RCAHMS: Exploring Scotland's Heritage - Grampian, 1986

Date 1986

Event ID 1085923

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1085923

Exploring Scotland's Heritage

Twentieth century Scotland has a heritage of human endeavour stretching back some nine thousand years, and a wide range of man-made monuments survives as proof of that endeavour. The rugged character of much of the Scottish landscape has helped to preserve many antiquities which elsewhere have vanished beneath modern development or intensive deep ploughing, though with some 3,850 km of coastline round mainland alone there has also been an immeasurable loss of archaeological sites as a result of marine erosion. Above all, perhaps, the preservation of such a wide range of monuments should be credited to Scotland's abundant reserves of good building stone, allowing not only the creation of extraordinarily enduring prehistoric houses and tombs but also the development of such remarkable Scottish specialities as the medieval tower-house and the iron-age broch. This volume is one of a series of eight handbooks which have been designed to provide up-to-date and authoritative introductions to the rich archaeological heritage of the various regions of Scotland, highlighting the most interesting and best preserved of the surviving monuments and setting them in their original social context. The time-scale is the widest possible, from relics of World War 11 or the legacy of 19th century industrial booms back through history and prehistory to the earliest pioneer days of human settlement, but the emphasis varies from region to region, matching the particular directions in which each has developed. Some monuments are still functioning (lighthouses for instance), others are still occupied as homes, and many have been taken into the care of the State or the National Trust for Scotland, but each has been chosen as specially deserving a visit.

Thanks to the recent growth of popular interest in these topics, there is an increasing demand for knowledge to be presented in a readily digestible form and at a moderate price. In sponsoring this series, therefore, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland broadens the range of its publications with the aim of making authentic information about the man-made heritage available to as wide an audience as possible.

The author, Ian A G Shepherd, holds the post of Regional Archaeologist in the Physical Planning Department of Grampian Regional Council, where his involvement in Grampian monuments over the past eleven years has included both surface fieldwork and excavation of sites as widely separated in time as bronze-age burials and Fyvie Castle. He is also familiar with Grampian archaeology from the air, and many of the aerial photographs in this volume are his own work. Since 1982 he has edited the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

RCAHMS 1986