Communities in Southwest Scotland c. 200BC-AD200: Social Space, Material Culture and Identity

Carruthers, Martin Alfredo (2002) Communities in Southwest Scotland c. 200BC-AD200: Social Space, Material Culture and Identity. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis explores the archaeology of Southwest Scotland from c.200BC to 200AD. The major concern is to subject a late prehistoric data set to an explicitly social and theoretical analysis. The first section of the work discusses the history and range of approaches to interpreting Iron Age archaeology in Britain, Scotland and Southwest Scotland, from the "provincial" model of cultural regionalism to traditional Romanist conceptions of ethnicity of the "native", and offers a critique of some of the assumptions that lie behind these interpretive frameworks. It then surveys recent developments in the social theory of landscape and proposes that intimate scales of analysis of archaeological material are exceptionally suitable in applying theories of identity, material culture and social space. The second section of the thesis explores our current conceptions of monument form and classification with a view to determining the effect of these on current interpretations. Specific monument types from Southern Scotland, and western Wigtownshire in particular, are introduced and their complexity and subtle variations are recognised as undermining typological reductionism. An archaeology which privileges analysis of the individuality of monuments and which pays attention to the 3-dimensional nature of live spaces is advocated. The third section considers the small case study area of West Wigtownshire in bringing out some of the localised contingencies and subtleties of an intimate archaeological landscape. The archaeology of west Wigtownshire is considered in relation to practice theories of inhabitation or dwelling perspectives. Evidence from excavations as well as the authors own field visits and critical use of aerial evidence are used to analyse the potential of apparently familiar monumental types, together with less well known archaeological forms in allowing us to break down some of the assumptions behind traditional Iron Age interpretive schema including the functional categories of our monuments themselves, the rigid constraints of periodization and the nature and our definitions of "landscape".

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Additional Information: Adviser: Bill Hanson
• Keywords: Archaeology, Ancient history
• Date of Award: 2002
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2002-75794
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 18:10
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 18:10
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/75794