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Turf is not a material frequently associated with construction. However, as a cheap, easily available, and versatile material it was used in antiquity (and has been used in various contexts since) to form unit-based and mass walls, embankments, and ramparts. Some of the best-preserved evidence for historical turf use comes from the Roman period, when it was a mainstay of military construction, being widely used in forts (e.g. along the Rhine and in Britain) and large-scale linear earthworks, most notably thewalls of Hadrian (northern England) and Antoninus Pius (central Scotland). To our knowledge, turf has never been examined as a construction material; its interest has, until now, been restricted to the soil and agricultural sciences and sports engineering. This paper presents the first exploration of turf water retention properties, assessed to understand whether turf behaviour can be collated with that of more traditionalearthen materials, for example cob or rammed earth. Tensiometer and psychrometer methods were used to estimate the water retention curves of turf, representative of that used for construction, harvested from two sites near Crieff, Scotland. The obtained data were analysed in terms of unimodal type functions to understand qualities of the full range of the soil water retention curve for Scottish turf. This work supports a larger project examining how engineering materials principles can explain ancient construction practices. In so doing, we will be well positioned to reintroduce this low-carbon material to the modern construction market.

Excavation of a well-preserved stretch of the rampart of the Antonine Wall east of Watling Lodge, at Laurieston, allowed for the first micromorphological study of its earthen building materials. This revealed that the rampart core, as well as the cheeks, were constructed in well-layered courses of turf blocks – but sourced from different grasslands. The evidence differs from macroscopic observations made at other sections in this area where the rampart material had been interpreted as representing a loose earth core with clay cheeks. Our results show that even when the characteristic striped sections indicative of turf are not visible in the field, thin section analysis can confirm the use of intact soil blocks with the remains of grassed surfaces. It now seems possible that the visible variation between materials in the eastern and western sector of the Antonine Wall may simply be due to different types of turf used, varying in subsoil composition and topsoil formation, and representing differences in landscape management and survival of vegetation. Combined with macroscopic field recording to identify Roman building practices, our analysis of this section at Laurieston also shows the care that was taken to construct a level, well-draining rampart to avoid slumping and moisture built-up. Further excavations and thin-section analysis elsewhere along the Wall are now needed to confirm whether turf was more extensively used than so far anticipated for the eastern sector and whether the Antonine Wall could possibly have been built completely of turf. Such conclusions would suggest a much more standardised construction process and more extensive grassland exploitation than considered up until now. While our results demonstrate the importance of micromorphological analysis for understanding this earthen UNESCO World Heritage site, our interdisciplinary approach may also have wider relevance for research on linear earthworks in different geographical and chronological settings.

Gardening may seem worlds away from Nuraghi and brochs, but tending a garden is a long process involving patience, accretion and memory. Scholars argue that memories are also cultured, developed and regained. The monuments in Scotland and Sardinia are testament to the importance of memory and its role in maintaining social relations. This collection of twenty-one papers addresses the theme of memory anchored to the enduring presence of monuments, mainly from Scotland and Sardinia, but also from Central Europe and the Balkans., This book, and the conference upon which it was based, were funded by The ACE Foundation, The Fondazione Banco di Sardegna and the McDonald Institute. We are grateful to the British School at Rome and Magdalene College, Cambridge for their support.

Field visits to the broch of Dun Troddan in Glenelg in northwest Scotland in 2010 and 2012 resulted in a critical re-assessment of that site and widened to consider current understandings and reconstructions of brochs, and in particular of the assumed substantial consumption of large timbers for such building projects. Following a re-appraisal of A O Curle’s excavation at Dun Troddan in the light of this new fieldwork and based on recent research into the architecture of brochs (Romankiewicz 2011), evidence for postrings within brochs more generally is considered, as are the quantities of timber available to and required by the builders. A few concluding speculations explore the implications of timber requirements for more general interpretations of Atlantic Scottish Iron Age societies.

