#highland archaeology

[nosasblog]

Bothan: Beehive Shieling Dwellings in Harris and Lewis

By Cathy Dagg The following are some musings based on recent visits to some of the shieling structures of North Harris and South Lewis, unusually different from those in the mainland Highlands. There’s no original research involved and I am relying heavily on the notes and plans of previous archaeologists and amateurs who have also been intrigued by these structures. Some background on shieling…

[pureclassics]

𝙀𝘿𝙄𝙉𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙂𝙃

[suryatchandra]

Cairns at Balnuaran of Clava in 1996 par Historic Environment Scotland Via Flickr : Balnuaran of Clava is the site of an exceptionally well preserved group of prehistoric burial cairns that were built about 4,000 years ago. The Bronze Age cemetery complex comprises passage graves, ring cairns, a kerb cairn, standing stones and the remains of a chapel. This view shows the centre and south west cairns taken with a Hi-spy, a camera attached to an extendable pole to capture the whole site in one photograph. Photographer: RCAHMS Image reference: SC357547 See more images of Balnuaran of Clava: canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/search/?keyword=Balnuaran+of+Clava © RCAHMS

[monkeydoespride]

Part 4 (and final) of my analysis on the ruins in Windwail Highland

[micewithknives]

Top 5 archaeological sites in Australia that you feel people should know more about? Or top 5 Australian artefacts?

I feel like I’ve talked a bit about artefacts in a few recent asks, and also I feel like a lot of Australian archaeology (and as such, sites) are very underrated, particularly on a global scale. Its often acknowledged in Australian archaeology that getting international academia to recognise the importance of our country’s archaeology is very very difficult.

While there’s a million and one sites I’d love to talk about, I’m going to TRY and give sites that relate to different aspects and locations

This is probably going to be long, so...

1. Nauwalabila, Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II), and the Deaf Adder Gorge region, Northern Territory (Aboriginal)

Rock shelters in this region, and specifically Madjedbebe, are currently the oldest location of human habitation in Australia. Dating evidence from 2017 excavations provided an estimate of earliest occupation of 50 000 years at certainty, possibly extending back as early as 65 000 (+/-6000). It also has provided a lot of evidence for research into the extensive grind stone technologies of the Pleistocene.

2. Cloggs Cave and the Buchan region of the Victorian Gippsland (Aboriginal)

So much research has been done into this region in various ways. Josephine Flood focused her research on Bogong Moth usage (and festivals) within this region, providing some of the earliest accepted academic research in support of Aboriginal peoples’ claims of large scale Bogong Moth Festivals in Australia’s highlands (although the fac that no one really believed communities until then…………..). In 2021 grind analysis found Bogong Moth residue, making this the earliest stone artefact with evidence of insect food remains. And in addition to that recent 2017 research in the area investigated Holocene occupation with Aboriginal community members, with a focus on understanding the interaction of spirituality with the resources found in the caves.

3. Mabuyag Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland (Torres Strait Islander)

Mabuyag Island (alternatively known as Mabuiag or Mabuyaagi) has archaeological evidence of human occupation since 7300 years ago. The island is both associated with recent religious practices associated with he heavy processing of dugong remains, and totemic associations with these, which played a role in early 2000s into community lead and directed archaeological research into ritual and religious traditions and practices. In addition to this, Mabuyag is the location of the first archaeological excavations in Australia to find pre-colonial pottery fragments. The fragments at the two sites on the island were associated with Melanesian and Papua New Guinean pottery trade. The excavations relating to pottery on the island played an important role in our understanding of domestic and international trade in pre-colonial Australia, and also formed an influence for the recent excavations at Lizard Island, 300km south, which identified the first datable domestically made pottery technology found in Australia.

4. Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, NSW

Hyde Park Barracks is part of a collection of colonial heritage structures in Australia, relating to Australia’s time as a penal settlement. Hyde Park Barracks in particular were the location of the housing of convict men from 1819 to 1830, with the 1830s to 1840s also involving the site being a location of additional convict punishment, and the base for the Board of Assignment of Servants. Following on from a reduction of convicts to NSW in the 1840s, the Barracks became the Female Immigration Depot, and the Orphan Institution, later becoming the Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women.

