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Big Enclosures: The Later Neolithic Palisaded Enclosures of Scotland in their Northwestern European Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Gordon Noble  and
Kenneth Brophy
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Abstract

Palisaded enclosures were huge enclosed spaces with timber boundaries found across Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia in the Neolithic. Five such sites have been identified in Scotland dating to the later Neolithic, four of which have been excavated to varying degrees. These sites form the main focus of this paper, which draws in particular on interim results from the authors' excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross, during 2007–2009. The palisaded enclosures of Scotland are part of a wider British and Irish tradition and there are a number of European parallels, the closest of which lie in southern Scandinavia. The palisaded enclosures in Scotland are tightly clustered geographically and chronologically, constructed in the centuries after 2800 cal BC. This paper explores the function, role, and meaning of palisaded enclosures in Scotland and more generally, drawing not just on the architecture of the monuments, but also the individual posts that were used to create the enclosures. The role of these monuments in reconstituting nature is also considered.

Les enclos à palissade sont des vastes espaces fermés par des poteaux de bois, datant du Néolithique, et localisé à travers la Grande Bretagne, l'Irlande, et la Scandinavie. Cinq enclos à palissade Néolithiques ont été identifiés en Ecosse, dont quatre ont fait l'objet de fouilles plus ou moins exhaustives. Ces sites sont le sujet du présent article, qui s'appui plus particulièrement sur les fouilles des auteurs à Forteviot, Perth et Kinross, en 2007 – 2009. Faisant partie d'une tradition Britannique et Irlandaise plus vaste, les enclos à palissade écossais démontrent aussi quelques parallèles avec ceux connus en Europe continentale, notamment au sud de la Scandinavie. Les enclos à palissade écossais sont regroupés géographiquement et chronologiquement, ayant été datés aux siècles suivant 2800 BC calibrés. Notre article explore les fonctions, rôles et significations des enclos à palissade, en Ecosse et de façon plus générale, en abordant l'ensemble des monuments ainsi que les poteaux utilisés pour les ériger. Le rôle médiateur de ces monuments avec la nature est aussi évoqué. Translation by Nathan Schlanger.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Palisadenanlagen umschlossen weiträumige Bereiche mit Holzumgrenzungen, die während des Neolithikums in Großbritannien, Irland und Skandinavien auftraten. Fünf solche Anlagen, die in das spätere Neolithikum datieren, sind aus Schottland bekannt und vier sind mehr oder weniger vollständig ergraben worden. Sie bilden den Schwerpunkt dieses Beitrags, der sich besonders auf die vorläufigen Ergebnisse der Grabungen der Autoren in Forteviot, Perth und Kinross (2007–2009) konzentriert. Die schottischen Palisadenanlagen sind Teil einer großräumigen britischen und irischen Tradition. Zusätzlich gibt es eine Reihe von Parallelen auf dem europäischen Festland, mit den nächstgelegenen Beispielen aus Süd-Skandinavien. Die Palisadenanlagen Schottlands sind sowohl geografisch als auch chronologisch eng begrenzt, mit einem Entstehungsdatum nach 2800 kal BC. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Funktion, Rolle und Bedeutung der Palisadenanlagen, nicht nur in Schottland, sondern darüber hinaus, und bezieht sich auf die Architektur dieser Monumente, als auch auf die einzelnen Pfosten, die zur Gestaltung der Anlagen benützt wurden. Zudem wird die Funktion dieser Anlagen in der Wiederherstellung der Natur in Betracht gezogen. Translation by Tina Jacob.

Keywords

ScotlandNeolithicmonumentspalisaded enclosurestimberenvironmentsocial orderEcosseNéolithiquemonumentsenclos à palissadeboisenvironnementordre socialSchottlandNeolithikumMonumentePalisadenanlagenBauholzUmweltSozialordnung
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 14 , Issue 1-2 , 2011 , pp. 60 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Maney Publishing 

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