thelonious
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Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 07:36
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I was having a little think yesterday which is never good for my brain.
Am I missing the obvious here?
Take 3 regions in the highlands.
Strath of kildonan - tons of cairns also tons of hut circles.
Lairg/Bonar Bridge area - tons of cairns and again tons of hut circles.
Area round Ledmore - tons of cairns everywhere but where are the hut circles??
Where did the folk live that built all the chambered cairns round Ledmore/Cnoc Chaornaidh? Does the lack of hut circles on the map round there seem a little odd? Maybe I'm wrong in trying to connect chambered cairns with hut circles? But the builders of these round Ledmore must of lived somewhere. Anyway head's still hurting so I'm off for a brew.
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tiompan
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 08:05
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It's a classic puzzle .
There has not been lot of excavations of hut circles (Thorneycroft ? was one of the earliest) but what little we have had points to them being later than the major monuments , i.e. B.A. rather than Neolithic . There seems to be large swathes of upland monuments and rock art but little evidence of associated settlement and on the other hand great numbers of hut circles and field systems with little in the way of monuments apart from the odd later stone circles e.g. Dartmoor .
The few earlier buildings that we do have evidence for are intriguingly quite substantial e.g. Skara Brae .
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thelonious
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 10:09
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Thanks for the reply tiompan.
I had a feeling I shouldn't of been too quick in linking the chambered cairns to hut circles. I'm not that great on timelines for old stuff.
Makes me wonder where the builders lived and in what type of structure. Close by the cairns or did they travel to the area just to build the cairns and live elsewhere, it's a puzzle like you say.
I remember passing a hut circle (Rhue) near Ullapoool a few years back they were digging at the time and got a few dates.
(http://www.wedigs.co.uk/c14results.htm)
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drewbhoy
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 14:19
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thelonious wrote: Thanks for the reply tiompan.
I had a feeling I shouldn't of been too quick in linking the chambered cairns to hut circles. I'm not that great on timelines for old stuff.
Makes me wonder where the builders lived and in what type of structure. Close by the cairns or did they travel to the area just to build the cairns and live elsewhere, it's a puzzle like you say.
I remember passing a hut circle (Rhue) near Ullapoool a few years back they were digging at the time and got a few dates.
( http://www.wedigs.co.uk/c14results.htm)
There are hut circles near Achiltibuie if I remember correctly.
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thesweetcheat
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 17:21
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Presumably they could have built dwellings mainly from timber?
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tiompan
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 18:31
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thesweetcheat wrote: Presumably they could have built dwellings mainly from timber?
With the addition, in some cases , of turf and heather .
The LBK European longhouses were nearly all wooden .
Worth mentioning that some of the earlier British Neolithic buildings , although few and far between , sometimes had stone walls e.g. Skara Brae ,Knap of Howar and the later Dartmoor round houses could also have had stone walling .
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tiompan
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 18:33
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These dates are quite late eh?
It has been noted that some BA hut circles were re-used in the IA .
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drewbhoy
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Edited May 09, 2017, 18:42
Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 18:40
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tiompan wrote: thesweetcheat wrote: Presumably they could have built dwellings mainly from timber?
With the addition, in some cases , of turf and heather .
The LBK European longhouses were nearly all wooden .
Worth mentioning that some of the earlier British Neolithic buildings , although few and far between , sometimes had stone walls e.g. Skara Brae ,Knap of Howar and the later Dartmoor round houses could also have had stone walling .
Would 'wags' have anything to with this Mr T, probably they are later or would it be the Balbridie long house type thing??
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tiompan
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Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 19:28
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drewbhoy wrote: tiompan wrote: thesweetcheat wrote: Presumably they could have built dwellings mainly from timber?
With the addition, in some cases , of turf and heather .
The LBK European longhouses were nearly all wooden .
Worth mentioning that some of the earlier British Neolithic buildings , although few and far between , sometimes had stone walls e.g. Skara Brae ,Knap of Howar and the later Dartmoor round houses could also have had stone walling .
Would 'wags' have anything to with this Mr T, probably they are later or would it be the Balbridie long house type thing??
Hi Drew
, Kempstone hill is a nightmare izzitno?
Yep Wags are later than the usual dates for hut circles.
Balbridie is just about as early as you get here and similar to the LBK longhouses , although the latter is even earlier .
Is there a connection ?
btw another "hall " similar to Balbridie was uncovered quite recently near Carnoustie
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drewbhoy
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Edited May 09, 2017, 22:42
Re: Where did folk live?
May 09, 2017, 22:40
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tiompan wrote: drewbhoy wrote: tiompan wrote: thesweetcheat wrote: Presumably they could have built dwellings mainly from timber?
With the addition, in some cases , of turf and heather .
The LBK European longhouses were nearly all wooden .
Worth mentioning that some of the earlier British Neolithic buildings , although few and far between , sometimes had stone walls e.g. Skara Brae ,Knap of Howar and the later Dartmoor round houses could also have had stone walling .
Would 'wags' have anything to with this Mr T, probably they are later or would it be the Balbridie long house type thing??
Hi Drew
, Kempstone hill is a nightmare izzitno?
Yep Wags are later than the usual dates for hut circles.
Balbridie is just about as early as you get here and similar to the LBK longhouses , although the latter is even earlier .
Is there a connection ?
btw another "hall " similar to Balbridie was uncovered quite recently near Carnoustie
Kempstone Hill is brutal, certainly the cairn and first standing stone, the legs took a bit of a houking :-)
Balbridie and Carnoustie were the 2 that I thought about when you mentioned the LBKs. As for a connection, travelling tribes taking their ideas with them etc.
Further up from Ullapool and on the North Sea/Moray Firth coast there are lots of hut circle clusters. Would they have just gone to these remote places, obviously to build, but on days of special significance, stars etc. From the Minch and Moray coasts nowhere would be to far to travel, even on foot, up in Caithness/Sutherland so perhaps it was temporary lodgings they took with them.
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