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Caithness A Rover Of Stone Pdf
By Professor John Barbor
River Of Stone
AOC Archaeology Group has joined forces with the Caithness Archaeological Trust in a bid to encourage regional economic benefit from the archaeology of Caithness. The exciting River of Stone project follows the feasibility study completed by AOC Archaeology Group and the Caithness Archaeological Trust, supported by funding from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise, which outlines the advantages of working with communities to promote the fascinating history of sites as a way of adding to a region’s attraction as a place to visit or live. The River of Stone Project is thus founded on a sophisticated analysis of the number, location, diversity, cultural value and accessibility of the 6,500 sites and monuments in the region, correlated with local community heritage groups and existing heritage initiatives.

Battlemoss 2005

Nybster Broch 2005

19 July 05
Archaeology Projects Around Caithness Making More Discoveries - And You Can Be Part Of It
The Chambered Cairn Project At Spittal is a practical exercise in archaeology involving experts and the local community.  It is open to the public to visit or to join in and has open days.  If you have a few hours and want to see what it is like doing something practical you can join in this reconstruction project.  the chambered cairn project is building a new chambered cairn.  In addition the team are building a part of broch based partly on the Mousa and Gurness brochs.  Another reconstruction is also underway and more will be done depending on numbers of people attending to help move the stones.  Don't worry about moving huge stones as you will be assessed , given instruction and supervised and children move only smaller stones.  Children must have an adult with them.  You need no previous experience and many local people have already had a go.  So here is your chance to step back into the shoes of your ancestors and find out what building something in stone was really like. Even if you do not fancy doing any work the team are happy to see people and explain what is going on so take the chance while it is on until early August.  On every day except Sundays  Open Day Sat 23 July.  Today

12 August 04
Learable Hill - Strath Of Kildonan Sutherland - A Mini Adventure Back In Time
Caithness Field Club stepped back in time once more on a short walk over and round parts of Learable Hill in the Strath Of Kildonan, Sutherland on Sunday 8 August.  The walk is quite short and three or four miles will take your round most of the interesting places to see.  What's there?  You might well ask what is not there.  Everything from the remains of the village of Learable farm houses, corn drying kilns, and earlier standing stones with markings, stone rows, hut circles and much more.  Take the sheets from the Canmore database with you to help locate everything and you can have an interesting day in the fresh air finding all of the places.  an easy walk up not too steep a hill with commanding views in each direction of the Strath of Kildonan.  If you have driven through the Strath and viewed its emptiness and wondered if anything ever happened here.  Learbale Hill will help put you right showing a once thriving area with significant population at several periods in its history and now lying empty except for the deer and the birds.

13 July 04
Building a Chambered Cairn at Spittal  10 - 30 July 2004
by the Caithness Archaeological Trust (CAT) and Dr John Barber AOC Archaeology Group

Would You Like To Help Build the Chambered Cairn? 
Head For Spittal Quarry 9.30am Any Day Mon - Saturday
Other events and Special Children's Days 
17 &  24 between 10.00 and 4.00
A Talk On Monday 19th July 8.00pm at Spittal Village Hall
The Caithness Archaeological Trust (CAT) is delighted to announce that between 10th and 30th July (excluding Sundays) we will be building parts of a chambered cairn at Spittal.  The chambered cairn parts will be constructed at the quarry run by A & D Sutherland.  If you do not want to lift stones just come along for a look.

31 March 04
Scottish Society For Northern Studies - Annual Study Conference 5 - 9 April 2004
60 members of the society will hold their annual study conference in Caithness this year beginning on 5 April.  They will take part in a series of visits to Caithness sites and attend lectures on a variety of topics throughout the conference. The conference is based at the Portland Hotel, Lybster with members staying at a variety of locations along the east coast of Caithness. lectures are variously in the mornings and evenings.  The society have invited members of the public to join them for any lectures that are of interest to them at the Portland Hotel.  Places can be booked by contacting Andy Heald, Caithness Archaeology Trust.

19 October 03
Yarrows Trail Walk To End Archaeology Week
 

Marina Finlayson, Highland Ranger led a small group round the Yarrows Archaeologiclal Trail.  The trail takes in a range of sites from the large broch site at Loch Yarrows to hut circles cairns and standing stones and much in between with Marina identifying a variety of plants and birds along the way.  the path is now in great condition with strong flagstone paving over the boggy parts.....

16 October 03
Cairn Of Get Walk Pictures September 03

2 September 03
COUNCIL SETS CHALLENGE FOR ARCHAEOLOGY WEEK

To celebrate the tenth Highland Archaeology Week (11th-19th October 2003), The Highland Council’s Archaeology Unit has issued a major challenge throughout the month of September to all archaeological enthusiasts in the area. 
The challenge is to expand the wealth of public information on the Highland Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) held by the Council’s Planning and Development Service where it will be available for local and national researchers in the future.
Anyone adopting the challenge is asked to send in information about unknown sites of archaeological interest along with photographs of the sites and location details to the Council for inclusion in the SMR. The results will be announced and prizes awarded at the Highland Archaeology Week Seminar held on the Royal Highland Hotel, Inverness on the 18th October. 

12 August 03
Battle Moss Excavation Underway 9 - 28 August 2003
The excavation of the stone rows at Battlemoss, Loch of Yarrows, Caithness got underway and we will be following progress with updates from archaeologist Amelia Pannet.  This is the first time a set of stone rows in Caithness has been excavated and may produce a range of information about these intriguing features scattered across the landscape in Caithness and the north.  Archaeologists, Students and volunteers are all busy at Battle Moss but the public are encouraged to visit the site to have a look at what is happening. 

