Traprain Law 4
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Traprain Law

traprain law

fitzcoraldo F
fitzcoraldo Jun 3, 2005 11:37:30
Replying to tiompan

I reckon this whole thing about hillforts and IA enclosures needs to be confined to the dustbin.

I really don't know how we arrived at the mindset of 'We've got some rock art and an enclosure' therefore the rock art must pre-date the enclosure.
We know that the people of the Neolithic built wonderful enclosures and we also know that the people of the Bronze Age also built wonderful enclosures. So why when we encounter an enclosure is it classified as "probably IA" or "Thought to be IA" - Both quotes from the Keys to the Past website concerning Chatton and Old Bewick respectively.

H Hob
Hob Jun 6, 2005 00:14:19
Replying to fitzcoraldo

Damn. I go away for the weekend and miss people talking about one of my favourite topics.

The whole RA/IA thing seems even odder considering people used to say the carvings were IA because they were in a hillfort. As far as I know, Dod Law is the only one in Northumberland that's been excavated, and I think the earthworks were very IA, but that there may have been an earlier enclosure beeath. There's certaintly an enclosure just off to the side, but I don't think it's been dug.

Possibly vaguely relevant to the matter, especially to Roughting Linn, as they look a bit similar, are the BA earthworks in Coquetdale, usually said to be territorial marker boundary thingies.

Whatever the chronologies, I don't think the relationship between RA and earthworks is just random chance.

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