Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
type: channel
description: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (PSAS) is a peer-reviewed journal of Scottish history and archaeology
publisher: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
language: en
publication name: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
issn: 0081-1564
items: The archaeology of whin mills in post-medieval north-east Scotland
items: Index
items: ‘This awful and distressing circumstance’
items: Bannockburn – where the ‘blades and harness rang’
items: Watching the waters
items: Professor Andrew Colin Renfrew, Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn MA (Cantab) PhD ScD Hon DLitt FSA HonFSAScot HonFRSE FBA Hon AIA
items: Gordon Stirling Maxwell MA FSA FRSE FSAScot
items: Prelims
items: Tokens of Jacobitism
items: Peripheral vision
items: ‘This flag was never a French one’
items: The Traprain Law jug with biblical scenes
items: The Dyce inscription and the morphosyntax of Pictish
items: Burnt bones from Dùn Bhoraraic, Isle of Islay
items: Scottish archaeological islands
items: Displaying antiquities in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1849 to 1870
items: Revisiting Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney
items: Ultima Thule? Reconnecting St Kilda and Pabbay
items: The abduction of Lady Grange to St Kilda
items: The Savernake horn – a relic of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray?
items: The River Ythan Navigation, Aberdeenshire
items: Reconsidering the Forres cross-slab (Sueno’s Stone), part 2
items: Reconsidering the Forres cross-slab (Sueno’s Stone), part 1
items: Richard Fawcett, OBE FSA FRSE HonFSAScot
items: Professor Dame Rosemary Jean Cramp, DBE FSA FBA HonFSAScot
items: Angus Graham and the Scottish harbours
items: Clay and lime mortars
items: Cracknie, Borgie and the souterrains of the northern mainland of Scotland

The archaeology of whin mills in post-medieval north-east Scotland
type: item
description: Whin mills were horse-powered machines used extensively in north-east Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries to crush gorse for animal fodder. Although the few that remain form an important tangible legacy of improvement agriculture that sought to adapt, exploit and capitalise on an abundant resource, they are commonly overlooked within the mostly top-down and estate-level-dominated historical literature of the improvement period. This paper presents a programme of desk-based and field investigation to determine the extent of whin mill preservation in north-east Scotland with a view to building on Ritchie’s 1925 inventory of whin mills. We report 54 records of whin mills including 17 sites with whin mill remains but only three with earth-fast courses. As more than obscure technological curiosities, we situate the innovation of whin mills within the social and economic history of the improvement period. Whin mills were not only used by the poorer class of farmers with access to gorse on rough ground, they were also taken up by farmers across the social spectrum. Unconstrained by environmental parameters, whin mills helped to increase the supply of fodder allowing for larger herds suitable for a growing beef market.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Whin mills
  topic: keywords
subject: gorse
  topic: keywords
subject: agriculture
  topic: keywords
subject: Improvement era
  topic: keywords
subject: fodder
  topic: keywords
subject: traditional farming
  topic: keywords
subject: Post-medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Tracy J Brook
creator: Michael J Stratigos
creator: Jeff Oliver
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 259
ending page: 285
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1434

Index
type: item
subject: Index
  topic: section
subject: Index
  topic: keywords
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 329
ending page: 334
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.index

‘This awful and distressing circumstance’
type: item
description: The first English-language translation of Ibn Faḍlān’s Arabic account of a Rūs funeral appeared as part of a Danish essay translated for Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in 1818. This was not the only translation of Ibn Faḍlān published in Scotland in the 19th century; in 1871, Joseph Anderson (1832–1916) published another translation, again translated from Danish, in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in which he expressed doubt as to the existence of the 1818 trans­lation. Neither translation has seen significant attention, since both treatments of Ibn Faḍlān were better suited for antiquarian rather than orientalist engagement, and so do not feature prominently in the historiography of Ibn Faḍlān as an Arabic geographical source. Looking at the Scottish anti­quarian reception of this source, this article traces Ibn Faḍlān’s journey from Danish into English, and identifies Alexander Nicoll (1793–1828) as the first English translator of the source. I explore the tragic personal circumstances leading Nicoll to visit Denmark and establish scholarly networks with the Danish literati and, evaluating the impact of Nicoll’s work, contextualise the publication of both the 1818 and 1871 translations against the development of Scottish antiquarian efforts to explore the Viking Age in order to present a trajectory for the increased study, interest and comparative merit of Ibn Faḍlān as an Arabic source for antiquarians, setting the source against the scholarly networks in which it circulated.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Viking
  topic: keywords
subject: Arabic
  topic: keywords
subject: Ibn Faḍlān
  topic: keywords
subject: translation
  topic: keywords
subject: Orientalism
  topic: keywords
subject: antiquarianism
  topic: keywords
subject: Edinburgh Blackwood’s Magazine
  topic: keywords
subject: Proc Soc Antiq Scot
  topic: keywords
subject: funerary archaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Tonicha M Upham
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Tonicha M Upham
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 223
ending page: 238
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1432

