|
Some time before 2000BC a knowledge of bronze and metal working was introduced into Scotland in the wake of the makers of beaker pottery. Initially, production of metal metal objects seems to have been
heavily concentrated on axes. The collection of axes, halberds, knives, daggers, spearheads and ornaments of various forms are evidence that their use was rooted primarily in the search for prestige and status, not in
the development of a more efficient tool kit. The shields of beaten bronze found in Auchmaleddie, Aberdeenshire, would have been more appropriate for ceremonial occasions than for the battlefield, since practical
experiments have proved that leather shields are more effective than bronze shields in withstanding blows from a bronze sword. The other major interesting change introduced around this time is in the way the dead were
looked after. Radiocarbon dating indicates that some time around 2000BC, traditions of burial altered from the communal rituals of the earliest farmers to individual burial in a slab-built grave or cist. In some cases
this cist was covered by a cairn in order to mark the grave. Multiple inhumations have also been found, however, and cremation burials are not unknown. In the later Bronze Age, from 1500BC onwards, cremation
became the norm but the pots containing the ashes and bits of burnt bone were still buried in a cist. In the succeeding Iron Age (600BC onwards) there are plenty of remains of settlements but very few of burials;
whatever form care of the dead took; it wasn't a large formal affair leaving much trace in the ground. There were, for example, none of the magnificent burials of the chieftains that took place at this time in Yorkshire
and Eastern England. It was the Roman and early Christian period before burials reappeared in Scotland Although burials and cairns indicate the vicinity of settlements, very few houses or field systems dating to 2000BC
have so far been discovered. Field surveys in the 1980s have greatly improved our understanding of Bronze Age settlements. Circular house plans have been found at Kilpartrick and Tormore on Arran, at Cul a'Bhaile on
Jura and at Muirkirk in Ayrshire. Here circular houses were constructed with large upright timbers forming an inner circle, with the roof resting on the uprights and sloping down to the outer stone wall. These
hut-circles and field walls are less dramatic discoveries than those such as at Scara Brae, but excavations have shown that these hut foundations supported well built timber houses which were at the centre of prosperous
farms. In the latter part of the second millennium BC weather conditions appear to have worsened with the onset of a colder and wetter period. This, coupled perhaps with the exhaustion of fertility in the soil, hastened
the growth of peat in many areas of Scotland. Many exciting discoveries made as a result of more recent peat cutting show that complete Bronze Age field systems still lie hidden and that moorland areas once supported
prosperous farming communities. Scotland's Bronze Age lasted from about 2000BC to 600BC. The period from 900BC to 600BC saw new and far-reaching changes, with the expansion of the Scottish Bronze industry and the
appearance of exotic imports such as beaten bronze vessels from the mainland of Europe. The tin from the making of bronze would have had to been imported, probably from Cornwall, but there were deposits of copper in
south west Scotland which would have been mined in open cast fashion. This distribution of locally made bronze swords and spearheads also coincides with the first appearance in Scotland of defensive forts in the 6th or
7th centuries BC. Timber palisades around settlements and homesteads also appear about this time. Towards 600BC, the establishment of the Iron Age was under way. The acceptance of iron - which again could be obtained by
open cast mining - as a material for weapons and tools would have had a fairly large impact upon everyday life. The Iron Age probably saw the physical immigration of new settlers, in this case Celts, but their number
need not have been large. Whenever and however they came, with them they were to bring great changes. |
