Neolithic stone ball, carved with spiral. On display in Inverness Museum (no provenance given for this object).
Image credit: A. Brookes (19.10.2013)
Sites in Highland (Mainland)
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Images
Contemporary religious cairns, Glen Garry.
Have we changed that much? Hell, I even set up my own (albeit pathetic) cairn here...........
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Articles
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gd49ygn9qo
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cljydp1y882o
Skeletal remains of six men found under a kitchen floor in the Highlands have been revealed to date back to Scotland's Iron Age.
More info : bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-64756840
A new project has been set up to help uncover ancient hunter-gatherer sites high in the Cairngorm mountains.
More info :
If Ken McElroy gets his way, a very unusual feature will soon be added to the wild Caithness landscape at the northern edge of mainland Britain. He plans to re-create a 50ft-high iron age “skyscraper”, known as a broch, one of the most intriguing and mysterious types of building ever constructed in the British Isles.
More info : theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/20/new-caithness-broch-will-reach-50-feet-and-follow-plans-devised-in-600bc
A project to reconstruct an Iron Age broch has released a new digital image of what the completed building is expected to look like.
More info : bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c35r7ygj0w4o
The potential benefits to archaeology of road building projects is being reviewed by the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
More info :
His genetics were found to be most similar to other Iron Age individuals from the Knowe of Skea in Westray in Orkney.
More info :
Work to improve a notorious hairpin bend on the A9 in the Highlands has revealed the site of a hunter-gatherers' camp.
More info :
A stone carved by Picts 1,200 years ago has been discovered in the Highlands.
Archaeologists said the find is of national importance because it is one of only about 50 complete Pictish cross-slabs known to exist.
Decorated with a number of symbols, the stone was uncovered at an early Christian church site near Dingwall.
It was used as a grave marker in the 1790s and discovered hidden in vegetation by Anne MacInnes of North of Scotland Archaeological Society.
Read more about this find on the BBC website and in the Ross-shire Journal.
A conservation charity has bought a west Highlands hill and its area of ancient Caledonian pinewood and native birchwood.
More info :
An archaeological charity is pushing ahead with an ambitious plan to construct a full-size replica of an Iron Age broch.
More info :
A harpoon or spear along with axes made by hunter-gatherers in the Highlands 6,000 years ago have been found.
The tools made from red deer antlers were uncovered at a Mesolithic site at Tarradale near Muir of Ord.
More info :
Archaeologists have uncovered a Bronze Age burial cist close to where two of the stone slab-built graves were previously found.
More info :
The remains of an ancient roundhouse have been uncovered by archaeologists in the Highlands.
The prehistoric property was excavated ahead of the construction of a new business park at Mullan's Wood at Tore, near Inverness.
Archaeologists said the roundhouse may have been built in the Iron Age 2,000 years ago, or earlier.
The excavation area has been reinstated and the site will be protected during the future building work.
Environmental samples taken during the fieldwork has the potential to provide material for dating the site.
A site has been chosen in Caithness for a planned reconstruction of an Iron Age broch.
Archaeologists say they are finding increasing evidence that a site near Loch Ness was important for burials in the Bronze Age.
A new year-long archaeology festival aims to uncover new information about Iron Age brochs and also encourage greater public awareness of them.
An Iron Age broch recreated in Lego goes on public display this week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40133597
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-39191527
A blog by Magnus Dixon on his visit to The Grey Cairns of Camster, near Watten
northlinkferries.co.uk/caithness-blog/the-grey-cairns-of-camster/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38049966
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-37360701
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36923891
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36837430
A bit more exciting than Nessie!
"DRUMNADROCHIT'S earliest-known resident, who lived around 4500 years ago, wore a stone guard on his wrist when using a bow and arrow and favoured geometric designs on his kitchenware.
Following the discovery last month of an early Bronze Age burial cist in the village, archaeologists have found shards of pottery and a wrist guard on the same site."