Bannockburn – where the ‘blades and harness rang’
type: item
description: This paper presents the results of one of the most extensive archaeological battlefield surveys ever undertaken in Scotland. The Bannockburn 700 project sought to find physical and artefactual evidence for the location of the Battle of Bannockburn fought on 23 and 24 June 1314. Among over 5,000 artefacts recovered and assessed, three can be attributed to the 14th century, and analysis reveals these to represent the clearest archaeological evidence found so far for the location of part of this iconic battle.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Battle of Bannockburn
  topic: keywords
subject: battlefield
  topic: keywords
subject: artefacts
  topic: keywords
subject: stirrup
  topic: keywords
subject: spur
  topic: keywords
subject: harness pendant
  topic: keywords
subject: metal detecting survey
  topic: keywords
subject: medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Warren Bailie
creator: Natasha Ferguson
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Warren Bailie, Natasha Ferguson
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 117
ending page: 135
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1408

Watching the waters
type: item
description: The Inner Hebrides and western seaboard of Scotland has several place-names along its coasts that are suggestive of a network of observation points guarding maritime routes. The places are almost all elevated sites, primarily with Gaelic place-names containing the words teine (fire) and faire (watch/sentinel). These sites have hitherto elicited little comment in the scholarly literature and this paper rectifies that gap by mapping the sites and examining their applicability as coastal watch places. In addition, those on Mull, Lismore, Kerrera and the Morvern peninsula are assessed in de­tail for viewsheds and intervisibility. The combination of desk-based study and field visits to sites on Mull, Colonsay and Gigha demonstrates that the sites allowed for the observation of key waterways across long distances, enabling those manning the sites to warn their communities of an attack. Where a series of beacon or watch places occur close together in a logical sequence, it indicates a co-ordinated approach across an island or wider geographic area. As with many pre-modern place-names, providing precise dates for the names of the sites is difficult, and the paper includes a discussion of one likely context. A co-ordinated defence system implies a high level of resources and planning at least at the local or regional level, and this knowledge helps to date the sites. Further clues to dating are provided by examining the political and military context of the medieval era. It is determined that the sites could belong to multiple periods from the Viking Age on, and it is likely that many of them were used at various times over the centuries. The paper particularly focuses on the rule of Somerled/Sumarliði/Somhairle (d ad 1164, hereafter Somerled) and his descendants as a time that the system may have operated.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: military
  topic: keywords
subject: beacons
  topic: keywords
subject: sentinel
  topic: keywords
subject: place-names
  topic: keywords
subject: sailing
  topic: keywords
subject: Norse
  topic: keywords
subject: medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Shane McLeod
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Shane McLeod
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 99
ending page: 115
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1417

Professor Andrew Colin Renfrew, Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn MA (Cantab) PhD ScD Hon DLitt FSA HonFSAScot HonFRSE FBA Hon AIA
type: item
description: Professor Colin Renfrew (as he was universally known; his first name of Andrew was not used), Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, Fellow (1970–2000) and Honorary Fellow of this Society from 2000, died in Cambridge on 24 November 2024, aged 87.
subject: Obituaries
  topic: section
subject: Obituary
  topic: keywords
creator: Alison Sheridan
creator: Trevor Watkins
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Alison Sheridan, Trevor Watkins
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 9
ending page: 14
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1428

Gordon Stirling Maxwell MA FSA FRSE FSAScot
type: item
description: Gordon Maxwell was not just a Roman archae­ologist of distinction, but a pioneer in the devel­opment of aerial reconnaissance for archaeology in Scotland, his aerial revelations transforming the understanding of our Lowland archaeologi­cal heritage. His discoveries of Roman forts in the early 1980s even prompted a cartoon in The Times, the original proudly displayed on the wall of his study at home in Aberdour.
subject: Obituaries
  topic: section
subject: Obituary
  topic: keywords
creator: William S Hanson
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 William S Hanson
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: 1
ending page: 8
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1425

Prelims
type: item
description: Front matter for Volume 154 Table of Contents Director's note List of abbreviations commonly used in the Proceedings Editorial board for the Proceedings vol 154 Society's Council from 30 November 2024 Patron and Honorary Fellows of the Society Laws of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
subject: Front matter
  topic: section
subject: Prelims
  topic: keywords
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-11-30
publication date: 2025-11-30
starting page: i
ending page: xvii
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.prelims

Tokens of Jacobitism
type: item
description: This article is a close examination of nine Jacobite tokens made from halfpenny coins. All of them are engraved with the words ‘Down with the Rump’, and some with the additional cry ‘God Bless Prince Charles’. Dating to around and after 1748, these tokens are evidence of continued support for the Jacobite cause, and the Stuart prince specifically. While little detail can be elucidated from the objects themselves, a comparative analysis of the known surviving examples and proposed conditions of their manufacture is put forward. Contextualised among other object types, they are shown to be embedded in not only Jacobite, but longer Stuart royalist, political and emotional cultures of 18th-century Britain.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Jacobitism
  topic: keywords
subject: tokens
  topic: keywords
subject: Eighteenth century
  topic: subjects
subject: Jacobite
  topic: subjects
subject: Charles Edward Stuart
  topic: subjects
subject: popular culture
  topic: subjects
creator: Georgia Vullinghs
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-08-08
publication date: 2025-08-08
starting page: 193
ending page: 204
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1436