7 July 2003                               
Battlemoss Excavation 9 - 28 August 2003
The stone rows at Battlemoss, Loch of Yarrows excavation is being undertaken by a team comprising students from both Glasgow and Cardiff Universities, as well as local volunteers.  Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the excavation is welcome to come along and training will be given.  Anyone interested should contact Islay Macleod, Thrumster.  visitors will be welcome at the site Mondays to Saturday between 10.00am and 4.00pm.  An Open Day will be announced later.

More Questions than Answers - Mike Clark

Saint Mary’s Chapel at Crosskirk is well photographed and documented.  Much less seems to be recorded of the Broch to the north of the Chapel. And what has been recorded is full of contradictions. Today, the site is marked by a mere cairn. Erosion over the years has lost the Broch to the sea – allegedly.

Caithness has huge numbers of archaeological sites and almost all of them have not been seriously investigated by digs.  Very few of them are sign posted or have interpretational material around them.  Check a map and you will see many references to the past.  If visiting the county ask a few local people about what is there.  You may be surprised.  Caithness.org will gradually highlight more of the huge numbers of sites in the county but this will take a long time - so just ask if you wish to visit and stand in a remote and strangely easy to feel and see how it was thousands of years ago.  Caithness is empty now compared to the past.  Even fifty years ago the population was over 45,000.  Now it is 27,000.  What was it thousands of years ago with a different climate, trees and lots of wild life.  Stand in areas with no site of modernity and wonder.

 2 November 2001
Proposed Caithness Archaeology Trust - New Section Set Up

11 September 2001
Mesolithic Discovery On Thrumster Estate

Everley 2002
Everley Broch at 11 August 2001
Major Archeological Dig On Caithness Broch to Begin July 2001

Yarrows Day led by Archaeologists 9 September - Pictures

See Also
Caithness Museums and Visitor Centres
Archaeology Links

Castletown Heritage Society

Links
Highland Sites and Monuments Record

13 September 09
Scotland's Rural Past Team Comes To Scotland
A new group is to be formed to record some of the rural past in Caithness to add to the Scottish record.  There is a huge hole in the archaeological record of Scotland’s past. Throughout recorded history until recent times most of Scotland’s people lived in small dispersed farming communities known as townships; a type of archaeological monument classed as Historic Rural Settlement. The subject has largely been ignored by academic archaeology until fairly recently. A very large number of these sites are currently unrecognised and unrecorded. Most of the croft-houses and steadings still visible in the landscape date to the 19th century. Many of these buildings were recorded to a limited degree by the first Ordinance Survey of the 1870s. However their remit was to record only those building that stood above knee height. Unfortunately most farmsteads built before about 1800 were constructed from turf on stone footings; too low to meet the Ordinance Survey criterion of knee high or above. The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is doing what it can within its limited resources to rectify this situation but it needs our help. Read on if you would like to get involved..........

Whitegate Broch, Keiss Excavation July 2006
Whitegate  Broch is being excavated by a team under the leadership of Dr Andy Heald of the National Museum of Scotland with students from Nottingham university and local amateur archaeologists.  The two brochs at Keiss harbour are under investigation with the larger dig being concentrated on the Whitegate broch.  The project has the full support of the Caithness Archaeological Trust.

Open Day At Whitegate Broch - Saturday 22 July 2006
The team are inviting members of the public to an open day on Saturday 22 July between 1.00pm and 4.00pm to view the site and hear what they have discovered to date.  Free tours will take place

Already an interesting feature which they hope to uncover in greater depth is the discovery of corbelled well in the centre of the broch.  Dr Heald hopes to have some samples dated for comparison with the nearby Keiss Harbour Broch to assess the possibility of some connection due to their close proximity. If you would like to see round the excavations on Saturday 22 July head for Keiss Harbour foreshore

Caithness Young Archaeologists
A new group for young folk between the ages of 8 and 16

Wag Of Forse Added 29 September 05

The Stone Circles Of Caithness Added 28 September 05

Sculptured Stones Of Caithness

The Unseen Sites Around Loch Watenan - A Walk on 21 September 2001

Cairn OF Get 9 September 2001

Hill Fort Above Cairn Of Get

Grey Cairns of Camster Monuments and Water - a reinterpretation of  The Grey Cairns of Camster by Amelia Pannett

Concentric Earthworks

St Marys Chapel, Crosskirk (c.1100)   
New St Mary's Chapel section set up 13 August 2001

Dunnet Bay Archaeology Notes

Check out Caithness Field Club pages for Local Archaeology Articles
In June 2000 we have started to enter the very interesting articles from the Field Club.
Several will give insights to some of the counties interesting features.

Prehistoric Caithness - A list of some of the many monuments and other features in Caithness

Articles On Stone Rows In Caithness & Sutherland
The Multiple Stone Rows of Caithness & Sutherland 1

The Multiple Stone Rows of Caithness & Sutherland 2

The Multiple Stine Rows of Caithness & Sutherland 3 - Not Yet published on Caithness.org

The Multiple Stone Rows of Caithness & Sutherland 4 - Their Purpose

Stone Rows of Tormsdale

Caithness Field Club Pages on Caithness.org has a variety of articles on Ancient monuments, stones, hut circles etc.

Caithness Field Club Bulletins - contain many articles on Archaeological and Historical subjects