Archaeologists recognise the importance of historic environment records, but who else uses them? An imaginative approach by Forestry Commission Scotland and the Highland Council (covering the northern third of mainland Scotland) is creating a real public benefit. Matt Ritchie and Sylvina Tilbury report.
Few Highland Pictish forts have been adequately excavated or securely dated, and Craig Phadrig has great archaeological potential. It is today close to a major population centre, so also has value to an interested public. It is on the national forest estate, and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) has recently undertaken conservation work as part of the 'Woodlands in and Around Towns' initiative. And the land manager and the local authority have together encouraged local schools to visit and learn from it.
Most hillforts in Scotland date from the later half of the first millennium BC, although some were built (or, like Craig Phadrig, re-used) in the first millennium AD. In De Bello Gallico, a first hand account of the Roman conquest of Celtic Gaul written in the middle of the first century BC, Julius Caesar describes a contemporary hillfort as "a place admirably fortified by nature and by art". This eloquent phrase captures the essence of a hillfort, defined by both natural topography and well-built defences. Such forts combined defensive strongholds with clear statements of land ownership and tribal belonging.
Craig Phadrig, with two walls enclosing a space some 75m by 25m, forms a flat crown to he afforested hill above Inverness, with impressive views out over the Beauly Firth. Limited excavation 40 years ago recovered pottery imported from France and a piece of escutcheon (a type of decorative plate) from a bronze hanging bowl, all dating from around AD 600; in 1808 a massive silver chain, weighing 2.6kg and thought to be a symbol of Pictish kings, was found nearby in Torvean.
Both walls are heavily vitrified, a curious feature particularly distinctive of some Scottish forts.
Read more at British Archaeology
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba121/feat5.shtml
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