Peripheral vision
type: item
description: Formulated as the Cold War was intensifying in 1950, Operation Rotor was intended to restore the Royal Air Force’s control and reporting organisation on Britain’s east coast. Planning exposed the country’s vulnerability to a Soviet attack from the north and new radar stations were built in northern and western Scotland. Rotor brought about a northerly reorientation of Britain’s air defences that, along with economic and technological factors, ultimately saw them integrated within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s intercontinental early warning system. Like other major defence projects of the period, Rotor also had a significant effect on Scottish society as wartime mass organisation was revived and Royal Air Force units encountered local communities, often in rural areas. The new infrastructure had developmental potential, bringing with it electricity and other modernisation, but Rotor’s colossal cost and the overriding priority of national security could likewise be at odds with local needs. This article will examine why Scotland became of greater strategic importance in the 1950s and also assess Rotor’s societal impact and its implications for British state power.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Air defence
  topic: keywords
subject: radar
  topic: keywords
subject: exercises
  topic: keywords
subject: rural communities
  topic: keywords
subject: infrastructure
  topic: keywords
subject: development
  topic: keywords
subject: 20th century
  topic: subjects
creator: Jim Gledhill
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-08-01
publication date: 2025-08-01
starting page: 309
ending page: 327
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1430

‘This flag was never a French one’
type: item
description: Three flags in the collections at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, undocumented by Scott and believed to be connected with the Battle of Waterloo, have long raised questions about their provenance and authenticity, emerging in the decades after Scott’s death in 1832 as Abbotsford transitioned from private home to Victorian tourist destination. This paper re-examines the flags and researches their provenance to conclude that they could not be genuine artefacts from the battlefield, and to establish that Sir Walter Scott could not have believed in their authenticity when he acquired them. Their likely origin as props in pageantry and exhibitions staged in London to celebrate the British victory at Waterloo provides insight into how Scott knowingly combined authenticity with theatricality in his aesthetic creation of Abbotsford.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Abbotsford
  topic: keywords
subject: Waterloo
  topic: keywords
subject: Collecting
  topic: keywords
subject: Flags
  topic: keywords
subject: Standards
  topic: keywords
subject: Provenance
  topic: keywords
subject: Replicas
  topic: keywords
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Kirsty Archer-Thompson
creator: Stuart Allan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-07-25
publication date: 2025-07-25
starting page: 205
ending page: 221
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1420

The Traprain Law jug with biblical scenes
type: item
description: The Traprain Law Treasure, discovered in 1919, is composed mostly of silver objects cut up and buried in Scotland in the first half of the 5th century AD. Among many fragmentary vessels, a small gilt-silver jug stands out for its principal register of four biblical scenes. Three are easily recognised as Adam and Eve, Moses Striking the Rock, and the Adoration of the Magi. This essay explicates a unique iconographic feature in the Moses episode and proposes a new identification of the fourth scene as the Miracle of the Manna. It then analyses the adjacent, smaller registers that depict pastoral scenes and a grapevine. With its multiple references to eating and drinking, the jug likely provided visual and intellectual stimulation, along with physical and spiritual sustenance, at lavish banquets held somewhere in the Late Roman world in the early 5th century.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Bible
  topic: keywords
subject: Grapevine
  topic: keywords
subject: Hacksilver
  topic: keywords
subject: Late antique
  topic: keywords
subject: Pastoral
  topic: keywords
subject: Silver
  topic: keywords
subject: Traprain Law
  topic: keywords
subject: 4th–5th century
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Linda Safran
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-07-18
publication date: 2025-07-18
starting page: 59
ending page: 82
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1421

The Dyce inscription and the morphosyntax of Pictish
type: item
description: The Pictish inscription from Dyce, Aberdeen, preserves a name Rogoddadd that appears to be the patronymic of the person commemorated by the monument, a class-II Pictish symbol stone held in the former parish kirk of St Fergus. The Dyce inscription evidently also preserves the name of the person who commissioned the stone, and the syntax of the inscription is comparable to those attested in other Pictish memorials written in ogham. These include the inscription on the Lunnasting stone, long considered the best evidence that Pictish is not a Brittonic language. The Dyce inscription preserves morphosyntax of a characteristically Indo-European type and its analysis is key to developing a broader understanding of Pictish.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Pictish
  topic: keywords
subject: Dyce inscription
  topic: keywords
subject: historical linguistics
  topic: keywords
subject: Rogatus
  topic: keywords
subject: Ogham
  topic: keywords
subject: epigraphy
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Bernard Mees
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-06-12
publication date: 2025-06-12
starting page: 83
ending page: 98
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1397

