Part One. Excavations at five Scottish monuments -- The development of the project / Richard Bradley -- Excavations at Hillhead, Tarland, Aberdeenshire : a recumbent stone circle and its history / Richard Bradley and Amanda Clarke -- Excavations at Waulkmill, Tarland, Aberdeenshire : a Neolithic pit, Roman Iron Age burials and an earlier prehistoric stone circle / Richard Bradley, Amanda Clarke and Fraser Hunter -- Croftmoraig stone circle, Perth and Kinross : a reinterpretation in the light of fresh excavation / Richard Bradley -- The Hill of Tuach, Kintore, Aberdeenshire : the excavation of a small stone circle and henge / Richard Bradley and Amanda Clarke -- Laikenbuie, Auldearn, Inverness-shire : excavation of an early Iron Age ring cairn and other features / Ronnie Scott and Annette Jack -- Part Two. The excavated monuments in their wider contexts -- After the great stone circles / Richard Bradley -- Histories of reuse / Richard Bradley -- The extent of variation : four stone circles in Cromar in the light of recent fieldwork / Richard Bradley -- Croftmoraig : the anatomy of a stone circle / Richard Bradley.
Summary:
"The study of stone circles has long played a major role in British archaeology, and for Scotland most attention has been focused on the large monuments of Orkney and the Western Isles. Several decades of fieldwork have shown how these major structures are likely to be of early date and recognised that that smaller settings of monoliths had a more extended history. Many of the structures in Northern Britain were reused during the later Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the early medieval period. A series of problems demand further investigation: when were the last stone circles built? How did they differ from earlier constructions? How were they related to henge monuments, especially those of Bronze Age date? How frequently were these places reused, and did this secondary activity change the character of those sites? This major new assessment first presents the results of fieldwork undertaken at the Scottish recumbent stone circle of Hillhead; the stone circles of Waulkmill and Croftmoraig, the stone circle and henge at Hill of Tuach at Kintore; and the small ring cairn at Laikenbuie in Inverness-shire. Part 2 brings together the results of these five projects and puts forward a chronology for the construction and primary use of stone circles, particularly the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age examples. It considers the reuse of stone circles, long after they were built, and discusses four neighbouring stone circles in Aberdeenshire which display both similarites and contrasts in their architecture, use of raw materials, associated artefacts and structural sequences. Finally, a reassessment and reinterpretation of Croftmoraig and its sequence is presented: the new interpretation drawing attention to ways of thinking about these monuments which have still to fulfil their potential"--Provided by publisher.
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