Introductory chapter for the edited volume: Enclosing Space, Opening New Ground: Iron Age studies from Scotland to Mainland Europe, edited by Tanja Romankiewicz, Manuel Fernandez-Gotz, Gary Lock, and Olivier Buchsenschutz

This paper provides an introduction to the edited volume on Rural Settlement. Relating Buildings, Landscape, and People in the European Iron Age.

The paper reports on research at two well-preserved Iron Age settlement sites in north-east Scotland, occupied between the 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD. At Old Kinord, trenches first excavated in 1903 were reopened, shedding new light on the chronology and structural history of a pair of stone roundhouses and two souterrains. The project extended to new surveys of this site and its neighbour at New Kinord. It investigated the character of the unusually large stone structures found there and the ways in which they were built and used. This report also considers the character of the original excavation, which was conducted by the future Lord Abercromby, a significant figure in the history of Scottish archaeology.

This paper reviews and reinterprets the archaeological evidence of the building materials of the Antonine Wall. It presents a new perspective on the structural and geotechnical performance of the Wall with a particular focus on turf and earthen building materials and the role of the stone base in the moisture management of this largest turf-built monument surviving in the Roman world. Results demonstrate the heterogeneous character of the Wall and highlight the complexities of its construction. New avenues of future work are proposed as part of the Earthen Empire Leverhulme Research Project.

The majority of humanity have lived out their lives in a ‘rural’ context, and even in our increasingly urbanised world almost half of the global population still live in rural areas. In the European Iron Age, the vast mass of the population clearly lived in small hamlets and farmsteads, and this overarching ‘rurality’ is important for understanding these societies. While there has been a pronounced focus in recent archaeological research on patterns of centralisation and urbanisation, there is a need to reincorporate ‘rural life’ or rurality into these discussions of how people lived. This book is a contribution to the study of rural life in Iron Age Europe, collating case studies extending from southern Spain to northern Scotland and from Denmark to the Balkans. Papers are grouped thematically to open up cross-regional comparisons, ranging across studies of buildings, farms – the basic unit of Iron Age life consisting of its inhabitants, its livestock and associated agricultural lands – to wider settlement patterns and land use strategies. The 29 papers in this volume discuss the disposition, form and organisation of rural settlements, as well as underlying social and economic networks, illustrating both the variability between regions, and also common themes in cultural, economic and social interactions. This volume provides an up-to-date overview of current research, presenting new results for the Iron Age specialist as well as a wider audience interested in the rich tapestry of rural settlement in Europe.

Building programmes allowed the Roman Empire to quickly achieve a physical Roman reality in newly conquered territories. The session on Building Materials and this contribution on Roman concrete in particular, investigate building materials on the frontier as the blocks that created these architectural realities. The contributions are interested in the people who selected, created and used these elements of construction. As the study of Roman concrete shows, this method was particularly popular in a military context. Advantages and disadvantages of the new building method taken together suggest that its speed of construction allowed cementing monumentality and permanence without the need for a specialised workforce. These factors accelerated the development of a new understanding of constructions. The carefully placed building element was replaced by a malleable mass that allowed new forms of architectural expression.

This paper introduces architectural analysis of construction and design to the archaeological evidence of the Scottish brochs – Iron Age stone roundhouses still preserved up to 13 m high. Despite their unique construction, analysis shows brochs to have been an integral part of the wider British roundhouse tradition, indicating supra-regional similarities. Architectural differences between stone and timber roundhouses, but also between individual brochs, however, suggest underlying long-lived regional traditions. These traditions could be adapted according to individual requirements, such as site-specific masonry patterns. The consumption of material and labour, sophistication in construction and design, and a visible presence within the landscape suggest that locally-based communities were utilising domestic architecture as the medium to convey social and economic potential. The analytical method introduced here can be applied to other building traditions elsewhere – with the potential to yield similarly nuanced archaeological interpretations..

