Latest SAIRs Just Released

The newest publications of the Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports (SAIR) series are out now! SAIRs 33 and 35 look at the social histories of two very different settlement types, while SAIR 34 reports on prehistoric and medieval cist burials.

The CBA has hosted SAIR publications since its conception and pilot in 2001. In all, there are now 35 released, including the much anticipated Scotland’s First Settlers (SFS) project report. More details can be found on the SAIR website. SAIR is a joint publication venture between the CBA, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and Historic Scotland.

SAIR 33

A Social History of 19th-century Farm Workers and their Families, at Jack’s Houses, Kirkliston, Midlothian

by Stuart Mitchell, Fay Oliver and Tim Neighbour with contributions by S Anderson, M Cressey, G Haggarty & R Murdoch

Abstract

The remains of two 19th-century row cottages and associated structures and deposits were discovered at Jack’s Houses, near Kirkliston. Nearby agricultural remains included a field system with boundary walls, drains and a draw well. A large rubbish dump containing pottery and ceramics has been interpreted as urban waste imported to the site to be added to the land in order to break up the clay soil for cultivation. A historical study undertaken in combination with the archaeological work afforded a view into the lives of the transient agricultural labourers and their families who occupied the houses over a century. The combined disciplines have provided us with a rare insight into a part of rural social history from the early-mid 19th to the early 20th centuries.

SAIR 34

Two prehistoric short-cists and an early medieval long-cist cemetery with dug graves on Kingston Common, North Berwick, East Lothian

by Ian Suddaby with contributions from Paul Duffy, Adam Jackson, John Lawson, Ann MacSween & Graeme Warren and illustrations by George Mudie, Kevin Hicks & Leeanne Whitelaw

Abstract

Human remains were discovered during the laying of a water pipe to service the refurbished Fenton Tower at Kingston, near North Berwick, in 2001. Two short-cist burials, thirty-eight long-cist burials and bank-defined terraces containing dug graves and a possible chapel (NT58SW 152) were found. It is suggested that three main periods of burial are represented, spanning the Neolithic to the early second millennium AD.

SAIR 35

Angus McEachen’s house: the anatomy of an early 19th-century crofting settlement near Arisaig

by Ross White, Chris O’Connell and Fay Oliver with a contribution by Sue Anderson

Abstract

This report presents the results of an excavation and historical study of an early 19th-century settlement at Brunary Burn near Arisaig, Highlands (NGR: NM 6770 8578). CFA Archaeology Ltd carried out the excavation during October 2005 in advance of the realignment and upgrading works of the A830 between Fort William and Arisaig. Two rectangular drystone buildings were excavated, along with a yard area between them. Artefacts recovered included pottery, iron tools, cauldron fragments, slate roofing and clay pipe fragments. The project provided an opportunity to bring together social historical research with archaeological evidence for a somewhat archaeologically under-studied period, and also identified the former inhabitants of the settlement as Angus McEachen and his extended family. The buildings appear to have been occupied for perhaps a single generation before the family was evicted and moved to new accommodation within the area.