Burnt bones from Dùn Bhoraraic, Isle of Islay
type: item
description: In terms of its material record, the Inner Hebridean island of Islay is best known for its ancient fortifications and its Viking graves. Both types of site can be seen as important markers in early landscapes of power and control. The remains of the broch on the summit of Dùn Bhoraraic, for instance, overlooks the important early harbours in the Sound of Islay and Lochindaal, while the pagan Scandinavian grave field at Ballinaby in the Rhinns commands sweeping views across Loch Gorm, and out over the Atlantic. At present, however, they diverge in at least one significant respect. Whereas Islay’s ancient fortifications are encountered island-wide, her confirmed Viking graves are restricted to just two discrete locations: Ballinaby, and Newton Cottage, with only a few other sites suspected. The Dùn Bhoraraic Project, on which this article is based, set out to explore the possibility of connections between these two groups of data, with a view to modelling accessible locations for further Viking burials. The point of departure was the mysterious stone setting on the slopes of Dùn Bhoraraic in the Dunlossit Estate believed locally to be the remains of a Viking grave. Following review of its geo-spatial and cultural context, including the localised Old Norse namescape, funding was secured from the Society to undertake a visual investigation and excavation of the site. While similarities were noted with the Hebridean ‘U’ structures discussed by Leslie Alcock in 1983, the discovery of a cremation burial without culturally diagnostic artefacts prompted comparison with a range of Viking Age graves. In the end, radiocarbon dating traced the cremated bones to the final centuries BC – a conclusion which was unexpected but served to confirm the prestigious connotations of the location, and the general validity of the approach. It also offered a rare and valuable window onto the mortuary practices of the Atlantic Iron Age in the Inner Hebrides.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Islay
  topic: keywords
subject: Cremation
  topic: keywords
subject: Norse
  topic: keywords
subject: Arran
  topic: keywords
subject: Canna
  topic: keywords
subject: Dùn Bhoraraic
  topic: keywords
subject: Kingscross Point
  topic: keywords
subject: Rubha Langanes
  topic: keywords
subject: Roman
  topic: subjects
subject: Iron Age
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Modern (Viking Age)
  topic: subjects
creator: Alan Macniven
creator: David H Caldwell
creator: Cecilia Medina-Pettersson
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-06-06
publication date: 2025-06-06
starting page: 35
ending page: 57
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1399

Scottish archaeological islands
type: item
description: Crannogs, enigmatic artificial islands dotting the landscapes of Scotland and Ireland, have been subjects of intrigue and debate for centuries. These complex sites exhibit a remarkable time-depth of use, often revealing multiple phases or periods, coupled with a great diversity in their structural forms and settings. Moreover, the extensive yet fragmented early historiography of crannog research has left a lasting legacy on our modern understandings and interpretations of these sites. Adding to the complexity is the more recent discovery of Neolithic crannogs, which has pushed back the accepted date for these sites by over 3,000 years. In our pursuit to shed light on this newest piece of the enigma, we embarked on a systematic study, departing from the simple replication of existing databases. Instead, we focused on mining and extracting information from articles published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which represent a substantial portion of early crannog research. While generating descriptive statistics is useful, true knowledge advancement comes from contextualising the data and the ideologies that shaped their generation. Our meticulous data mining and information extraction analysis allowed us to understand the historiography of Scottish crannogs in new ways. By analysing terminologies used through time, we identified inconsistencies, biases and even geographic discrepancies in site classifications. Through additional refinement of this database and subsequent fieldwork, we were able to identify new, previously unrecorded, sites and question the validity of some ‘known’ sites. To address ambiguities surrounding island origins and classification inconsistencies, we expanded our focus to include all ‘archaeological islands’. This broadened scope has deepened our understanding of site types and their differential visibility in the national heritage record. To avoid interpretative dissonance, future insights must be integrated with n…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Big data
  topic: keywords
subject: data mining
  topic: keywords
subject: information extraction
  topic: keywords
subject: crannog
  topic: keywords
subject: archaeological island
  topic: keywords
subject: Scotland
  topic: keywords
subject: antiquarian
  topic: keywords
subject: Neolithic
  topic: subjects
subject: Iron Age
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Stephanie Blankshein
creator: Angela Gannon
creator: Duncan Garrow
creator: Fraser Sturt
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-05-30
publication date: 2025-05-30
starting page: 287
ending page: 307
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1378

