Lost Capital Of Scotland Uncovered

Sunday Herald ^ | Jennifer Johnston

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Lost capital of Scotland uncovered

Dark Age fort found near Wallace Monument proves Stirling was home of Scottish warlords
By Jenifer Johnston

Workers laying cables to floodlight the National Wallace Monument have uncovered a 1500-year-old citadel which confirms the site of Scotland's lost capital. Archaeologists believe the ruins establish a much earlier time of sophisticated battles near Stirling.

An archaeological report published yesterday reveals that the cliff-top fortification on the volcanic Abbey Craig was a 'Dark Age citadel' occupied between 500 and 780AD.

The discovery of entrances, stone walls and timber ramparts provides the first evidence that Stirling was one of Scotland's most important strategic centres during the Dark Ages, inhabited by kings and powerful warlords.

The citadel -- now protected by Historic Scotland as a scheduled ancient monument -- overlooks the site of the defining battle of the age, when Scots king Kenneth MacAlpine defeated the Picts to establish modern Scotland in 843AD, on what are now rugby pitches at Stirling University.

The citadel's strategic advantage may also have been used by William Wallace, who is believed to have watched the approaching English army from the fort's crumbling remains in the hours before his most famous victory at Stirling Bridge.

Author of the new report, Stirling Council's regional archaeologist Lorna Main, said that radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the site had been expected to reveal that the site was of Bronze or Iron Age origin -- almost 2000 years older.

But her report says the citadel 'puts Stirling firmly on the map at a time when Picts, Scots, Britons and Angles ruled their separate kingdoms in the four quarters of mainland Scotland'.

Miss Main said: 'It occupied one of the best vantage points in Scotland. What we discovered is far more exciting and significant than we dared to imagine. Along with rubble from the building of the Wallace Monument, we uncovered stone ramparts laced with timber, and clear evidence of where up to two entrances would have been.'

Experts believe further excavation will reveal 'a whole package' of Pictish artifacts.

Professor Ian Ralston of Edinburgh University's Department of Archaeology, said: 'Such a strategic place would be a capital. Its position and the elaborate walls make a case for arguing it falls into this category.

'Dark Age kings, the aristocrats, and the elites of the time, moved around the landscape and wherever they were was the capital of the time. They were warlords who relied on their ability to bring in resources such as precious metals, food, animals and skins from their underlings, often by fighting.'

Ralston says the kings of the time would have required heady adornment to impress the locals.

'It was a time when rulers were beginning to control bigger areas of Scotland. You might not recognise the king physically so they needed flash clothes and jewellery.'

He is also hopeful the site may unearth a hoard of Dark Age goodies.

'Only a very small section was fully excavated so the chances are that there is a whole package of things that would support the importance of such a wall going round it. The types of things which turn up on these sites are moulds for making elaborate jewellery and imported wine containers. They made very high quality jewels.'

Bruce Glendinning, of the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust, who excavated the site, said: 'The fort was built and at some stage, possibly during a raid, burnt. Then at a later stage we can tell it was rebuilt using a different style of building on the ramparts. That is unique.

'People have always thought of vitrified forts as Iron Age but the dates we found make this citadel far more important. We knew Stirling must have been important because of its strategic position, but there are no other identified forts in the area. This is a first.'

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The Battle Of Stirling Bridge 1297

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Tree Rings Challenge History

[tet68]

Carbon dating of petrified deep fried Mars bars found on the site gave it away.

[Endeavor]

here's a great site to explore with your wee ones if you guys end up doing a Scotland tour.

[niteowl77]

Why do they still call it the Dark Ages despite the wealth of recent evidence that it wasn't all that "dark?" I have to wonder how Stirling circa 600 would compare with - for the sake of argument - Kandahar today.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Cressingham was the treasurer. I assume that that post was akin to being a tax collector, which brings me to the part of the story I like best:

Cressingham’s skin was used to make souvenirs.

I'd like to see that happen to some of our modern tax collectors!

[blam]

"Why do they still call it the Dark Ages despite the wealth of recent evidence that it wasn't all that "dark?" I have to wonder how Stirling circa 600 would compare with - for the sake of argument - Kandahar today."

What wealth of evidence?

I believe it was called the Dark Ages because it was dark. I believe there were numerous celestial impact events that created a dust veil over the whole earth. Probably a terrible time on earth.

[afraidfortherepublic]

The types of things which turn up on these sites are moulds for making elaborate jewellery and imported wine containers. They made very high quality jewels.'

I wonder where they got the stones and the mountings? Are there deposits (or were there deposits) of precious stones and metals in the British Isles?

