medieval-atlas/introductory/12

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The siting of settlements As with the shaping of settlements, so too does their siting, of course, reflect very human criteria. What has seemed desirable to different groups has varied with social aims, political and economic circumstances, and technological developments. Patterns of siting have thus certainly tended to change through time. Nevertheless, some themes appear to recur, and two that seem particularly notable in Scotland are subsistence and strife. Scotland's long history ofstrife has been at every level, from local lawlessness through regional factional ism to major invasions. Crannog lake dwellings were one extreme but remarkably persistent response to this, featuring in Scotland's loch- ConjectUlran ll"econstmctiolll of p!ll"eini.stodc Cll"aHlIIIlOg C::::::::::::dJ 10km Threave ~~~. ~ Orchardton Gap ...:\~ ~ "~ f' . strewn landscape from prehistory through to the seventeenth century. Not all were refuges; some were bases for aggression. Their detailed siting often exhibits a compromise between security from natural and human hazards, and convenient access to subsistence. The same seems true of the placing of many of Scotland's tower houses. The tower houses of the more ambitious magnates also suggest sites chosen to combine local tactical advantages with a wider view of strategic potential for regional control. An example of this is the stronghold of the Black Douglases at Threave. This commands a nodal point of route ways, from the security of an island in the River Dee. COll1jectu.lIll"aB ll"econstmctioll. of medieval cll"mmog 1I'Ihureave Castle: strategic locatiolll Timeave Castle: tacticallocaHoHll OHll islet 011. the River IDee lAM

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