Displaying antiquities in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1849 to 1870
type: item
description: This article will analyse the mid-19th-century classification and display strategies of the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and consider the ways in which this changed between 1849 and 1870. This was a key period in the development of the museum when it changed from a private antiquarian collection to a state-funded national museum. The development of material-focused methods of research by archaeologists had a noticeable impact on the way that collections were displayed, described and arranged in Scotland, with comparable developments found in England and Ireland but also some interesting differences. Museum displays ‘perform’ meaning through labels, catalogues and physical arrangements. An analysis of such displays reveals the priorities informing the ways in which antiquities were presented in the mid-19th century and how this developed in Scotland compared to England and Ireland. I argue that a literary engagement with people and events from the Scottish past promoted by the novels of Sir Walter Scott influenced the arrangement of museum displays in Scotland in the early to mid 19th century. However, by the 1860s this was overtaken by archaeological approaches with greater emphasis on scientific language and arrangements. To provide a broader context the display practices at the Antiquities Museum in Scotland will be compared with the approaches of the British Museum and the museum of the Royal Irish Academy to demonstrate how these ideas were shared across antiquarian networks in Britain and Ireland.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: museums
  topic: keywords
subject: material culture
  topic: keywords
subject: Britain
  topic: keywords
subject: Scotland
  topic: keywords
subject: archaeology
  topic: keywords
subject: antiquarianism
  topic: keywords
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Julie Holder
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-05-23
publication date: 2025-05-23
starting page: 239
ending page: 258
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1416

Revisiting Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney
type: item
description: The Neolithic stone houses at Knap of Howar (Papa Westray, Orkney) are acknowledged as among the most complete in Northwest Europe. The site, a Property in Care, was first investigated in the 1930s and subsequently by Dr Anna Ritchie in the 1970s. The interpretation of the buildings as an Early Neolithic ‘Unstan’ settlement has been under review for some time, however, and fieldwork commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland provided the opportunity for reassessment and updating. Supported by new radiocarbon dating and stratigraphic information, activity in this area is attested potentially from the Mesolithic period through successive phases of Neolithic farming and settlement, culminating in the construction of the stone buildings in the latter part of the 4th millennium BC. This final phase occurred during a period of significant transition which saw the emergence of stone houses and Grooved Ware pottery, features which subsequently came to define the Orcadian Later Neolithic. The early adoption of such innovations on an outer isle illustrates that change was not restricted to the Orcadian Mainland. The final abandonment of this long-lived settlement is thought to have occurred sometime before 2900 BC and to have been linked to increasingly adverse environmental conditions which affected coastal locations across Orkney. The role of environmental change in reshaping both landscape and society at this time is likely to have been significant but remains yet to be fully investigated. The project was commissioned and funded by Historic Environment Scotland. Canmore ID: 2848
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Orkney
  topic: keywords
subject: Unstan
  topic: keywords
subject: grooved ware
  topic: keywords
subject: dating
  topic: keywords
subject: Knap of Howar
  topic: keywords
subject: Palaeolithic
  topic: subjects
subject: Mesolithic
  topic: subjects
subject: Neolithic
  topic: subjects
subject: Bronze Age
  topic: subjects
subject: Roman & Iron Age
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Hazel Moore
creator: Graeme Wilson
creator: Seren Griffiths
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-05-09
publication date: 2025-05-09
starting page: 15
ending page: 34
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1422

Ultima Thule? Reconnecting St Kilda and Pabbay
type: item
description: This paper further challenges the understanding of St Kilda as an ultima Thule, a distant place beyond the borders of the known world. It does this by comparing the World Heritage site and iconic emblem of Scottish culture with the uninhabited island of Pabbay in the Sound of Harris. In the historical period these islands were owned by the Macleods of Dunvegan, Skye, and farmed as a single unit; the famous stories of St Kilda involve Pabbay and its people. As the Macleod estate waned under financial strain, the stories of the islands dramatically diverged in the 19th century, St Kilda becoming a community of crofter–fowlers and Pabbay a lonely sheep farm cleared of 300 occupants. While St Kilda was lauded for its past and present from the 1860s onwards, Pabbay was cleared before tourism, photography and archaeology took hold and never attracted the same attention. The result, a sense that St Kilda is culturally and even archaeologically isolated, is an unwitting echo of the upheaval in the Outer Hebrides from the late 18th century. It should not be seen as the historical norm. This paper outlines the breadth and depth of the historical links before exploring the post-medieval archaeological landscapes, providing a description of Pabbay based on recent surveys. After exploring the way in which the two islands were alienated, the reasons behind this are explored, as are its effects. It is argued here that an understanding of the ‘wider world’ of St Kilda, at least in the post-medieval period, could begin with its closest and most important neighbour, Pabbay.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: significance
  topic: keywords
subject: remote
  topic: keywords
subject: post medieval
  topic: keywords
subject: measured survey
  topic: keywords
subject: world heritiage
  topic: keywords
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: George Geddes
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-04-18
publication date: 2025-04-18
starting page: 149
ending page: 171
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1390

