The historical record of the Iron Age throughout the Clyde Valley has been fragmentary both in terms of the quality of the record and in patterns of research (Alexander 2015, 2). The Clyde Valley has not been subject to large scale survey of Iron Age sites but was part of RCHAMS Marginal Land Survey (RCAHMS 1950-9) which identified hillforts throughout the study area. Subsequent aerial reconnaissance exercises carried out in Clydesdale by RCHAMS in the 1980s to locate cropmarks and further recorded known sites. There are some site types which have been subject of research within the region such as hillforts, have been subject of intermittent survey many Iron Age settlements have been missed from research and the area described as a ‘black hole’ in terms of Iron Age research (Murtagh 2014, 20).
Much of the research of the Iron Age in Scotland has been dominated by stratified societal structures often viewed through the lens of settlement types, the Hownam sequence is most notable in its evolving sequence (Piggott 1948; Armitt 1997). In this model unenclosed settlements are noted as the first settlement type, people then built palisaded settlements and eventually graduate to massive hillforts with multiple ramparts (multivallate forts), before again returning to unenclosed sites. This interpretation has been contested as the linearity of the model limits the complexity of people and society through the Iron Age (Murtagh 2014, 49). This view is clearly discernable from the historic environment record as research activities have targeted large, multivallate hillforts, causing bias towards large and impressive sites.
Alexanders 2015 essay The Iron Age highlights work of amateur archaeologists such as Newhall for locating and excavating Iron Age sites in Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. Work carried out in the commercial sector is also emphasised by Alexander with excavations through the 1990’s and 2000’s. This chapter will discuss through Settlement Types the new sites dating to the period which have been recovered by commercial archaeology in development of urban areas and new windfarms in South Lanarkshire. The non-commercial group ACFA has also contributed to the Iron Age landscape of the Clyde Valley by conducting surveys in East Renfrewshire, City of Glasgow, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire. Community archaeology groups have contributed towards the identification of Iron Age sites in the Clyde Valley through series of surveys carried out by The Biggar Archaeology Group. House platforms, scooped settlements and unenclosed settlements have been identified through the surveys in South Lanarkshire but have not been excavated.