The early historic landscape of Strathearn: the archaeology of a Pictish kingdom

CC Archaeology

Driscoll, Stephen Taffe ; Alcock, Leslie

University:University of Glasgow

Department:School of Humanities

关键词: CC Archaeology;   

Others  :  http://theses.gla.ac.uk/661/1/1987driscollphd.pdf

来源: University of Glasgow

【 摘 要 】

This study concerns the social and political organization ofthe early medieval kingdom of Fortiu which occupied present dayStrathearn in eastern Scotland. Archaeological and historicalsources are used to examine the develoent of the administrativestructure at the root of the Medieval state of Scotland. Thereare three main aspects to this study.First, the historical evidence bearing on socialorganization in early medieval Britain and Ireland is used inconjunction with archaeological evidence for economic activity toproduce a generalized model of early medieval society suitablefor Pictland. Second, the archaeological evidence of settleentin Strathearn, both upstanding sites and cropmark sites revealedby aerial photography, is examined as a means of assessing thecharacter of Pictish settlement systems, their agriculturalpractices and, ultimately, Pictish social organization. Thethird line of enquiry is to compare the archaeological evidencewith the details of docinentary evidence. This is done at twolevels: the archaeology around specific ll documented sites isdiscussed in relation to that evidence and then a broaderassessment is made of the evidence with respect to the pre-feudaladministrative structures.It is argued that during the Pictish and early Scottishperiods as the polities in the east grew more state-like theimportance of kin-based social relations diminished and protofeudalsocial bonds became increasingly important. However,throughout the period land tenure and agricultural productionretained central to the maintenance and reproduction of socialand political relations . Archaeological evidence is essentialfor an historically sound study of these develoents.