A Tale of the Unknown Unknowns: A Mesolithic Pit Alignment and a Neolithic Timber Hall at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire

by Hilary K. Murray, J. C. Murray, Caroline Fraser

Overview

The site of Warren Field in Scotland revealed two unusual and enigmatic features: an alignment of pits and a large, rectangular feature interpreted as a timber building. Excavations confirmed that the timber structure was an early Neolithic building and that the pits had been in use from the Mesolithic. This report details the excavations and reveals that the hall was associated with the storage and/or consumption of cereals, including bread wheat, and pollen evidence suggests that the hall may have been part of a larger area of activity involving cereal cultivation and processing. The pits are fully documented and environmental evidence sheds light on the surrounding areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781842173473
Publisher:	Oxbow Books
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

1. The Warren Field Project: place and context

1.1 Background to the excavation

1.2 Geomorphic setting(Richard Tipping)

2. A line in the landscape: the pit alignment circa 8210–3650 cal BC

2.1 The excavated evidence(Hilary Murray and Charles Murray)

2.2 Palaeoenvironmental synthesis

(Stephen Lancaster with Althea Davies, Mhairi Hastie, Robert McCulloch,

Catherine Smith, Scott Timpany and Richard Tipping)

2.3 Discussion of the pit alignment(Hilary Murray and Shannon Fraser)

3. A new kind of place: the timber hall circa 3820–3690 cal BC

3.1 The excavated evidence(Hilary Murray and Charles Murray)

3.2 Palaeoenvironmental synthesis

(Stephen Lancaster with Althea Davies, Mhairi Hastie, Robert McCulloch,

Catherine Smith, Scott Timpany and Richard Tipping)3.3 Discussion of the structure

(Hilary Murray and Charles Murray)

3.4 The timber hall and the emergence of new ways of living(Shannon Fraser)

3.5 Biographies of people and place(Shannon Fraser)

4. The local context: other sites on the Crathes Castle Estate

4.1 Other features in the Warren Field

( Hilary Murray and Charles Murray)

4.2 Neolithic features on the Crathes Castle Overflow Car Park site

( Hilary Murray and Charles Murray)

5. Radiocarbon dating

5.1 The radiocarbon dating of the pit alignment and the timber hall

( Peter Marshall)

6. The finds

6.1 The pottery

( Alison Sheridan)

6.2 Organic residue analysis of pottery samples from Warren Field timber hall

and the Crathes Castle Overflow Car Park site

Lucija Šoberl and Richard Evershed)

6.3 Stone tools

( Graeme Warren with Brian Dolan)

6.4 A possible carbonised wooden bowl

( Anne Crone)

Epilogue

Appendices

Editorial Reviews

... an exemplary exposition of the results of their excavations... the excavators have asked all the right questions of the site, and this has paid rich dividends.'

Antiquity, Vol. 84, No. 325, September 2010 - Alison Sheridan