Continues here:
Seeing as nobody else has posted it... ;)
"A rare example of prehistoric rock art has been uncovered in the Highlands.
Archaeologists made the discovery while moving a boulder decorated with ancient cup and ring marks to a new location in Ross-shire.
When they turned the stone over they found the same impressions on the other side of the rock. It is one of only a few decorated stones of its kind.
John Wombell, of North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS), said: "This is an amazing discovery."
Susan Kruse, of Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands (ARCH), first discovered the stone at Heights of Fodderty several years ago when out walking.
The second set of cup and ring marks were uncovered recently when archaeologists were moving the stone to a new site at nearby Heights of Brae Neil Gunn Viewpoint.
From the Neolithic or Bronze Age, the art was created between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago."
Full story and pics: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26366644
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2014/portrait-of-an-early-bronze-age-highland-funeral
This has received quite a lot of attention in the local press – little wonder, its a wonderful find.
http://www.aocarchaeology.com/news/warehousecairns
ARCHAEOLOGISTS are claiming a highly significant discovery in the Highlands in the form of a 4000-year-old sheepskin that is believed to be the earliest surviving example in Britain.
It was recovered from a burial cist in Spinningdale, on the east coast of Sutherland, which was discovered when a septic tank was being installed in 2011. Since then archaeologists have been undertaking a sophisticated analysis of what they found and are only now publishing the resulting data.
Glasgow-based Guard Archaeology, which provides commercial archaeological services, found a Bronze Age burial site containing a skeleton in a crouched position, with the remains of a sheepskin that may have been wrapped around the body.
It was found in a stone cist, built within a substantial pit. The skeleton was that of a middle-aged adult female, aged 35-50 and with signs of spinal joint disease.
Iraia Arabaolaza, who led the Guard team, said: "A radiocarbon date of 2051-1911 BC and 2151-2018 BC was obtained from a bone and charcoal fragments respectively, placing the cist in the early Bronze Age period.
"A tripartite food vessel urn, of Early Bronze Age date, was placed to the west of her skull, but what made this burial a particularly extraordinary site was the discovery of sheepskin and wool recovered from under the skeletal remains.
"The sheepskin around the left arm is the first sample of this kind in Scotland and is the first known example discovered from a Bronze Age burial in Britain.
"There have been two other samples of Bronze Age wool found in the British Isles, but none of potential sheepskin are known. Findings of hide or fur are few and far between in Britain but are often associated with 'rich burials' of adult inhumations."
It is believed the sheepskin survived because the depth of the pit had put it under or near the water table, allowing the material to survive as it had not been exposed to a greater degree to the air..
Ms Arabaolaza said the radiocarbon dating of the cist corresponded with the date of the food urn buried with the body. The vessel contained carbonised material of non-botanical origin, unidentified cremated bone and part of a small ring.
He added: "These were probably placed to assist the individual's journey into the next world and indicate belief in the afterlife."
heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/earliest-bronze-age-sheepskin-is-found-in-the-highlands.22000015
http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/News/Ancient-rock-art-uncovered-in-Evanton-31012013.htm
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of what they believe to be a Bronze Age bathing site or sauna.
More info :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-17397694
Stoneworks Early Architecture Project
STONEworks website and events listing
AOC Archaeology Group is pleased to be working with Caithness Archaeological Trust and Archie Sinclair Fossil Trust on their new community experimental archaeology project, STONEworks Early Architecture Project.
For four weeks from Monday September 19th 2011, we will be learning about building methods in the past; work will involve the construction of a section of broch, potentially reaching 10-12m in height. The wall will feature intra-mural galleries, as these were common in Iron Age brochs. Building the broch with large slabs of Caithness flagstone will be hard work, but we trust that participants will relish the challenge and enjoy the communal endeavour!