This time period of women’s occupation provides some of the most interesting archaeological remains, as redevelopment and management of the site has found high rates of preservation within walls, and in areas below floorboards. This includes textiles and fabrics, papers, and other non-organic materials such as pipes (with their tobacco intact) stashed in what was once floor, wall, and ceiling cavities. Archaeological investigations in the area form one of the most detailed assemblages of artefacts relating to instituted women in the British Empire during the 19th century.

5. Notch Point, Western Australia (Multicultural heritage)

Notch Point is a site of varied and mixed archaeology, ranging from pre- and post- colonial period Aboriginal heritage, to diverse 19th century occupation of the region by Chinese, European, Malay, and Aboriginal peoples in association with pearling industries off the coast. In addition to this, the point is located on Dirk Hartog Island (otherwise known as Wirruwana), the site of the earliest European arrival in Western Australia in 1616, and contains archaeological evidence of both various early Dutch interactions with the island in 1616 and 1697, as well as French arrival in 1772, 1801, and 1818. Notch Point in particular also contains evidence of conflict between the predominantly Chinese population of the pearling industry, with white-Australian and European pearling masters, and pastoral agents. Its not a site that is widely discussed, but provides a fascinating overlay of the amount of varied cultural groups that can be present within Australia’s archaeological sites.

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Honourable mentions to:

Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes which should 100% be on this list, but also I feel like I talk about it ALL the time and I wanted to mention sites that I actually don’t see discussed a lot. Theyre super important for cultural reasons, for archaeological reasons, and also for their role the development of archaeology, Aboriginal community consultation, and the role its played in developing repatriation practices in modern Australia. I have multiple posts about them HERE

Budj Bin Eel Traps in Victoria (same reasons, I’ve definitely talked about them before).

Juukan Gorge (and its destruction, im still horrified)

Harrietville Chinese Mining Village

Strangway Strings and The Peake Afghan Cameleer sites

Recherche Bay in Tasmania, and its 1792 French settlement sites

Homebush Mill & Mission Hall in QLD and Beowa National Park sites containing South Sea Islander heritage

[noxsatvrn]

Wrekodara and the Sea Serpent.

Ink, watercolor & colored pencils on paper.

© noxsatvrn

The artwork depicts one scene from Serat Dewaruci, a narrative poem by Yasadipura I, the royal poet of Kasunanan Surakarta based on an even older text, Nawaruci, by a hindu priest Mpu Çiwamurti.

Wrekodara, also known by the name Bhima and Sena is a figure from the Hindu Epic Mahabharata. The 2nd eldest of the five Pandawa born ritualistically through the blessing of Lord Vayu, short-tempered yet kind and compassionate he's the strongest one among his siblings.

In the Pre-islamic Java, Wrekodara was adored by the common folk especially in the agriculture community as he was venerated as the symbol of masculinity and fertility, proven by many archaeological findings of ancient statues depicting Wrekodara. Traditions and myths surrounding Wrekodara persists to this day through the tradition of Wayang Kulit (Javanese shadow puppetry) telling stories about him during harvest festivals in several remote villages as well as the myth about the origin of a sacred spring near Dieng Highlands called Tuk Bima Lukar.

[blueiscoool]

Plant Remains Survived 3,000-Years on Bronze Age Bracelets

Rare remains of plants have been found on Bronze Age jewellery uncovered in the Highlands.

Archaeologists said the fibrous cords used to knot together bracelets had survived for about 3,000 years.

The ancient hoard, which appears to have been carefully buried, was found at a building site in Rosemarkie on the Black Isle where a Bronze Age village once stood.

It contained nine bronze bracelets and necklaces buried sometime around 1000 BC.

Guard Archaeology, working with Scottish Conservation Studio, carried out laboratory investigations of the discoveries.

Rachel Buckley, who led the work, said: "While there are other examples of hoards where it has been postulated that items were bound together due to their positioning, the vegetation in the Rosemarkie hoard has survived for approximately 3,000 years, proving that these artefacts were held together."

Archaeologists said the finds would help to improve knowledge of the lives, beliefs and deaths of Bronze Age people in the Highlands.

They also said it would add to what Guard Archaeologists have gleaned from another Bronze Age hoard they excavated in Carnoustie.

Iraia Arabaolaza, who is managing Guard Archaeology’s analyses, said there was interest around how the hoard was buried.

She said: "It would seem that the shallow pit was dug to the required length and depth to accommodate the items, before then being quickly backfilled.

"It may be that it was intended as temporary storage with the intention of recovering the hoard at some stage.

"The evidence from the surrounding settlement may reveal whether it was not just the hoard that was abandoned but the settlement as well."

