In This Section:

6.10 Research Recommendations

The recommendations below apply specifically to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age period in the Highlands. Some research questions in the Land and Environment section 3.10 may also apply to this period.

Many research questions from the original National ScARF and other regional research frameworks are also relevant and applicable in the Highlands. These will soon be all be searchable and available all together through our our new digital platform facility.

Environmental

HARF Agenda 6.1: There is a need to pull together the information for the Bronze Age from the many excavations and research projects to start building up local pictures, including integrating with non-archaeological studies.

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.2: Use multi-proxy approaches that combine data from pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs, and whatever is available, and to target areas of the Highlands where there is little evidence

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Eg Badenoch and Strathspey, Lochaber and Caithness and where there is great potential for gaining more detailed information. This is occurring near Gairloch and many other sites are possible.
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Settlement

HARF Agenda 6.3: Given the contradictory climate, soil, pollen and archaeological records for both an unchanging and a deteriorating environment, correlate environmental evidence with human settlement to better understand regional and sub-regional trends and impacts.

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Close range radiocarbon dating will be essential to tease out this picture. We need to understand whether the model of increasing acidification was a continuous or an interrupted or reversible process (are we missing human-life-span periods in which the curve flattened out?) 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.30: We need more large landscape-wide surveys to complement that done at Lairg.

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Ideally focusing on other topographies (coastal, lowland) and in areas with little evidence (Lochaber, Badenoch and Strathspey).Collaborative projects involving archaeologists, geologists, soil scientists, ecologists and palynologists are needed. The site of Little Rogart or Loch Farlary would be a good place for further investigation, with a good RCAHMS survey as a basis, combined with initial investigations at Loch Farlary.

Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.31: There needs to be better understanding of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age architecture, materials used and changes through time and region.

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.4: Integrate and synthesise current archaeological knowledge of Bronze Age landscape archaeology from Highland Scotland with knowledge from similar geographically located places in Europe to understand the nature and extent of heterogeneity in Bronze Age Europe and the unique characters, if any, of the Highland Bronze Age artefacts. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.5: Further exploration and dating at coastal shell midden sites is needed, and re-examination of material from these sites held in museum collections. What structural evidence relates to these sites? 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.6: More investigation of structures that resemble domestic structures (eg small henges, embanked cremation cemeteries) is needed in order to assess if in future it will be possible to identify these before excavation. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.7: Further analysis of burnt mounds in the Highlands needed to examine chronological and regional differences, their relationship to domestic settlement, and to aid discussion on functions of these monuments.  

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.8: Given the evidence from High Pasture Cave, more work on Highland caves would be useful to gauge activities.

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The Scotland’’s First Settlers project obtained Bronze Age dates from some of its test pitting, providing possible sites to explore. East coast caves should also continue to be excavated with good dating. 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Diagnostic Artefacts

HARF Agenda 6.10: Better dating and contextual information for Beaker pottery in non-funerary contexts is needed.

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.11: Information about dated stone tools in the Highlands should be brought together to assess whether there are any diagnostic elements (for example on querns) or chronological or regional patterns.

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Sources of stone need to be integrated into the study. 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.12: There needs to be critical assessment of all flaked lithics and coarse stone tools that may date to this period, and more work on the raw materials and their sources (including a review of coastal and glacial deposits to assess whether there are any secondary sources of flint in the region). 

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Further work on lithic collections in museums is needed for identification of types and mapping of findspots, including but not limited to arrowheads and scrapers, and to correlate to the relatively few well-dated sites. 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.13: Target sites where good preservation may result in organic preservation to provide a better idea of diagnostic basketry, cloth, dyes etc.

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These will include peat mosses, coastal sites, areas with hillwash and some rock shelters. 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.14: Evidence of dated bone and antler objects found in the Highlands should be brought together. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.15: Further detailed analysis of metalwork is needed, to determine if they were used or unused, as well as metallurgical differences and similarities. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.9: Integrate recent metal detecting finds into the regional picture. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Burial and Ritual

HARF Agenda 6.16: A complete listing of all Chalcolithic and Bronze Age funerary sites in the Highlands is needed, complete with a list of all grave goods and a complete bibliography of published and unpublished reports. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.18:  A number of possible cairns in Strathspey could shed light on burial practices in the northwest Highlands (see eg Oram 1996, 26ff), and relationships to the Clava-type cairns.

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.19: There is a need to understand much better how Chalcolithic and Bronze Age people disposed of their dead, in Highland and in comparison to other areas, particularly during the Middle and Late Bronze Age excavation/post-excavation projects designed to produce more information on cremated human remains interred in a farming landscape with the purpose of understanding the fullest range of burial places, using the Lairg example as a basis.

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.20: Further analysis and dating of human remains is required to further understand patterns of change and regionality across the Highlands. Detailed case studies as at Achavanich demonstrate and provide a useful model for such studies. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.21: Further investigation of Clava-type cairns is still needed, including variations in form and architecture, use and re-use in the Bronze Age and later, and phasing of monuments. Were the stone circles contemporary or later?

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.22: Investigation of use of quartz in burial sites and buildings would be useful. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.23: Further dating of stone rows is needed, and their context in the landscape. A site submerged by peat, such as the rows at Camster, holds out the best chance for dating.

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Investigation should take a landscape approach, looking at other features in the landscape. 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.24: Dating of stone circles is needed, and given the evidence from Armadale (MHG60879), whether any relate to timber circles and burial sequences. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.25: Several sites would repay more detailed investigation and reassessment including: Dalmore, Easter Ross Cemetery (MHG6311), Raigmore (Stoneyfield MHG3723) anf the Golspie Cist burials (MHG10904).

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Craft and Industry

HARF Agenda 6.26: Further metallurgical analysis of Highland Late Bronze Age hoards and metalwork would be useful to explore the supply systems in and out of the region, setting results from Poolewe in greater chronological context, but also to further explore links with Ireland in Early Bronze Age. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Transport and Movement

HARF Agenda 6.27: More analysis of DNA & isotopes to try and get a fuller picture of migration and native populations (see above 6.6).

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This will need information on late Neolithic evidence to compare with. Then patterns should be compared to other regions. Is Culduthel man the only indication of Irish origin? 
Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.28: There is a need to better understand movement of Bronze Age people through and beyond the region, with excavation/post-excavation projects designed

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

HARF Agenda 6.29: Investigation of metallurgical alloys to show ore sources and movements of objects. 

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Status:
Active
Authority to change status:
Date accepted:
01/09/2021
Date of next review:
01/09/2024
Found in the following Frameworks:
The Scottish Archaeological Research Framework

Are there research recommendations that you think are missing?

Why not add your comment below which will be flagged to ScARF (or get in touch with ScARF directly) and new questions will be considered for addition at the next revision.

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