One of the main research interests of the project is to force the collapse of the structure, and in doing so, to find out more about the way in which brochs collapse. We will learn about this poorly understood process by depositing various items at specified locations in the broch walls; when we force the collapse of the broch, we can identify where those items ended up. This will hopefully reveal much about the processes that some archaeological artefacts go through before archaeologists find them many years later.
Volunteers of all ages are invited to take part; no experience is required, tools and training will be provided, and it's free to participate. Artists, photographers, film-makers and art students will also be welcomed should they choose to come and take inspiration from the creation of an imposing and beautiful structure.
All the details of the organised events, and contacts if you can go and help on the link, above.
______________
Just passing this on, heard about it on the grapevine... I hope there might be some folk in the area who can join me in helping with the build. Also going to be taking a few trips up to photograph / paint, so will have some interesting updates / work coming from it I hope!
BBC News report of this find at Thrumster, near Wick.
"The site of one of Scotland's most important mainland broch settlements may have been home to early people for up to 1,000 years, evidence suggests.
Archaeologists and volunteers have uncovered what could be the remains of walls dating back to 700 to 500 BC at Nybster in Caithness.
Andy Heald, of AOC Archaeology, said further investigations would need to be made to confirm the structure's age.
Evidence of possible Pictish and medieval occupation has been recorded.
A key feature of the site are the remains of a massive stone wall roundhouse, known as a broch.
Caithness has more brochs per square mile than any other part of Scotland, according to Highland Council."
Full story: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13237076
Conservation work to restore and preserve ancient woodland has been boosted by funds from Scottish Natural Heritage.
More info :
Only just launched, but seems to be feeding an interesting stream of news. The idea is to encourage contribution to the database...
I know there are a lot of folk in / foray into the area :-)
Protestors say a major archaelogical area would be blighted if turbines get the go ahead.
(In an area that has a broch, cairns and standing stones.)
More info :
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newsrele.nsf/AllByUNID/8F39E72FC224AABF802577D2004D9456
The modern Forestry Commission have to be commended for their far-thinking approach to land management and the proactive preservation of our heritage.
There are other local instances (which I'll dig out)where the Commission team here in the North have contributed to the the vast cache of archeological gems which have been largely hidden and forgotten since many huge stands of conifers were planted in the 40's and 50's.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11936674
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11536596
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11347013
Strange how the lives of the past can affect the Corporate business of today!!
ps. Inverness is known locally as "Tesco Town"
Archaeologists discover Bronze Age burial site, arrowheads and pottery.
More info on the article posted by Strathspey.
Must have been a Bronze Age Tesco in Inverness!!
Leading historian gives support to Pictish relics centre at Rosemarkie.
Published 25/06/2010.
More info :
Inverness project engineers find protected species and a prehistoric pot shard.
by Iain Rammage.
Published 3/06/2010.
pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1766008
What happened in Belfast now happens in Inverness.
Skeleton found in a substantial stone cist, partially wrapped in animal/furs with a wicker basket over the skull area.
Links to BBC story with photo
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8261343.stm
and Scotsman article
news.scotsman.com/latestnews/39Whicker-Man39-tomb-to-yield.5661633.jp
Archaeological Trust initiative aims to capitalise on area's ancient treasures;
A new centre focusing on the brochs of the far north opened at the weekend.
Caithness Archaeological Trust has spearheaded the transformation of the former Northlands Viking Centre, at Auckengill.
It is the latest initiative to showcase the area's ancient treasures and help secure visitor spin-offs similar to those enjoyed across the water in Orkney.
Saturday's opening of the Caithness Broch Centre marked the completion of a £185,000 project the trust has carried out in liaison with Highland Council, which owns the building.
The focus is firmly on brochs – mysterious Iron Age stone towers whose exact purpose has still to be established conclusively.
Caithness, and the area around Sinclair Bay in particular, has one of the largest concentrations of brochs in Scotland. One of the goals for the centre is to attract more visitors to see them.