Objects from the European Iron Age decorated with swirls and scrolls, faces and figures, and generally referred to as Early Celtic Art, can offer deep insight into later prehistoric notions of creativity. By drawing on archaeology and social anthropology, art and architectural design, this theoretical discourse investigates the design processes involved in the creation of Early Celtic Art. Rather than attempting to decipher a meaning behind decoration, this enquiry uses architectural Design Theory to explore the implications of certain design choices. It starts with the premise that these designs are integral to the objects in order to identify different layers of complexity, innovation and emulation and ends with wider reflections on who is creative and how. This approach borrowed from architectural analysis aims to open a new line of enquiry into the fascinating world of Iron Age creativity.

International audience

This chapter contributes an archaeological and architectural reconsideration of the building material TURF to the "Unfinished Compendium of Materials", edited by Rachel Harkness. The book presents an outcome of the University of Aberdeen's research project "Knowing from the Inside: Art, Anthropology, Architecture and Design", led by Tim Ingold. The "Turf" chapter discusses the use of turf in Scotland for building homes, from early prehistory to post-medieval times and considers its potential for use in modern architectures. Following the overall innovative format of this publication, the TURF chapter takes an artistic-reflective approach to the topic.

International audience

In the thirty years since Conflict Archaeology has evolved as a discipline, it has grown exponentially in scope. In order to define a methodological and conceptual framework for the discipline, conflict archaeologists in North America have adopted standard military analytical procedures and terminology. KOCOA (or OAKOC) is the standard military terrain analysis that conflict archaeologists use to aid in defining battlefield boundaries and interpreting battlefield remains. KOCOA is a military acronym that stands for Key or Decisive Terrain; Observation and Fields of Fire; Cover and Concealment; Obstacles; and Avenues of Approach and Withdrawal. The KOCOA approach has been utilized with success within the United States on a number of Revolutionary War, Civil War, and American Frontier Wars battlefields. The National Park Service (NPS) requires the application of KOCOA in evaluating the preservation potential of historic battlefields as part of the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). Conflict Archaeologists have utilized KOCOA without appreciating its full potential or limitations. To date, KOCOA has mostly been applied to terrestrial battlefields that are at least partially preserved or otherwise historically documented. The majority of these projects were conducted under the auspices of the ABPP: the primary interest being the location and evaluation of defining battlefield features. Few attempts have been made to employ KOCOA in an academic setting in order to assess the influence of terrain on the conduct of battles, on command decisions made, or as a tool in the interpretation of archaeological assemblages for the purpose of reconstructing battles that are devoid of direct historical documentation. If KOCOA is to develop as part of the methodological and conceptual framework of Conflict Archaeology, then it needs to be applicable in wider chronological and geographical contexts. This thesis critically evaluates the applicability of KOCOA through answering a varied series of questions across a set of temporally and categorically different Western European sites. In the well documented, early modern Battle of Prestonpans (1745), KOCOA is used to rationalize how the terrain influenced where the actual engagement took place. KOCOA is then utilized to posit the location of the English siege lines and artillery fortifications from the Siege of Edinburgh Castle (1573) that have been subsumed by the urbanization of Edinburgh city center. The Second Scottish War of Independence battlefield at Halidon Hill (1333) is well known, but the battle itself is only documented in secondary chronicles, some written many years after the battle. A KOCOA analysis was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the chronicles, as well as to show how the English selection of the terrain served as a critical factor in the Scottish defeat. The location of sparsely documented Battle of Dún Nechtain (685) has generated fierce debate among scholars. A KOCOA analysis was undertaken to evaluate the terrain of Dunnichen and Dunachton and demonstrate which may have been the site of the battle. The Roman conquest of the Cantabrian oppidum at Monte Bernorio (c. 26 BC) is not documented in classical sources. Ongoing archaeological excavations at Monte Bernorio have recovered an artifact assemblage that was interpreted through a KOCOA analysis in order to reconstruct the course of the battle. The KOCOA method itself is critically evaluated as an analytical tool based upon the case studies, and it shows that when informed by other components of METT-T, KOCOA is applicable in wide range of chronologically and categorically different sites, both directly documented and undocumented