Rural society & settlement : isolated monuments and farming communities in northern and western Scotland in the late Atlantic Iron Age
The thesis opens with a statement of the methodological approach of the research, explaining the use of a historical model to inform a field methodology of a combination of prospecting techniques. The model to be used is set out along with a consideration of the expectations of the field methodology and the hypothesis to be tested: that Ă©lite sites will have a concentrating effect upon settlement patterns and create ~hierarchical~ landscapes, in contrast to non-hierarchical landscapes which, in the absence of an Ă©lite site, will show no particular clustering. Following this is a statement of the problem of settlement studies in Scotland, with a consideration of previous and current approaches. This is followed by discussion of the available prospecting techniques and a detailed discussion of the chemistry of soil phosphates. The historical and archaeological framework of the period is then presented with a consideration of the evidence available from legal and historical sources and from excavations carried out on Ă©lite sites. Agriculture is then discussed, firstly in terms of its productivity and then of the techniques of agriculture to assess the effect of agriculture upon settlement distribution. Finally,
Banks, Iain Bernard Joseph
CC Archaeology
Rural society & settlement : isolated monuments and farming communities in northern and western Scotland in the late Atlantic Iron Age. The thesis opens with a statement of the methodological approach of the research, explaining the use of a historical model to inform a field methodology of a combination of prospecting techniques. The model to be used is set out along with a consideration of the expectations of the field methodology and the hypothesis to be tested: that Ă©lite sites will have a concentrating effect upon settlement patterns and create ~hierarchical~ landscapes, in contrast to non-hierarchical landscapes which, in the absence of an Ă©lite site, will show no particular clustering. Following this is a statement of the problem of settlement studies in Scotland, with a consideration of previous and current approaches. This is followed by discussion of the available prospecting techniques and a detailed discussion of the chemistry of soil phosphates. The historical and archaeological framework of the period is then presented with a consideration of the evidence available from legal and historical sources and from excavations carried out on Ă©lite sites. Agriculture is then discussed, firstly in terms of its productivity and then of the techniques of agriculture to assess the effect of agriculture upon settlement distribution. Finally,
rural_society settlement isolated monument farm_community northern_western scotland late atlantic iron_age open statement methodological explain use historical model inform field combination prospect technique model use set along consideration expectation field hypothesis_test lite sit concentrate effect_upon settlement_pattern create hierarchical landscape contrast non hierarchical landscape absence lite site show particular clustering following statement problem settlement study scotland consideration previous current_approach follow_discussion available prospect technique detail discussion chemistry soil phosphate historical_archaeological framework period present consideration evidence_available legal historical_source excavation_carry lite site agriculture discuss firstly term productivity technique agriculture assess effect agriculture upon settlement_distribution finally