Tap O' Noth overlooks Rhynie © University of Aberdeen
Posted on 05/16/2020 11:04:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A hillfort in Aberdeenshire is one of the largest ancient settlements ever discovered in Scotland, researchers have said.
University of Aberdeen archaeologists say 4,000 people may have lived in more than 800 huts perched high on the Tap O' Noth near Rhynie.
Many had thought it dated from the Bronze or Iron Age.
The team said carbon dating suggested it was likely to be Pictish, dating back as far as the third century AD.
They believe at its height it may have rivalled the largest known post-Roman settlements in Europe.
Archaeologists from the university have conducted extensive fieldwork in the surrounding area since 2011.
Prof Gordon Noble, who led the research, described the discovery that activity at the site extended into the Pictish period as the most surprising of his career...
"We took samples from the site really just to begin placing the important discoveries we have made at Rhynie over the last few years in a broader geographical context. The results of the dating were simply incredible.
"The Tap O' Noth discovery shakes the narrative of this whole time period. If each of the huts we identified had four or five people living in them then that means there was a population of upwards of 4,000 people living on the hill.
"It is truly mind-blowing and demonstrates just how much we still have to learn about settlement around the time that the early kingdoms of Pictland were being consolidated."
Aberdeenshire Council leader Jim Gifford said: "This find of historic importance will be of huge significance.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Here are the other GGG topics introduced since the previous Digest ping:
Whoops.
This and other articles are curiously vague about the dating, ranging from 3d through 7th Centuries, but no specifics about what deposits were used for the dating and what finds, if any.
“This find of historic importance will be of huge significance”.
But as a practical matter could not be less important to the lives of current humanity.
Having become an avid viewer of BBC-4’s defunct “Time Team” archaeological series, I’ll venture that the dating is based upon pottery remains and possibly a few coins, in addition to the carbon dating.
Oh brother
“They believe at its height it may have rivalled the largest known post-Roman settlements in Europe.”
I am not clear on the meaning of “post-Roman Settlements” and wonder if their is even a commonly accepted definition of it.
The only definition that comes to mind would be settlements in any area that had once been, but was not later, under the control of the Roman Empire. Would that be right?
Cool.
My family comes from Aberdeenshire.
From around 400 to 600 or so AD, when Britain became pretty firmly Christian.
Our own Boris Yeltsin.
“From around 400 to 600 or so AD, when Britain became pretty firmly Christian.”
Britain does not start to become “firmly” Christian until A.D. 680 or so and after.
Yes, sounds about right.
That's a hike.
Personally, I think anything named “Tap O’Noth” should have a keg o’beer and a cold mug waiting at the top.
It’d be very interesting to know what daily life was like. Was there anything like personal wealth? Where did these huts come from and how did a fella’ rate getting one. Did he have to build up something like an estate and buy it, etc?
Yes, that’s why I asked about the finds. Of course, one of the big problems with the Picts is that they left so few finds, much less datable ones. They did leave a number of rock and monuments carving, but with no written language, those are not yet understood. This site was thought to be Iron Age, but now is believed to be Post Roman and Pictish, but we’ve yet to see the evidence that supports that conclusion.
“This find of historic importance will be of huge significance.”
Why? Gonna grab hut ideas?
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