The abduction of Lady Grange to St Kilda
type: item
description: A Hanoverian supporter, Lady Grange was kidnapped by her husband, Lord Lovat and others in 1732 for threatening to denounce their Jacobite sympathies. After eight years of captivity in Heisker and St Kilda, news of her imprisonment finally reached Edinburgh in December 1740. Even then her captors were able to thwart an attempt of rescue and move the unfortunate woman like so much unwanted baggage from St Kilda to Assynt, Harris, and Skye, where she died in 1745. None of her family or friends raised objections, choosing to believe her ensconced in some comfortable lodging for her own protection from what they termed as madness. In reality she was immured without any physical or mental comforts, and, to a woman of her class, in utter destitution and isolation. Those are the basic facts, but the true story is more complex, although clouded over the centuries by the retelling of inaccurate accounts of the affair. Influential men still exerted considerable autonomy, especially clan chiefs in the dying years of the old Highland Clan system. Based on years of research, this article seeks to elicit the truth behind the affair, for every account so far, including the latest, contains inaccuracies. New evidence is considered, and the most likely route to the Highlands established.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Lady Grange
  topic: keywords
subject: Jacobites
  topic: keywords
subject: kidnap
  topic: keywords
subject: Heisker
  topic: keywords
subject: St Kilda
  topic: keywords
subject: 18th Century
  topic: subjects
creator: Tony Dalton
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Tony Dalton
date: 2025-02-27
publication date: 2025-02-27
starting page: 173
ending page: 192
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1401

The Savernake horn – a relic of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray?
type: item
description: The Savernake horn, so-called from its ownership by families who were wardens of the English forest of that name, is a fine example of medieval art. It is carved from an elephant tusk and has silver and enamelled mounts with birds and animals as well as images of a bishop, a king and a forester, suggesting commemoration of an agreement on forestry or hunting rights. Its baldric has enamelled mounts with arms recognisable as those of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Robert Bruce’s leading general. Since the British Museum’s acquisition in 1975 of horn and baldric together, it has been argued that the former was the medieval horn of tenure for Savernake Forest and the latter was a replacement that was not directly relevant to the earlier history of the horn. This paper proposes that horn and baldric always belonged together and are an important relic of one of Scotland’s most illustrious heroes.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Horns
  topic: keywords
subject: Baldrics
  topic: keywords
subject: Enamelling
  topic: keywords
subject: Heraldry
  topic: keywords
subject: Hunting
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: David H Caldwell
rights: Copyright (c) 2025
date: 2025-02-14
publication date: 2025-02-14
starting page: 137
ending page: 148
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.154.1413

Index
type: item
subject: Index
  topic: section
subject: Index
  topic: keywords
creator: - -
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 - -
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 321
ending page: 326
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.index

The River Ythan Navigation, Aberdeenshire
type: item
description: The River Ythan in Aberdeenshire is the only natural inland waterway in northern Scotland. It was navigable for about 10km from Newburgh, the port for Ellon since 1276, to the Meadow of Waterton, the landing place for Ellon. The peak of fluvial traffic was in the late 18th to early 20th centuries during the agricultural improvements for the import of manure fertiliser, bones, guano and coal, and the export of grain. Cargos were brought by coasters for 2.5km upriver to Newburgh where they were transhipped into lighters, which were sailed, poled or towed by a tug upriver to Meadow of Waterton. This article describes the harbour works, now largely demolished, by means of site inspections made from 1984 to 1986 and describes the history of this little-known example of fluvial transport, and the history of Newburgh as a coastal port. The Newburgh Quay at Culterty was built in 1842 by Mr Robert Black, a local shipowner, and is well preserved although the original buildings have been replaced by modern houses. The nearby Inches Pier was built by The Aberdeen Lime Company sometime between 1842 and 1866 on a small tidal islet. There was a long wooden pier to the low tide mark in the river channel, and a short causeway to the shore on the north side of the Foveran Burn. The pier was abandoned in c 1923 after the company’s coaster sank, and there are scant remains now. Docks were built at Meadow of Waterton probably in 1842 by Mitchell & Rae, agricultural and coal merchants, fertiliser manufacturers and shipowners (1840–1977). They consisted of two docks perpendicular to the river with warehouses. The East Dock was 30–49m long and 9m wide, and the West Dock was 61m long and 9m wide. The docks fell into disuse in 1924 and were infilled in the 1970s and 1980s, with no trace now. The upper navigation was closed in 1924, replaced by motor transport, while Newburgh continued to be used as a coastal port until 1968.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: River navigation
  topic: keywords
subject: Newburgh Quay
  topic: keywords
subject: Inches Pier
  topic: keywords
subject: Meadow of Waterton
  topic: keywords
subject: Mitchell & Rae Ltd
  topic: keywords
subject: Aberdeen Lime Company Limited
  topic: keywords
subject: Agricultural improvement
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Stewart D Redwood
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Stewart D Redwood
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 281
ending page: 297
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1402