The centre has sections on the people who built and lived beside the brochs more than 2,000 years ago and the 19th-century archaeologists who first excavated the structures.
The revamp has been led by the trust, which has arranged to display a large collection from the National Museums Scotland in the centre. The 150 items include gaming pieces, painted pebbles, spindle whorls, stone balls, rings, combs and Roman pottery.
The opening included a tour of the centre and the nearby broch at Nybster led by former trust project officer Andy Heald. A treasure hunt and other children's activities were also run.
The project has been funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Highland 2007, Highland Leader and Highland Council.
Bill Fernie, chairman of the council's education, culture and sport committee, said: "I am very pleased that we are now able to present an important element of the history and archaeology of the north in a great new setting.
"The new visitor centre will add to the growing list of places of interest for both local people and visitors to find out about the area and its past.
"Caithness has been called Broch Central due to the many brochs and standing stones to be found – one of the largest concentrations in Scotland – and now will be able to really let people know about them."
The Earl of Caithness, Malcolm Sinclair, who is chairman of the trust, said the project was a great example of community working.
"It is highly appropriate that Caithness should have such a high-quality attraction, given it is the broch centre of the UK," he said.
Program on BBC2 Monday 15th January at 9pm where a 3,000-year-old Scottish temple cave dedicated to dead children has been brought to life for the first time. See;
The actions of a domestic cat have thrown up a new theory about ancient stone burial cairns in Caithness.
Archaeologists built a mock-up of the structures as part of an experiment.
Emma Sanderson, of Caithness Archaeology Trust, said it was found that a dead rabbit had been left in the replica by a cat.
She said it could mean that animal bones found in real cairns were not the remains of ceremonial offerings, as thought, but left by other creatures.
Archaeologists built reconstructions of burial cairns and ancient towers called brochs as part of a series of research projects and excavations carried out in Caithness over the summer.
Prince Charles, who is on holiday at Castle of Mey, visited the ruins of a broch near Keiss this week.
A team from Nottingham University also dived to a number of wrecks off the Caithness coast, including one thought to be a World War I German warship.
The archaeologists are now analysing their field work, including new insights into cairns.
"One day a couple of weeks ago a dead rabbit was laid out in the cairn. It had been placed there by a cat," said Ms Sanderson.
She said it was previously thought that animal remains found in actual cairns were left as ceremonial offerings.
However, the cat's dead rabbit has provided a new theory that they had been killed by other animals years after the cairn had fallen into disrepair.
Another theory about cairns may also have been exploded after archaeologists knocked down their mock-up.
It was noted that the stones collapsed in a pattern previously thought to be evidence of ceremonial closing of the cairn.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/5245956.stm
Interesting archaeological exercise – or (paranoia?) p.r. for quarry owners?!
People are being invited to be among the first in 6,000 years to try their hand at building sections of what were the north Highland version of the Pyramids.
The cairn-building project, launched at the weekend by Caithness Archaeological Trust (Cat), is designed to lift the profile of the ancient tombs and encourage more people to come and see them. The great mounds of stone, of which the Grey Cairns of Camster is best known, were used for burials by the area's first settlers.
An initial 13 volunteers have so far joined the modern-day construction team in the village of Spittal, just off the northernmost stretch of the A9 between Latheron and Thurso. Cat's archaeological development officer Andy Heald said yesterday: "We're trying to relive a community project carried out by our Caithness ancestors more than 6,000 years ago."
The volunteers are being overseen by Mr Heald and John Barber, director of the AOC Archaeology Group. Local quarry owner A & D Sutherland is supplying the stone being used.
Mr Heald said: "We're building up experience and expertise for the longer-term aim of the project which is to construct a full-size cairn somewhere in Caithness. We hope to involve as much of the community as possible and, ideally, we will attract people of various ages and strengths to help us at every stage of the project from collecting the stone to building the cairn."
He believes the initiative can serve as a visitor attraction and help in Cat's drive to increase the popular appeal of the county's rich archaeology. The scheme at Spittal is scheduled to last until July 30.