The ancient jewelry that I saw in the National Museum in Dublin, Ireland is quite beautiful -- wide gold collars, elaborate "buttons" for cloaks, beautiful bracelets, exquisite hair ornaments, hinges for prayer books -- all in solid gold and dating to shortly after the time of Christ. This stuff turns up in the peat bogs all the time they say.

I wondered if there were gold deposits on the "Green Island" (other than at the end of the rainbows) and if they still exist today. Or did the early Celts engage in trade from other regions in order to secure the precious metal?

[niteowl77]

The humanists of the Renaissance were very successful in denigrating everything that existed between their self-aggrandizing zenith and the height of the Roman Empire. A time when the so-called lamps of learning and civilization were supposedly extinguished, the "Dark Ages" was - for them - metaphoric, not literal. For centuries, it was convenient to tag everything in "pre-enlightened" Northern Europe as worthless and devoid of any real culture. Be that as it may, archaeological finds have tended to show otherwise.

As for actual physical darkness, I won't speculate. No doubt life was dim enough under the mud and thatch, but life has been "nasty, short, and brutish" for most of the planet, most of the time.

[crz]

So they found Camelot? You all may find that statement a little interesting, but there has been evidence in old documents pointing to that area as King Arthurs seat. His name was something like Arteris or whatever.

[crazykatz]

All the while in Byzantium....90% of the population could read and write and had quite a flourishing and advanced civilization.

[Restorer]

The humanists of the Renaissance were very successful in denigrating everything that existed between their self-aggrandizing zenith and the height of the Roman Empire. A time when the so-called lamps of learning and civilization were supposedly extinguished, the "Dark Ages" was - for them - metaphoric, not literal.

I believe the original meaning of the term "Dark Ages" was in reference to the amount of written records available from the period. There are indeed very few records from about 500 to 1000. Therefore, that period is "dark" to historians. Doesn't necessarily mean that everybody was living a primitive lifestyle, they just weren't writing much down. :)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

They could have just asked Helen Thomas where the site was.

[Happygal]

I can't say I'm an authority on this subject, but ther was gold mining in Ireland, and there were quite a few silver mines..some still operative.

[monday]

"I believe it was called the Dark Ages because it was dark. "

LOL....hey, who turned out the lights?

[blam]

Physical Aspects Of The Dark Ages

Let's first look at the onset of "the" Dark Ages in the sixth century AD. The Roman Empire was finished, nothing was happening in the sciences, and worse was happening in nature. The Italian historian Flavius Cassiodorus wrote about conditions that he experienced during the year AD 536 :

"The Sun...seems to have lost its wonted light, and appears of a bluish colour. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigour of the Sun's heat wasted into feebleness, and the phenomena which accompany an eclipse prolonged through almost a whole year. We have had a summer without heat. The crops have been chilled by north winds, [and] the rain is denied."

Other writers of the time described similar conditions : Procopius : "...during this year a most dread portent took place. For the Sun gave forth its light without brightness...and it seemed exceedingly like the Sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear."

Lydus : "The Sun became dim...for nearly the whole year...so that the fruits were killed at an unseasonable time."

Michael the Syrian : "The Sun became dark and its darkness lasted for eighteen months. Each day it shone for about four hours, and still this light was only a feeble shadow...the fruits did not ripen and the wine tasted like sour grapes."

Was this a local phenomenon? According to the book "Volcanoes of the World", Dr. Timothy Bratton has noted that there was a small eruption of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius in AD 536. Could this be the cause? It may well have contributed to the scene (although the eruption was much smaller than the big one of AD 79), but it can not really account for the similar conditions that were experienced around the world.

In China, "the stars were lost from view for three months". Records indicate that the light from the Sun dimmed, the expected rains did not eventuate, and snow was seen in the middle of summer. Famine was widespread, and in the midst of the turmoil, the Emperor abandoned the capital.

More here: The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

[blam]

In their book "The Origin Of Comets", Bailey, Clube, and Napier write :

"the destruction and chaos accompanying the fate of the Roman empire [midway through the First Millennium] was all but total, the almost complete breakdown of the old order leading to a loss of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of antiquity which was far from temporary."

LT, you may find the link in post #17 informative as the dates may relate to the Lost Tribes.

[LostTribe]

>LT, you may find the link in post #17 informative as the dates may relate to the Lost Tribes.

>the years in question (between 2354 and 2345 BC, 1628 and 1623 BC, 1159 and 1141 BC, 208 and 204 BC, and AD 536 and 545) all corresponded with "dark ages" in civilisation.

Thanks for the ping!  Certainly the BC dates correspond to very active times in Hebrew, Shemite, and Israelite histories. None on them are spot on key dates, but who knows what the longer term effects are.  There may well be some overlap.

(Lurkers can click on my LT Profile below to see what dates we are talking about, and why...)

[RightWhale]

Camelot was in Wales. Different thread.