Reconsidering the Forres cross-slab (Sueno’s Stone), part 2
type: item
description: Standing over 6.5m high, the Forres cross-slab (NJ 04655 59533), erroneously known as Sueno’s Stone, is Scotland’s tallest early medieval carved stone monument. One side features a cross and ‘inauguration’, the other is covered with multiple military scenes. A new carbon date from the 9th century, 3D photography and an accurate suite of new drawings allow the iconography of the stone to be examined in detail. This reveals the ‘inauguration’ as an adaptation of the biblical Arming of David. The episodic arrangement of battle is compared to verses of heroic poetry rather than accurate reportage. The sacrifice of horses beside headless corpses relates the encounter to Viking funeral practice. The conical structure is interpreted as the furnace of hell, destination for unbelievers. The cross form and other ornament relate clearly to a Pictish heritage but their composition looks forward to later sculpture evolving in the west and Isle of Man. Complementing archaeological and historical evidence, the cross-slab is understood as a mighty affirmation of Christian kingship and victory at a time of shifting power structures in north-east Scotland.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Pictish cross slab
  topic: keywords
subject: David and Goliath
  topic: keywords
subject: Y Gododdin
  topic: keywords
subject: Battle of Maldon
  topic: keywords
subject: Táin
  topic: keywords
subject: Viking
  topic: keywords
subject: Animal sacrifice
  topic: keywords
subject: Ninth century
  topic: subjects
subject: Early medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Jane Geddes
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Jane Geddes
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 245
ending page: 269
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1412

Reconsidering the Forres cross-slab (Sueno’s Stone), part 1
type: item
description: Standing over 6.5m high, the Forres cross-slab (NJ 04655 59533), erroneously known as Sueno’s Stone, is Scotland’s tallest early medieval carved stone monument. Featuring an impressive series of battle scenes on one side of the monument and a large interlace decorated ring-headed cross on the other, the cross-slab has seen repeated attempts to link its creation to known historical events and to date the stone through art-historical parallels. In the 1990s excavations around the base of the slab identified a circular setting of post holes interpreted as a derrick setting built to enable the erection of the stone. New radiocarbon dates from this post-setting provide support for a 9th-century date for the carving. The 9th century was a time of major change in the balance of power of Pictland/Alba and the stone may have been created as a statement of continuing authority by rulers in the north whose control was under considerable threat or as a memorial of imperial pretensions planted at Forres by rulers in the south whose power was growing.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Carved Cross
  topic: keywords
subject: Pictland
  topic: keywords
subject: Alba
  topic: keywords
subject: Re-dating
  topic: keywords
subject: Viking Age
  topic: keywords
subject: Early Medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Ruth Loggie
creator: Fiona Campbell-Howes
creator: Gordon Noble
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Ruth Loggie, Fiona Campbell-Howes, Gordon Noble
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 225
ending page: 243
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1400

Richard Fawcett, OBE FSA FRSE HonFSAScot
type: item
description: Professor Richard Fawcett, architectural historian, died suddenly at his home in Kirkcaldy, Fife, at the age of 77. He is much missed by his wife Sue, his son Tim, and his daughter Claire, as well as by countless friends and colleagues.
subject: Obituaries
  topic: section
subject: Obituary
  topic: keywords
creator: Lizzie Swarbrick
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Lizzie Swarbrick
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 7
ending page: 12
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1410

Professor Dame Rosemary Jean Cramp, DBE FSA FBA HonFSAScot
type: item
description: Rosemary Cramp was the grande dame of British archaeology, a cheerful, friendly person, adored by her students and supportive of them in return. In 1971 she was appointed the first woman professor at Durham University. From 2001 to 2004 she served as President of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the most northerly based person at that time to have held the post. Her academic achievements were recognised by the state through the award of CBE in 1987 and then by her elevation to Dame in 2021, and by the academic world through the award of honorary degrees from Bradford, Cambridge, Cork, Dublin, Durham and Leicester, as well as two Festschriften.
subject: Obituaries
  topic: section
subject: Obituary
  topic: keywords
creator: David J Breeze
creator: Christopher D Morris
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 David J Breeze, Christopher D Morris
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: 1
ending page: 6
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1411

Prelims
type: item
description: Front matter for Volume 153 Table of Contents Director's note List of abbreviations commonly used in the Proceedings Editorial board for the Proceedings vol 153 Society's Council from 30 November 2023 Patron and Honorary Fellows of the Society Laws of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
subject: Front matter
  topic: section
subject: Prelims
  topic: keywords
creator: - -
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 - -
date: 2024-11-30
publication date: 2024-11-30
starting page: i
ending page: xvii
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.prelims

Angus Graham and the Scottish harbours
type: item
description: The Scottish antiquarian Angus Graham (1892–1979) had a distinguished career with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and service with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. These roles, in addition to his prolific publications in both the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (PSAS) and regional journals on a broad range of subjects, firmly established his position in the history of Scottish archaeological and antiquarian studies. It is Graham’s research on Scotland’s harbours and havens, primarily undertaken after his retirement in 1957, that is of particular interest here, given the scale of its ambition and manner of its execution. Encompassing the entire coastline of the Scottish mainland, 536 sites were investigated by Graham from 1961 to shortly before his death, with two final papers in the sequence published posthumously, the last assembled by his long-time collaborator and niece Joanna Gordon. Graham’s work was the first comprehensive inventory of landing sites, piers and quays in the UK or Ireland, serving to establish the extent and diversity of these structures that are so critical to understanding the cultural and economic history of a region. Graham’s extensive research on harbours acknowledged the urgent need to document this increasingly redundant and vulnerable coastal infrastructure long before the increased threat to coastal heritage due to climate change was recognised in the diverse disciplines currently studying harbours and landing sites. Given the uneven landscape of harbour research in the recent past, Graham’s contribution not only represents work of a scope that has rarely been matched but has a coherence in its structure, undoubtably drawn from his long tenure with the RCAHMS, that offers a baseline and template for the inventories of maritime structures that are so urgently needed.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Angus Graham
  topic: keywords
subject: Maritime Heritage
  topic: keywords
subject: Piers and Quays
  topic: keywords
subject: Surveys
  topic: keywords
subject: Survey Methodology
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Modern
  topic: subjects
creator: Elizabeth Shotton
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Elizabeth Shotton
date: 2024-09-06
publication date: 2024-09-06
starting page: 299
ending page: 319
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1398