Special children's days are being held on July 17 and 24, while an evening lecture, on the current scheme, is at Spittal Village Hall on July 19.
Anyone interested in taking part in the cairn-building should can turn up at 9.30 any weekday morning at the entrance of A & D Sutherland Ltd's quarry. All under-18-year-olds have to be accompanied by an adult.
As well as the quarry owners, the project has been supported by O'Brien Construction Ltd, John Gunn & Sons Ltd and Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.
From the Forres Gazette, 18 March 2004
JUST a few months after neolithic round houses were found on the site of a housing development on the outskirts of Forres, a man living on the other side of town has unearthed more evidence of the area's historic past.
Retired farmer Alec Mackenzie (76), who lives at Karora, Mill of Grange, with his wife, Margaret, was trying to remove a large tree root from his garden when he struck a big rock.
Little did he know he had uncovered evidence of a Bronze Age settlement and that nine years later it would be on display in a local museum – along with an Iron Age artefact that he found stuck in his garden wall.
He told the "Gazette" how, on moving into the house about nine years ago, he tried to dislodge a large stone which was preventing him from digging up the root in the garden.
"When I finally managed to get it, I found a large flat stone and a smaller rock buried together, " he said.
The large stone was shaped like a saddle with an indention in the middle, and Mr Mackenzie left it in his garden, using it as an ornamental birdbath, where it has been for the past nine years, alongside the other smaller stone.
"The birds absolutely love it, " he said.
"It's just the right shape for them as it fills with water. I thought it was quite an unusual shape and have been meaning to bring it into the museum for ages."
When he finally did bring the object into the Falconer Museum in Forres, museums officer Anne Bennet said she was extremely excited about what she saw.
"I thought straightaway that this was a saddle quern because it was so easily identifiable, " said Miss Bennet.
"It is in good condition and dated somewhere between 500BC and 4500BC, so it could be more than 5,000 years old.
"I phoned the regional archaeologist to come and have a look at it."
Regional archaeologist Ian Shepherd, who is based in Aberdeen, confirmed that the piece was a saddle quern which would have been used for grinding oats into flour, and dated it from the Bronze Age.
"It is not a unique find, but it is very unusual and an important find, " he said.
This is not the first time that Forres has hit the historical headlines. Last August, architects doing a pre-site survey of a housing development at Grantown Road for Springfield Properties unearthed evidence of round houses dating from about 3000BC.
A further examination of the site uncovered two neolithic round houses, primitive dwellings which housed people and animals, and buildings which the archaeologists thought might be Pictish.
At the time, Mr Shepherd said the area would have to be properly researched and documented before being returned to the developers.
Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs Mackenzie said although they suspected the stone from their garden was "old" they were unaware it would be historically important, but thought it might have been used for grinding flour as the other stone found with it appeared to fit into it.
"I thought the stone I dug up with it was probably used for grinding down the oats on the top of the quern and milling it into flour, but apparently it was just coincidental that the two stones were dug up together, " said Mr Mackenzie.
Mr Mackenzie has now donated the quern to the Falconer Museum, where it will be on display along with another large flat stone which he dug out of his garden wall two weeks ago.
This time Miss Bennet was able to say that the item was an Iron Age piece and had probably been used as the top half of a rotary quern, which would also have been used for grinding oats into flour. She said this was a more common find, often uncovered throughout Scotland.
"It was stuck in an old rough dyke, " said Mr Mackenzie.
"My wife didn't know what it was either but I think you used to put a stick in a hole in this one and spin it to grind the oats."
"It's just amazing, " said Miss Bennet.
"I don't know what's going to turn up next, and I have contacted the regional archaeologist again."
The Migdale Hoard has been returned to the Highlands of Scotland for an exhibition at Inverness Museum. A priceless collection of Bronze Age jewellery – including a bronze axe head, bronze hair ornaments, sets of bronze bangles and anklets, and several carved jet and shale buttons – it was found in May 1900 in a rock crevice above Loch Migdale, Sutherland.
