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The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – Archaeology News From Scotland

Friday 25th May 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you….  I had a Migraine headache yesterday… haven’t had one of those in years, but apart from the echo of the headache, and those of you that suffer from them will know what I am talking about, I’m almost back to normal, not that I have ever been “normal” …. So it’s up before the sun again today, things to do, places to be and all that good stuff… but back to the headache just for a moment, after the pain has gone, I seem hypersensitive to light and smells, for example, the coffee smells exceptionally good this morning, even though I made it the same way I have for the past 10.000 times.. the stars seemed to sparkle brighter… and the bells in the church seem to have more “Timbre” in them as they call the faithful to pray…

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SEARCH FOR SCOTLAND’S ROYAL DOCKYARDS…. AIRTH, SCOTLAND—The Falkirk Herald reports that archaeologists led by historian John Reid are investigating a possible site for the sixteenth-century royal dockyards near Clackmannanshire Bridge, which spans the Firth of Forth. So far the team of researchers has found the foundations of mill buildings next to the channel, a millstone that had been reused as a paver, a corn-drying kiln, a well-built stone sea wall, and posts from a wooden pier. Ships known to have been serviced at the royal dockyards include the Great Michael, flagship of King James IV, and the Margaret, the second ship of the Navy, which was named for the queen, Margaret Tudor. Both ships are thought to have been at the docks in 1513 before sailing to the Battle of Flodden, where James IV was killed. “Although it’s impossible to say for now whether this dates to the right period for James’ docks, we’ve submitted samples of the wood for radiocarbon dating,” said archaeologist Elinor Graham of the University of St. Andrew’s. “We also had a coin from the stone pier, which will need to be looked at by experts, but which might give us a date for its construction, too.

ROMAN SCULPTURE OF LIONESS TAKING A BITE OUT OF A MAN'S HEAD, FOUND IN THE RIVER ALMOND…. A Roman sculpture of a lioness has been found in the River Almond in Cramond, northwest of Edinburgh. Archaeologists, led by Mark Collard of the City of Edinburgh Museums' Archaeological Service and assisted by Fraser Hunter of the National Museums of Scotland, investigated the site after ferryman Robert Graham saw a carved head protruding from the shoreline mud. The white sandstone statue is being conserved by museum personnel. Dating to the late second or early third century A.D., the sculpture shows a lioness attacking a man, his shoulders pinned by the animal's paws and his head locked in its jaws. Five feet long and two and one-half feet tall, it is intact except for the base. Two snakes were carved beneath the lioness' belly. The statue is the only one of its kind from Scotland and may have been imported. Lesser examples have been found in England at the tombs of Roman officers and officials, where lionesses, believed to have stood sentry over the tombs, are depicted killing animals. In funerary art, snakes symbolized the good spirit of the deceased and the soul's shedding of the body. Cramond was a major garrison in the mid-second century but was evacuated ca. A.D. 160 when the Romans retreated to Hadrian's Wall.

NEW DATES FOR PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND…. ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND—Stone artifacts have been found in Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate, suggesting that people were in the Cairngorm Mountains as early as 8,000 years ago, or thousands of years earlier than had been previously thought. At this time after the last ice age, there were permanent snow fields in the region and glaciers may have even been reforming. “It is incredible to think that what we have discovered at this one spot in a vast landscape may represent a small group of people stopping for only a night or two, repairing their hunting equipment and then moving on,” Shannon Fraser of the National Trust for Scotland said in a press release. “Glen Geldie is a very chilly place today, even with all our modern outdoor clothing—it is hard to imagine what it must have been like in the much harsher climate 8,000 years ago,” he added.

STEEL MANUFACTURED IN SCOTLAND 2,500 YEARS AGO….  EAST LOTHIAN, SCOTLAND—Scientists have determined that fragments of artifacts recovered from the Broxmouth Iron Age hill fort in the 1970s were forged from high-carbon steel. The objects, which date to between 490 and 375 B.C., may have been tools or weapons. “The process of manufacturing steel requires extensive knowledge, skill and craftsmanship. It is far from straightforward, which is why such an early example of its production tells us so much about the people who once occupied this hill fort,” said Gerry McDonnell of the University of Bradford. The site featured well-preserved roundhouses, hill fort entrances, and an Iron Age cemetery.

NEW THOUGHTS ON THE ROMAN INVASION OF SCOTLAND…. DUMFRIESSHIRE, SCOTLAND—Archaeologist Andrew Nicholson thinks flat-topped Burnswark Hill may have been the site of the first battle of the Roman invasion of Scotland around A.D. 140, according to a report in BBC News. Traces of a native hill fort have been found on the top of the hill, and two Roman camps that could have housed more than 6,000 soldiers have been found on its northern and southern slopes. It had been suggested that the Romans trained their troops at the abandoned fort, or that the Romans laid siege to the fort while it was being used by local tribespeople. But the current excavation, led by Andrew Nicholson, has uncovered “massive amounts” of lead shot that had been slung at the fort. And documentary evidence indicates that Roman general Lollius Urbicus had been sent to Scotland from the Middle East, where he had conquered one Jewish hill fort after another. “This literally is a site where people suffered an attrition to the very end and I would suspect that probably nobody survived this and the Roman army moved on into the rest of Scotland,” John Reid of the Trimontium Trust explained

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the archaeology news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of a host of golden daffodils bring a splash of spring colour to the Broughty Ferry road in Dundee.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 25th May 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

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