Collection of material relating to Professor John Morton Coles, historian, Devon, England

Description Collection of material relating to Professor John Morton Coles, historian, Devon, England

Collection Collection of material relating to Professor John Morton Coles, historian, Devon, England

Catalogue Number 551 345

Category All Other

Scope and Content The collection comprises material relating to Professor Coles' research in Scotland. It includes: Photographs of archaeological excavations of a prehistoric settlement site at Morton, Fife, 1971, and of a round barrow at Pitnacree, Perth and Kinross. Culbin Sands - excavation archive, correspondence, finds cards, plans. Pitnacree barrow - correspondence, soil samples, black and white photographs of cairns. Traprain Law - correspondence re proposed excavations. Jura fieldwork - correspondence, site photographs. SW Scotland - mesolithic sites - correspondence, Barsalloch negatives, interim excavation reports. Mulholland - MA thesis 'The Microlithic Industries of the Tweed Valley'. Ardmore Shelter - correspondence, excavation notes, section. Risga - correspondence, sketch and final drawings. Mid Argyll fieldwork correspondence, plan, notes. Tiretigan - notes, fauna report, sections, plans. Shuna - excavation plans, notes, photographs, report. Kilmelfort - black and white photographs, drawings, plan, notes. Crag of Cares - sketch plan, contact strips. Photocopies of correspondence and interim report from excavations at McNaughtons Fort, Nithsdale District, Dumfries and Galloway Region by J Scott-Elliot, D D A Simpson and J M Coles, 1965-6. Offprint of 'Excavations at Grandtully, Perthshire', by D D A Simpson and J M Coles. Draft of bone analysis, copies of small find drawings, photographs of site and finds, Perth and Kinross District, Tayside Region. Black and white photographs of the brochs Dun Grugaig, Skye, and Dun Grugaig, Glenelg, both Skye and Lochalsh District, Highland Region, no date. A collection of slides relating to excavation and research by Professor Coles. Sites include Kilmelfort, Argyll and Bute, Morton, Fife, Culbin midden, Moray, Grantully, Perth and Kinross, Pitnacree, Perth and Kinross, and other sites. Also, Bronze Age objects in the National Museum of Scotland. Also, negatives from a visit to Jura with Dr J N G Ritchie, and Celtic chariot reconstruction at Hawick, 1969.

Archive History The collection was received by RCAHMS in stages over a number of years. Acc No 1989/524 comprises copies of photographs of the excavations, borrowed from Dundee Museum, where the original archive was deposited by J M Coles. Subsequent deposits of original material comprise: Acc No 1991/502, material from several excavations in Scotland; Acc No 1992/548, MacNaughton's Fort; Acc No 1993/523, Grandtully; Acc No 1995/512, photographs of the two Dun Grugaigs (per National Museums of Scotland, from Professor Coles material held there);Acc No 2009/75, slides from various excavations, objects in the National Museums of Scotland, and negatives from a visit to Jura.

System of Arrangement The collection has not yet been fully catalogued, and is arranged by accession.

Related Material See also: 261/3 Professor Stuart Piggott Collection, Acc No 2000/228, a collection of monographs and offprints compiled by Professor Piggott and donated to RCAHMS by Professor Coles. Also, Acc No 2001/61, handwritten notes and typescript resume giving the background to the offprint collection, by Professor J M Coles, 12th May 2000.

Access Conditions There are no restrictions upon access.

Administrative History Professor John Morton Coles (PhD, DSc, FBA, FSA Hon, FSA Scot), archaeologist (1930-2020). Coles took his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, before undertaking a PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 1960, and subsequently Lecturer (1965), and Reader (1976). In 1963 he gained a fellowship in Fitzwilliam College. In 1980 he was appointed Professor of European Prehistory in the University of Cambridge, a chair he held until 1986. In 1993 he was appointed Honorary Professor by the University of Exeter. He was married to the archaeologist Bryony J Coles (nee Orme). Professor Coles died in October 2020. Professor Coles published extensively, both as author and editor. Fields of particular interest are the Bronze Age, wetland archaeology and experimental archaeology. Publications include ‘Field Archaeology in Britain’ (1972), ‘Experimental Archaeology’ (1979), ‘The Bronze Age in Europe: an introduction to the prehistory of Europe c2000-700 BC’ (with A F Harding) (1979), ‘Prehistory of the Somerset Levels’ (with B J Coles) (1980), ‘Sweet Track to Glastonbury: the Somerset Levels in prehistory’ (with B J Coles) (1986), ‘Archaeology in the Somerset Levels’ (1975-87), ‘Arthur Bulleid and the Glastonbury Lake Village, (with S C Minnitt and G Armynell) 1892-1992’ (1992), ‘Enlarging the Past: the contribution of wetland archaeology’ (with B J Coles) (1995), ‘The Early Settlement of Scotland: Excavations at Morton, Fife’ (et al) (2014).

Accruals No accruals are expected.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1774086