Clay and lime mortars
type: item
description: This paper seeks to situate the mortared masonry techniques used to construct various pre-Romanesque chapels in northern and western Scotland within a broader geographical and chronological context. A combination of desk-based and fieldwork evidence is presented which highlights the apparent scarcity of mortar-bonded masonry buildings across the region before the medieval period, and demonstrates that lime and clay mortars repeatedly re-emerge into the Scottish archaeological record together – in different cultural contexts. This close archaeological, architectural and historical association extends to the use of both clay and lime mortars in our pre-Romanesque chapels, complicating narratives around native vs imported masonry techniques, and prompting closer scrutiny of the relationship between technical innovation, craft tradition and the environment. Canmore ID <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW165068406 BCX0" data-ccp-parastyle="Baseline style" data-ccp-parastyle-defn="{"ObjectId":"8a84d1f5-6c4b-4fb4-b4f8-ed5a90731d08|23","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[201342446,"1",201342447,"5",201342448,"1",201342449,"1",469777841,"Times New Roman",469777842,"Times New Roman",469777843,"Calibri",469777844,"Times New Roman",201341986,"1",469769226,"Times New Roman",268442635,"22",335559704,"1025",335559705,"1033",335551547,"2057",335559740,"276",201341983,"0",335559739,"0",469775450,"Baseline style",201340122,"2",134234082,"true",134233614,"true",469778129,"Baselinestyle",335572020,"1",469777929,"Baseline style Char",469778324,"Normal"]}" data-ccp-parastyle-linked-defn="{"ObjectId":"8a84d1f5-6c4b-4fb4-b4f8-ed5a90731d08|24","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[201342446,"1",201342447,"5",201342448,"1",201342449,"1",469777841,"Times New Roman",469777842,"Times New Roman",469777843,"Calibri",469777844,"Times New Roman",201341986,"1",469769226,"Times New Roman",268442635,"22",469775450,"Baseline style Char",201340122,"1",134233614,"true",469778129,"BaselinestyleChar",335572020,"1",…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Clay
  topic: keywords
subject: Lime
  topic: keywords
subject: Earth
  topic: keywords
subject: Mortar
  topic: keywords
subject: Masonry
  topic: keywords
subject: Early medieval
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval
  topic: subjects
creator: Mark Thacker
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mark Thacker
date: 2024-08-30
publication date: 2024-08-30
starting page: 181
ending page: 208
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1379

Cracknie, Borgie and the souterrains of the northern mainland of Scotland
type: item
description: The souterrains of the northern mainland comprise a distinctive group within the wider national distribution: they are stone-built, narrow with massive lintels and typically associated with hut-circle settlements. Most are known from antiquarian records or from the RCAHMS survey of Sutherland in 1911, and there has been very little investigation of them since; aside from the excavation of an example at Cyderhall Farm in south-east Sutherland and limited investigation at Upper Suisgill, virtually no new data have been contributed since that time. In 2012, Forestry and Land Scotland commissioned the 3D laser scan survey of one example at Cracknie, Borgie, for the purposes of informing conservation management. This led to the excavation of the entrance to the passage and consolidation of the opening in 2022, at which point samples suitable for radiocarbon dating were obtained. These indicate that activity was taking place around the Cracknie souterrain in the early Middle Iron Age, probably around the early 2nd century BC. This paper discusses the Cracknie souterrain in the context of the north mainland group, along with a note on the discovery of a new example at Borgie in 1997, recorded by the late Paul Humphreys, and suggests that the northern stone souterrains should be considered among the earliest such sites to be constructed, and that they probably originated towards the end of the third quarter of the 1st millennium BC. Canmore ID 5765
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Souterrain
  topic: keywords
subject: Laser Scanning
  topic: keywords
subject: Iron Age
  topic: subjects
creator: Graeme Cavers
creator: Jamie Humble
creator: Matt Ritchie
creator: Paul Humphreys
creator: Jackaline Robertson
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Graeme Cavers, Jamie Humble, Matt Ritchie, Paul Humphreys; Jackaline Robertson (Contributor)
date: 2024-08-23
publication date: 2024-08-23
starting page: 209
ending page: 224
doi: 10.9750/PSAS.153.1395