The archaeological work was funded by developer Pat Munro (Alness) Ltd.

[scotianostra]

October 3rd 1594 saw the Battle of Glenlivet, George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, defeated a Royalist force under 7th Earl of Argyll.

The Battle of Glenlivet is significant as an example of the ongoing struggles within Scotland between Presbyterians and Catholics, which colours much of Scotland’s history after the Reformation, and the relentless efforts of the kirk to eliminate the Catholic faith from the country. It also highlights the complex nature of the relationships between Catholic and Protestant powers across Europe at this time. It is also significant as the first battle in the Highlands of Scotland where artillery appears to have played a part in the action, and archaeological evidence of this may well survive on the battlefield.

So was it was an all Scottish affair between the Catholic forces of George Gordon, 1st marquess of Huntly, and Frances Hay, 9th earl of Erroll, and the Protestant army of Archibald Campbell, 7th earl of Argyll., loyal to James VI.

Two years before Glenlivet, Huntly´s relationship with the King had been on a good footing, when he received a commission to apprehend James Stewart, the ´bonny´ Earl of Moray, and bring him to trial. However, Huntly was responsible for Moray´s death at Donibristle, in Fife, slashing him across the face with his sword and eliciting, allegedly, these last words from Moray; “Ye hae spoilt a better face than yer ain.”

Two years later, in 1594, Huntly was a ´Catholic rebel´. The perceived danger to Scotland was the distinct possibility of foreign support for the disenfranchised Catholics, through the intervention of Philip II of Spain. The decree of the 12th of November, 1593, by which Catholics were ordered to give up their faith or leave the Scotland, contributed to significant unrest and Huntly refused to comply.

The earls of Argyll and Atholl were commissioned with the Lieutenancy of the North to deal with rebel Catholics such as Huntly. This programme of suppression escalated into a campaign, led by Argyll, against Huntly and other rebel lords and clan allies. The two sides encountered one another on a hillside near Ben Rinnes, where Huntly had laid an ambush for Argyll as he climbed the hill. In the battle Huntly used his horse to great effect in the confined space of a pass and entirely routed Argyll´s troops. The king´s forces were unable to withstand the cavalry lances and were driven off the hill. During that panic-stricken retreat, they are said to have thrown their weapons into a small lochan, which became known as ´The Loch of the Swords´. According to one tradition a weeping Argyll was led from the field.

[southwest-pottery-bracket]

Preliminaries: War of the Utility Wares!

Most pottery you find in archaeological sites isn't painted. Most pottery is unslipped, undecorated utility ware - with the assumption that "utility" typically here means "cooking over a fire." Sometimes grain storage. Usually cooking, though.

It doesn't mean they can't be beautiful in their own right. And one of my friends is working on a dissertation which among other things argues that "surface treatments" like incising and corrugation should be considered "decoration" too, when usually in archaeology "decorated" means "painted." There were lots and lots and lots of types of utility wares. Some were plain. Some were gorgeous.

So this is a Preliminary Round - four different styles traditionally called utility ware will go up against each other... only two will move on to represent utility wares in the final bracket.

Vote for your favorite: More information about each is under the cut:

Corrugated

Mesa Verde Corrugated jars. Southern Colorado, AD 1100-1300.

There are SO many different types of corrugated pottery; if I listed them all we'd be here all day. However, they all have commonalities: They were primarily (though not exclusively) made in the Mogollon cultural region, primarily (though not exclusively) plain and unpainted, and primarily (though not exclusively) used for cooking.

In this region, potters don't use pottery wheels. Pots are hand-built, typically from coil-building: using many thin coils to build up the shape of the pot. For most pots, those coils are scraped smooth as they're still wet. But for corrugated pots, those coils are only scraped smooth on the inside. The outside coils are instead pressed using a tool or the potter's thumb to make a patterned, scaled, or woven texture. Corrugation, due to its association with cooking pots, is not typically considered "decoration" by archaeologists, but it creates beautiful and captivating patterns.

Micaceous

Micaceous Bowl with Etched Flowers. Made by Virginia Romero (Taos Pueblo, 1896-1998).