Although kept in Edinburgh at the National Museums of Scotland, the artefacts are being lent to Inverness Museum for an exhibition lasting until mid-June. Local Highland councillor Alison Magee said "I'm delighted that these highly important artefacts will be on display in the Highlands close to where they were found. I hope as many people as possible from the Kyle of Sutherland and the wider Highlands will be able to visit the museum and see for themselves this stunning example of our local Bronze Age history."
However, the collection may be incomplete, as Inverness Museum archaeologist Patricia Weeks explained "Intriguingly, some of the pieces found with the hoard never made it to the National Museum." Smaller artefacts were apparently picked up at the time of discovery by local children, and it's possible some of the missing pieces may still be in the area.
Later this year, Dr Alison Sheridan of the National Museums of Scotland will give a talk in the Highlands on the Migdale Hoard, but the time and place have still to be confirmed.
A survey by Tim Blackie and Colin Macaulay
The aim of this survey was to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive list of The Pictish and early Christian sculptured stones which have been found in the modern county of Caithness, and to provide brief details about the stones which might be of interest to the general reader. More detailed notes may be found in the various sources listed for each stone under 'Other Documentation'; a guide to the abbreviations used is appended here. 28 stones are described with locations. This article is reproduced from the Caithness Field Club Bulletin at caithness.org/caithnessfieldclub/bulletins/sculpturedstones/index.htm
Some small stones have been found [in the parish of Wick], which seem to be a species of flint, about an inch long and half an inch broad, of a triangular shape, and barbed on each side. The common people confidently assert, that they are fairies arrows, which they shoot at cattle, when they instantly fall down dead, though the hide of the animal remains quite entire. Some of those arrows have been found buried a foot under ground, and are supposed to have been in antient times fixed in shafts, and shot from bows. Some stones also of a flinty nature have been found, which when broken contained the shape of serpents coiled round in the heart of the stone.From the Statistical Account of 1791-99 vol.10 p.15 : Wick, County of Caithness.
Not only the common people, but even the clergy, and better sort, in the interior of the Highlands, till about sixty or seventy years ago, believed in ghosts, fairies, brownies, hob-gobblings, and the like. I fell in with an old man, that positively insisted he had seen them, and that a gentleman, belonging to the parish of Boharm, upon shooting among fairies, who were dancing round a green tumulus, one summer evening, wounded one of them, so that it could not fly off with the rest; that he caught it and kept it all night; but that, recovering, it flew away in the morning.p409 in 'Travels in Scotland, by an unusual route' by James Hall (v2) 1807. (But maybe Boharm was a parish in Moray, rather than the Highlands. Far away enough not to let the truth interfere perhaps).
just a little note the Z-rods that I have given locations of below are the doubledisc-and-Z-rod type only, I have not included the 'broken' rods i.e Z-rod on it's side with either a snake/serpant or with what could be a house /fort (symbol numbers 23 & 45 in the Pictish trail).
caroline
Location of Class II Z-rod & V-rod stones
From the book I mentioned earlier in Head heritage ('The Pictish trail') the following information might be of use:
Class I stones are the simplest with only symbols cut into their surface.
Class II stones have symbols but also are dressed and the symbols are in relief and have a cross carved on the other side.
Class III stones have no symbols they have other figures and a cross (a magnificent example being the Sueno's stone ('Sven's stone'), near Forres, Moray, it is thought to illustrate the slaughter of Picts (depicted in groups of 7) that occurred during the unification of Scotland by Kenneth MacAlpin).
All the known symbols on class I & II stones come in pairs except for the mirror and comb, which, if present, is always placed towards the bottom of the stone almost touching the lower of the pair above. Some designs occur only once but apart from these there is a core of 28 symbols plus the mirror and comb. The most frequent symbols found on the stones is the crescent -and-V-rod found in 75% of all pairings, next is the double-disc-Z-rod occurring in 40% of all pairings. (this is both class I & II stones taken together).
