Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 134

Overview of the development of urban archaeology in Scotland from the early 1970s to 2004.

A Neolithic agricultural soil, a Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age soil and a range of midden deposits were analysed from the multi-period settlement sites of Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkney and Old Scatness, Shetland. The analysis was undertaken in order to compare the midden material which had accumulated within the settlement to the cultural material in the arable fields. The comparison was undertaken in order to determine whether manuring was practices in the Neolithic and, if so, to identify which material were selected as fertilizers. Thin section micromorphology, phosphate analysis, particle size distribution and loss on ignition were used to identify and characterize the materials which were added to the soil. The results indicate that in the Neolithic period at Tofts Ness the middens themselves were cultivated, although midden material was also added as fertilizer to the fields around the site. The cultivation of midden heaps in the Neolithic may have been a common practice and is evidence for intensive arable agriculture on a small scale. The cultivation of a Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age midden at Old Scatness, Shetland suggests continuity of the practice. Parallels are drawn with other Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites.

Rerigonium, a place-name in Ptolemy's Geography, is thought to have been located in the Rhinns of Galloway, but its site has never been identified. There is a strong circumstantial case for regarding the Innernessan area on the eastern site of Loch Ryan as being the likely locus of Rerigonium. It is contended that the name, in both the British and Old Welsh forms, indicates an important function perhaps in the pre-Roman Iron Age in connection with the Novantae, as well as the obscure post-Roman entity known as Rheged.

The author, a former archaeology surveyor with the Ordnance Survey, describes the recent history of OS involvement with the Antonine Wall, culminating in the far-reaching 1980 Survey which was finally completed before the disbandment of OS archaeological services in 1983, and suggests a lack of awareness, or understanding, among many archaeologists of the legacy that OS provided.

A number of associated features and artefacts in the workshops at Portmahomack (Ross-shire) can be related to the preservation and finishing of hides, and it is argued that this included the preparation of parchment for the production of manuscripts. The archaeological correlates of making parchment and methods for distinguishing it from other types of leather-working are discussed.

Single finds of coins minted between the twelfth century and 1603 are analysed, and the evidence compared with that provided by hoards and documents, in an attempt to determine which coins were being used for which purposes at various times. Lists of coin finds are appended for a number of important sites not included in the regular surveys published in this journal, and the possible significance of these larger accumulations is discussed. Includes Appendix: major finds assemblages.

The report describes the results of three archaeological excavations which took place within the medieval burgh of Dumbarton, two by Eric Talbot between 1971 and 1972 on the High Street and at College Street and the third, on the High Street, by SUAT in 1997. Evidence of medieval activity, including metal working, was found on burgage plots in the High Street. A large pottery assemblage provided an opportunity to investigate medieval trends in a west coast burgh. Glass waste at College Street may have originated from the site of the late-eighteenth- to nineteenth-century Dumbarton Glassworks. Specialist reports include: Pottery from 94--102 High Street; Other artefacts from 94--102 High Street; The animal bone from 94--102 High Street; The industrial soils from 94--102 High Street; Excavations at 101--3 High Street, 1972; Pottery from 75 College Street and 101--3 High Street; Other artefacts from 101--3 High Street and 75 College Street; Animal bone from 101--3 High Street and 75 College Street; Discussion: the artefact and pottery assemblages from Dumbarton.

The church of St Bride's, Douglas, contains a series of tombs and memorials to members of the Douglas family. Three of these, dating from the second quarter of the fourteenth century to the mid-fifteenth century, take the form of recesses, and are set within the north and south walls of the choir. The architecture of the earliest of these shows an awareness of the work of late-thirteenth/early-fourteenth-century English court masons, while the canopies of the other two are more closely related to major Scottish building campaigns, notably at Melrose and possibly at Lincluden. The scope of the sources for all three tombs is a reflection of the status of their patrons, and the high quality of the effigies emphasises their high social standing.

Report on an interdisciplinary project combining art history, archaeology and the historical anthropology of religion, and consisting of a study based on the material culture of recusancy from the mansion and medieval bishop's palace at Fetternear, Aberdeenshire. After the Reformation, the property became the main seat of the Leslies of Balquhain, a recusant family. A stone plaque bearing the inscription HIS MRA, probably dating from 1691, placed on the façade of the mansion indicates the religious allegiance of the family. The study of the contents of the mansion is based on surviving material culture associated with Fetternear and documentary sources, and shows that the Leslies of Balquhain were building up the necessary intellectual and material resources for sustaining Roman Catholic worship and that their property served as the headquarters of the Jesuit mission in Scotland in the late-seventeenth century.

The paper identifies and describes a building at Brough Head, Eastshore, Dunrossness, Shetland and suggests that it is likely to be a seventeenth-century Scottish merchants' booth. Documentary evidence for the activities of Scottish merchants at Eastshore in the seventeenth century is outlined in order to present a context for the possible identification of the building.

Description of two curling stones made as presentations to individuals who had fostered the game of curling during the mid-nineteenth century.