In northern New Mexico, there are golden-red clays with a lot of sparkly mica in them. The mica self-tempers the clay, and creates a lovely shimmering effect when you see the pots in person. There's evidence of polished micaceous pottery being made as early as the 1300s, but it really took off as a popular type of cooking ware in the 1500s-1600s. In this time, it was made primarily by norther Pueblos like Taos, Picuris, and Nambe, but was enthusiastically adopted by the Jicarilla Apache as well, who have strong social ties to those northern Pueblos. Cimarron Micaceous, the handled jar seen above the cut, is a 1600s Apache micaceous pottery style.

Micaceous pottery is still extremely popular with Native potters today. Some of it is as an art form, with many different experiments in structure and style, but some people still swear by cooking in these micaceous clay pots - beans just taste better when cooked in clay instead of metal!

Incised

Taos Incised jar sherd. Northern New Mexico, AD 1050-1300.

Incised ware is SO underappreciated. However I am also biased because for the past three or four summers I have worked on an archaeology project in the Taos area and we find so much of it.

Incised designs are carved into the wet clay. Usually, these are not painted. Incised pottery is very common on the Great Plains, but less so in the Southwest. The Northern Pueblos like Taos and Picuris, however, has long-standing interactions with Plains groups, trading corn and buffalo hides, holding market days together, Picuris and Taos people fleeing the Spanish invasion to live in Kansas with their Apache allies. This is also visible in the sharing of pottery styles in the northern Pueblos, where incised ware is common. Parallel lines that mimic corrugation, chevrons, and herringbone patterns are common.

Plain Smudged

Reserve Plain Smudged, Mogollon Highlands, AD 600-1250.

As I described in my pottery jargon post, "smudging" is a method of getting that shiny black interior during the firing stage. During firing, different levels of oxygen will cause the minerals in the clay to turn different colors. An oxidized environment (high oxygen) turns iron-rich clays red; a recducing atmosphere (restricted oxygen) plus an infusion of carbon turns them black. To smudge a pot, the inside is polished, and then in the firing pit is covered with ash and charcoal. This puts a lot of carbon on the surface, and blocks the oxygen from reaching it. When the pot comes out of the fire, the part that was covered in charcoal will be shiny black. This was another pottery style particularly popular in Mogollon areas.

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

Spearhead from Space tied with the Ark in Space, and The Mind of Evil tied with Frontier in Space. Everything from day 4 has been given a second chance across two tiebreak groups

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

The Highlanders

Synopsis

The time travellers arrive in Scotland just after the Battle of Culloden. The Second Doctor gains the trust of a small band of fleeing Jacobites by offering to tend to their wounded Laird, Colin McLaren. While Polly and the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, are away fetching water, he and the others are all captured by Redcoat troops commanded by Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Faceless Ones

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives at Gatwick Airport in July 1966. A great many young people have vanished, including Ben and Polly. With the help of Samantha Briggs, the sister of one of the missing youths, the Second Doctor and Jamie must uncover the plot of the Chameleons.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Tomb of the Cybermen

Synopsis

The TARDIS arrives on the planet Telos, where an Earth archaeological expedition led by Professor Parry is trying to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. With a lot of help from the Doctor, the archaeologists enter the tombs. There, one of the party, Klieg, reveals himself and his business partner, Kaftan, to be planning to revive the Cybermen.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Spearhead from Space

Synopsis

Forbidden to continue travelling the universe by his own people, the Time Lords, and exiled to Earth in the late 20th century, the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods accompanied by a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating the occurrence is the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short), an organisation which had previously been associated with the Doctor during the Cybermen's invasion.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Ambassadors of Death

Synopsis

The Third Doctor joins UNIT's investigation of the mystery surrounding Mars Probe 7. Space Control, headed by Professor Ralph Cornish, has had no contact with the astronauts on board since it started back from Mars seven months ago. Now the Recovery 7 rescue mission has run into similar difficulties.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Frontier in Space

Synopsis

The Third Doctor and Jo are caught in the escalating tension between planets Earth and Draconia and discover that the Master and the Daleks are secretly working to provoke the two into all-out war.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Synopsis

The Third Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find it has been evacuated because dinosaurs have appeared mysteriously. As the line between friends and enemies wavers, the Doctor soon discovers the dinosaurs are being brought to London via a time machine to further a plan to revert Earth back to a pre-technological "Golden Age"...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Monster of Peladon

