Prehistory (General)

Since last speaking to the Society, major technical advances in the Sites and Monuments Record database and the use of a Geographic Information System have been made, facilitating electronic communication with the area planning offices and others. Key ar

A review article

A review article

A short article describing a grooved stone tool from the Wanlockhead area presented to the Society's Museum in 1929. It is considered to represent a form of tool utilised in prehistoric mining activities - parallels are provided from other sites.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland was established by Royal Warrant in February 1908, entrusted with the task of making an inventory of the ancient and historical monuments and constructions connected with or illustra

A trapezoidal enclosure, previously known only from aerial photographs, was the focus of archaeological investigations at Evan Road, Beattock. No dating evidence for the enclosure was retrieved, although it is likely to be later prehistoric on the basis

A lecture reporting on excavations in the Manse Field, Whithorn. The excavations revealed features dating from the prehistoric period onwards. Comparisons with other features identified in the Manse Field can be seen at Hoddom where excavations revealed e

Review article

On behalf of the Whithorn Trust, and with support from Historic Scotland, a palaeoenvironmental study was carried out on a wet fen/mire located 400 m south of Rispain Camp, an Iron Age site in Galloway. The investigation revealed a good lateglacial and ea

Lecture to the Society, 25th March, 2006. Recent work on the lake dwellings of Dumfries and Galloway through the South-West Crannog
Survey a condition monitoring project funded by Historic Scotland has provided a series of site surveys and radiocarbon da

(Lecture to the Society, 17th March 2006. Over two seasons in 2003 and 2004 AOC Archaeology Group, aided by a number of volunteers,
conducted an archaeological excavation of Carghidown in response to coastal erosion. The excavation revealed a multi-phase

Lecture to the Society, 2nd December, 2005 (The Cormack lecture).
This presentation looked at the way in which people in early prehistoric Scotland had exploited the local lithic resources of flint and stone to manufacture various types of artefacts. The

The second season of the SWCS Phase 2 was carried out in September 2003 and January 2004 and comprised detailed digital survey of submerged and dry areas of selected crannog sites in Dumfries and Galloway. Small scale underwater excavations at one site, L

Specialist reports on the human bone finds from the excavations of a Bronze Age roundhouse and associated palisade enclosure at Aird Quarry, Castle Kennedy, Dumfries and Galloway

Specialist reports on the charcoal and radiocarbon dates from the excavations of a Bronze Age roundhouse and associated palisade enclosure at Aird Quarry, Castle Kennedy, Dumfries and Galloway

Remains of a prehistoric roundhouse within a palisade enclosure were identified during an archaeological evaluation in advance of a quarry extension in 1999. In accordance with planning conditions an archaeological excavation by AOC Archaeology Group was

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 5th November 2004. The archaeology of the estate at Newbarns, Colvend, is a unique and mysterious monumental record dating back to the Neolithic era, with multi-settlement evidence of occupation through th

Summary of a lecture presented to the Society on 15th October 2004. Displays of prehistoric artefacts in the museums of Scotland include much material from Wigtownshire, mostly collected during the latter decades of the 19th century. George Wilson, Free

In 1946 a Miss Helen Selby brought into the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland a collection of artefacts gathered largely from local sources by her father, William McDowall Selby, and grandfather, Robert Bird Selby, who served successively as medi

Specialist report on biological remains from Kerricks Farm, Duncow, excavations of a Bronze Age barrow

Specialist report on cremated remains from Kerricks Farm, Duncow, excavations of a Bronze Age barrow

Specialist report on stone assemblage from Kerricks Farm, Duncow, excavations of a Bronze Age barrow

Specialist report on flint assemblage from Kerricks Farm, Duncow, excavations of a Bronze Age barrow

Report on the slag remains recovered during the Excavations of a Bronze Age Settlement Site at Ross Bay, Kirkcudbright

Report on the pottery found recovered during the Excavations of a Bronze Age Settlement Site at Ross Bay, Kirkcudbright

Report on the flints found recovered during the Excavations of a Bronze Age Settlement Site at Ross Bay, Kirkcudbright

In January 2002, during the archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping for the construction corridor of a 1.2km gas pipeline at Ross Bay, near Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, previously unknown archaeological remains were recorded at three locat

This paper examines the peopling of the Cree valley in the early-mid Neolithic as expressed in the monuments that they constructed. It endeavours to explore the chambered tombs, their location within and relationship to the landscape and geography of the

Summary of the First Cormack lecture - delivered to the Society on 5th december 2003. The subject was 'Early Celtic Art in South-West Scotland: Its Origin and Purpose'. Fraser Hunter explained that he hoped that the lecture provided some insights, however

Excavations were carried out by GUARD (Department of Archaeology, Glasgow University) around the site of Warden's Dykes on behalf of Trusthouse Forte and BP Oil UK Ltd in advance of the construction of an access road for the new Gretna motorway service st

A recent review of the evidence for bog bodies in Scotland has added 14 previously unrecogbised examples to the existing gazeteer. Seven of these 'new discoveries' - actually old finds hidden in local newspaper accounts and antiquarian reports - are fro G

In the 1860s this Society made a number of field excursions to the eroding coastline at Newbie near Annan. These excursions are described from notes in the early printed Transactions and the earliest MS Minute book of the Society. The article is illustrat

The first phase of the South-West Scotland Crannog Survey, the primary fieldwork for which was carried out in 1989, examined the assumption that submerged crannogs in the south-west were relatively stable while their counterparts on drained land were rapi

This paper presents the results of a survey of promentory forts on the Solway Coast of Dumfries and Galloway. This work was carried out by the author primarily to determine the extent and nature of erosion affecting these sites. The surveying programme al

Set against the broader background of the Neolithic in south-west Scotland, this paper considers the two well-known Neolithic monuments of cairnholy I and II in Dumfries and Galloway, with a particular focus on the types of experiences that these monument

Review of a thesis for the degree of Licentiate in Archaeology at the Catholic University of leuven which was the result of practical work in the area under the guidance of A E Truckell. Copy available at the Dumfries Archive Centre

The Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust Ltd (SUAT) carried out an excavation in advance of development at the site of the former British legion Club House at 67-71 Irish Street, Dumfries (NGR NX 9717 7595). The excavation was jointly funded by Callander L

This paper reviews the archaeological evidence for the organisation of the later prehistoric landscape that has emerged from work in the Border Counties over the last twenty years. It challenges any assumption that prehistoric farms and territories were d

This is the second part of a series which considers the evidence for prehistoric activity across an area of landscape found in Dumfries and Galloway, defined by the river systems of the Cree and Esk. It is the purpose here to assess the evidence for Bronz

A review of Andrew McCulloch's 'Galloway - A Land Apart'. This new work assesses the history of Galloway as it affected all social strata, through the fresh and unrestrained eyes of a historian at the end of the 20th century. McCulloch successfully incorp

This paper reviews the results of aerial photographic recording of archaeological sites revealed by cropmarking in south-west Scotland. A consideration of patterns of visability and recovery provides a preamble to a review of the general trends this mater

Aerial photography by the late Professor G.B.D.Jone and the RCAHMS has identified a series of crop-marks on the Pleistocene gravels to the west of the mouth of the River Annan at Hayknowes.
The extensive nature of the Hayknowes crop-marks prompted an inv