It is thought the V- rod is a divining rod and as with the crescent could possibly mean the lineage was involved with determination of moon phase tides etc. The Z-rod may be associated with power and the broken rod may represent the dead (as I think someone mentioned this earlier).
As requested below are V & Z rod stones with cross (class II) locations. The grid ref that I am giving is the original location although some are now in museums. I will not mention all the symbols present on these as with out the illustrations some are quite hard to describe, and I donÕt have a scanner sorry.
Orkney V-rod HY 2398 2850
Caithness V-rod ND 1255 6879
V-rod ND 1309 6205
Sutherland V-rod +Ogham NH 837 002
Ross V-rod NH 915 840
Z-rod + V-rod +mirror & comb NH 8730 7688
Z-rod +V-Rod + mirror (no comb) NH 737 576
Hebrides V-rod NG 5467 3677
Nairn V-rod + Z-rod NH 9364 4253
Moray Z-rod + Ogham NH989 584
Z-rod+ V-rod NJ 2159 6285
Aberdeen Z-rod, V-rod (side by side) NJ 875 154
Z- rod NJ 436 068
Angus Z-rod +V-rod NO 5223 5555
Z-rod NO 389 544
Z-rod + V-rod NO 400 500
Z-rod NO 378 352 (lost)
Z-rod +mirror & comb NO 4953 3235
V-rod NO 4953 3235
Group of 6 stones St Vigeans (1-6) 1,3,5 & 6 Have Z-rods, St Vigeans1 also has a mirror & comb, some of the symbols are not determined on 2,4 & 5. NO 638 429
Perth Z-rod NO 2432 4878
V-rod NO2872 4459(meigle 4)
Z-rod + mirror& comb NO 2872 4459 (meigle 7)
Z-rod ,V-rod (side by side) NO196 212
V-rod NN 9462 5635
Z-rod + V-rod NN 928 240
V-rod NO 096 392
Fife Z-rod NO 423 035
If you want the same information on class I stones either buy the book 'The pictish trail: a travellers guide to the old Pictish kingdom' Anthony Jackson Orkney press 1989, or buy me a scanner! Caroline
Caithness Brochs Project have recently updated their website with details and images relating to their intent to build a 'modern' broch.
The Caithness Broch Project Facebook page which I should have put up ages ago.
BBC Scotland Landward program featuring a broch, a cairn and a drummer.
I rather like how this website also takes the 'show sites' and gives them their own map for each region.
Handy survey and loads of info about Caithness.
"Caithness is well-known for its spectacular prehistoric monuments, but few of us are as familiar with the remarkable
archives that relate to some of them. From the mid-19th century its Neolithic chambered tombs and Iron Age brochs attracted a who's who of Scottish antiquarians and scholars, and the county was amongst the first to be surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS 1911). This was in itself a remarkable piece of work, documented in a journal written by Alexander Curle, the first Secretary of the Commission, who visited the majority of the 597 monuments then known between May and September 1910 (RCAHMS MS/36/2). Since that survey, the Royal Commission has carried out relatively little archaeological work in Caithness, so an approach in 2003 by the Caithness Archaeological Trust to carry out a survey of the landscape around Loch of Yarrows and Loch Watenan presented an exciting opportunity...."
On some of the Stone Circles and Cairns
in the Neighbourhood of Inverness, by George Anderson.
A positively antique article (with plans) from:
Archaeologica Scotica: transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Volume 3 (1831)
The archaeology section of the Caithness Community Web site has a growing list of articles and directions to sites in the county of Caithness. There are pages on groups that have an interest in archaeology and history in the area. Caithness Field club is supplying articles from its annual bulletins. Many photogrpahs of brochs and other sites are being added to the web site.
