Hillforts are the iconic and classic image of the British Iron Age and yet as a class of monuments they are poorly understood, mainly due to a lack of dating evidence. The Rampart Scotland project (following on from the successful Hillforts of Strathdon Project) is specifically designed to undertake keyhole excavation across a series of hillforts in order to collect dating evidence. (subject to Scheduled Monument Consent).We will also carry out a survey of the surrounding landscape in order to look at possible associated features.

Training in the field will be given in the following areas: evaluation, excavation, sampling and surveying techniques, the archaeology and history of the Lothians including site tours. Training be given on all aspects of archaeological work from excavation to reporting by professional archaeologists.

For more information, or to book your place contact the Project Director, Murray Cook at info@rampartscotland.co.uk

Background Information

A small fort situated on a small nose of land and consisting of a stone wall surrounded at a slightly lower level by a rampart with an external ditch. This 1959 description of Aberdeenshire’s Maiden Castle can be found in records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Astonishingly, until recently this was the sum total of our knowledge regarding this site, and is sadly true for the majority of hillforts found on every hill and mountain range the length and breadth of Scotland.

Attempting to address the problem, the Hillforts of Strathdon project was set up in 2007 with the specific purpose of producing solid dating evidence for some of these enigmatic sites. Supplying primary data to move the subject forward is the overarching aim of the project, arguing that if archaeologists continue only to undertake survey after survey we will have better plans but no new dates!

The Aberdeenshire hillforts have been surveyed and assessed three times since the 1960s, each time using the same basic evidence of size and type of defences. With each new survey the sample size became smaller and smaller, respectively Northern Britain, Aberdeenshire and finally the Don Valley, each time coming up with different conclusions. As result, for the best part of 50 years all we have to work with is a massive corpus of data but no new hard evidence to go on.

Arguably, less and less primary research work is undertaken each year by academics, both because of the rising costs of such work, as well as the drive of United Kingdom national policy to preserve remains in situ. As a consequence of this, local archaeological societies and community projects have also tended to focus on non-intrusive archaeology including desk-based work, field walking and various types of survey.

Advances in dating techniques have seen a recent upsurge of interest in the use of limited keyhole excavation to retrieve carbonised material for C14 dating. Real academic gains can result from a relatively small investment in money and time which safeguards the monument for future research. Alongside achieving these goals the aim of the Hillforts of Strathdon project has been to offer training to enable future generations of research students to carry out their own projects.

Scotland already has a fine tradition of keyhole excavation which has demonstrated good results. Examples of such projects include Colin Renfrew’s work at the Ring of Brodgar, Orkney in 1979 (recently a major research excavation by Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology), Close-Brook’s work at Clatchard Craig, Fife in 1987 (now quarried away), the late Leslie Alcock’s work on Early Historic fortifications during the 1980’s and most recently the Edinburgh University Angus and south Aberdeenshire Field School.

It is possible to take a very targeted approach to retrieving data from a hillfort by putting in a trench of around 10m long x 1m wide across the ramparts and ditches. However, the methodology must be flexible enough to allow for site variations. This allows the best chance of recovering charcoal and minimises any archaeological intrusion. On conclusion of the fieldwork all that is left to do is to draw up the plans and sections, sieve the samples and obtain charcoal identifications and radiocarbon dates. A report can then be produced, with plans, sections and dating evidence and significantly, there is an almost immediate academic return; a real chronological framework to work from.

Taking Maiden Castle as an example, the team decided to undertake keyhole excavation in 2007 and again in 2008. Three radiocarbon dates were recovered from below and above the outer rampart and below the inner enclosure wall. The dates show that the rampart was constructed in the 5th to 7th centuries AD, while charcoal from below the wall indicates that it was constructed after the 6th or 7th centuries. This was a complete surprise as the site was never assumed to date to the early historic period.

Excited by the obvious potential and wishing to undertake a comparative study, the project is now focusing on another region altogether and looking to the future it has been christened Rampart Scotland. Moving south to the rugged, heather covered Lammermuir Hills in the Lothians and due east of the capital city of Edinburgh, enormous hillforts stand silently guarding every ancient pass.

In common with the Aberdeenshire hillforts only short descriptions are available of the physical characteristics as there have been little or no intrusive archaeological investigations within the interior portions, ramparts and ditches. The mighty Traprain Law which lies a few miles to the north of the Lammermuirs is the only hillfort of the region to have been extensively studied in recent years and shows a dating range from the Neolithic period to the Mediaeval.

In addition to keyhole excavation the Rampart Scotland project will expand to survey the surrounding countryside. It is hoped to obtain a greater understanding of how each hillfort sits within the wider landscape by looking at the many unexplored features that lie within the environs.