metals. By analysing these residues we can tell whether the slag is a result of copper smelting or iron production. This is usually done by Archaeometallurgists, (specialists who study ancient metalworking). Slag is quite commonly found at archaeological sites, particularly at those where the smelting or smithing of iron took place. See also bloomery, smelting, and metallurgy

Soil Chemistry

Soil chemistry is about the chemical make-up of the soils and sediments. It involves a highly specialised range of techniques which look at the composition of particles that make up archaeological soils.

Stratigraphy

The study of the spatial relationships between different contexts. It is based on the understanding that layers of soil, stone and so on build up over time. Usually, the lower a strata or context, the older it is.

Survey

Survey is the finding, measuring and recording of unburied archaeology. For something to be archaeology it does not necessarily have to be buried. Many archaeologists carry out surveys of buildings. In this way it is possible to better understand how the building was constructed and how it has changed over time.

Unstratified

Having no context of discovery.

Urn

A pottery vessel, frequently associated with burial during the Bronze Age, when urns were often filled with cremated human remains and placed in pits.

Viking Period

The Viking period is a term used to define the time when 'Vikings' from Scandinavia were carrying out raids throughout Northern Europe. This period extends from around the 9th to 11th centuries AD in Scotland. See also Norse Period.

Whetstone

A flat stone used for sharpening knives or edged tools.

Walkover Survey

Systematic walking over a particular area with the purpose of identifying all upstanding archaeological sites.

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