stirling-1963-vol-1/05_063

Transcription

INTRODUCTION : THE EARLY IRON AGE
only farmers and graziers living in the district is, however, suggested by five structures which
most probably belong to the same period. One, at Wheatlands (No. 101), is a settlement con-
sisting of several circular buildings within enclosing defences; it is known only as a crop-mark
on an air-photograph, but the fact that the buildings show as dark circles indicates that they
were of the "ring-ditch" class and consequently that this settlement was of an Early Iron Age
type well known in south-eastern Scotland. ¹ This settlement, and the four homesteads of Logie
(No. 102), Woodside (No. 103), West Plean (No. 104) and Gargunnock (No. 105) are probably
survivors of a larger number, the rest of which have been destroyed by agricultural development
or obliterated by later buildings.
Mention may also be made here of the crop-mark of an enclosure at Bowhouse (No. 106),
which was probably a timber-framed homestead. It is likely to have been of Early Iron Age
date, ² but as yet no proof exists.

BROCH
Two brochs of the ten that form the Tay-Forth-Tweed group ³ occur in the neighbourhood
of Stirling, one on the north side of the valley of the River Forth at Coldoch, Perthshire, and
the other twelve miles away to the south-east, near the summit of the high ground now clothed
in the trees of Tor Wood (No. 100). The significance of these structures and their relationship
to the locality is discussed below.

CRANNOGS
The only crannogs in Scotland from which evidence of Early Iron Age occupation has so far
been obtained are those which lie south-west of the line of the Clyde and the Nith, while those
distributed over the rest of the country, many of which are in the Highlands, appear to have
been occupied in mediaeval times. ⁴ The Stirlingshire crannogs (Nos. 107 to 110) fall geograph-
ically between these groups, and at present there is no evidence which would enable them to
be associated with either, although the pre-Roman ring-headed pin from Clairinch ⁵ may have
belonged to the occupants of the crannog lying off the north end of that island (No. 108).
It has, however, been considered advisable to mark the crannogs on the Early Iron Age
distribution map (Fig. 4).

THE EVIDENCE OF THE STIRLINGSHIRE EARLY IRON AGE
Few as are the monuments of the Early Iron Age that still survive in Stirlingshire, there is no
reason to suppose that any class except possibly the timber-framed settlements and homesteads
was ever represented by significantly greater numbers. The amount of available archaeological
material is also slight, for though chance finds and the excavation of several monuments have
produced some relics, these are few in number and for the most part undistinguished in
character, and can do little more than furnish the mere proof of occupation.
It is notable that, with one exception, none of the hill-forts shows any certain signs of

1 Inventory of Roxburghshire, p. 20.
2 Cf. P.S.A.S., lxxxvii (1952-3), 151.
3 The Problem of the Picts (ed. Wainwright), 66 ff. Three of these were found during the Commission's survey of marginal
land - Craig Hill, Angus (NO 432358), Drumcarrow, Fife (NO 458134), and Calla, Lanarkshire (NS 991488).
4 P.S.A.S., lxxxvii (1952-3), 151.
5 Ibid., lxxxiv (1949-50), 130.

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