Synopsis

The Doctor returns to Peladon, fifty years after his last visit, to find Queen Thalira, daughter of the late King Peladon, on the throne. A tense labour dispute between the Pel nobility and miners is worsened when apparitions of their deity Aggedor attack and kill several miners. The Galactic Federation desperately needs trisilicate for its war against Galaxy 5 and sends in brutal Ice Warrior troopers to ensure production. The Doctor soon discovers a devious plot at the heart of Aggedor's appearances...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Seeds of Doom

Synopsis

The TARDIS lands in a space museum on Earth in the late 21st century, where the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe learn that contact has been lost between Earth and the Moon. In this era, instant travel — T-Mat — has revolutionised the Earth. Its people have lost interest in space travel. The Doctor and his companions travel to the Moon in an old-style rocket and reach the Moonbase, control centre for T-Mat, only to find a squad of Ice Warriors have commandeered the base and plan to use the T-Mat network to their advantage.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[nosasblog]

Skeletons under the Floorboards: A Multiple Iron Age  Burial in Applecross

by Cathy Dagg The Background In July of 2015 workmen renovating an old house in Applecross reported finding a human skull under the kitchen floor. They had, apparently, found other bones and thinking them to be animal, chucked them out. The skull initially looked like a cobble, similar to the cobbles that made the former storm beach that the house had been built on, but when it proved to be…

[pureclassics]

𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙎 (𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙏𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿)

[troutfur]

top five rocks !!

5. Serpentine! A green metamorphic rock coming mostly in shades of green. Often serves as imitation jade.

4. Geodes! Like Kinder eggs but the surprise is really cool crystals inside. They're neat.

3. Limestone! Buncha dead sea animals made into a rock. What they made the Egyptian pyramids out of (mostly, the most famous ones at least). This material also forms the bedrock of the Guatenalan lowlands and the Yucatan peninsula, making for very poor farmland. Requires some real engineering prowess to live there, which is why after the ecological collapse of the Late Classic the region was very sparsely populated outside the coast up until the chewing gum and rubber trade industrialized.

2. Obsidian! A volcanic glass that results from rapid cooling of lava. Can be quite sharp. The highlands of Guatemala where I'm from are a pretty volcanic area and since I was a kid I have picked many up. My collection is quite impressive. Most recent additions are from my trip to El Chayal (literally "the broken glass place" after all the obsidian strewn about, just walking through there sounds like constantly stepping on broken glass). One day I'd like to visit the obsidian source in Pachuca, Mexico, famous for its distinctive green obsidian which when found in archaeological digs is a sure sign of commercial activity with Central Mexico.

1. JADE! 8 on Moh's hardness scale. Comes in a lovely assortment of shades of green, including a very deep green that is my favorite, but also very unique lilac shades found only on the Motagua River source here in Guatemala. Beloved from Mesoamerica to East Asia. I have a jade pendant I carved myself and it's a treasured possession of mine (it was an activity at the jade museum in Antigua Guatemala, not as cool as it initially sounds hahah). Fun fact: what is commonly known as jade is actually 2 minerals, jadeite (found in the Motagua source and in Japan) and nefrite (Chinese jade).

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I am absolutely stuck on the dynamic between Brighid, Arthur, Alfred, and Jack rn. They're both Arthur's sons, but Jack was hers to raise first and she contributed to Alfred's upbringing too, and they may as well be hers with all the people they're getting from her, and that's happening because of Arthur's policies. And Arthur, for his part, parents them based on vague memories of his mother - but you've said a lot of those are actually Brighid.

Point of all that being, would you mind expanding on the early part of Arthur and Brighid's relationship, before he became a colonizing shithead? What are these memories with her that he's attributing to their mother? How did that relationship influence his parenting (both the things that he's aware were Brighid and the things that he thinks were mum but were actually Brighid?)

Okay so just to preface this so no one starts reading this like they do my more modern things where I can usually have a basis in fairly accepted and confirmable fact, we’re going so far back that not only is this not chronologically accurate, its only archaeologically plausible. This is the literary version of saying, "it's for ceremonial purposes” on the label of an artefact anyone with courage would call a prehistoric bong. There’s a big trend for “History of X in 100 Objects” right now. In my personal collection is a 'History of Ireland in 100 objects.' I’m not saying this is accurate or realistic. However, it is based on historical themes that lend themselves to what is ultimately a historical fantasy as plausible as I can write it. That said, let's crack this can of fuckery.

So, to start out, this is all pre-1066, which is when, after the Norman invasions of England, Wales, and and Southern Scotland, the history of the British in Ireland begins. Before that, we’re talking about a world where Irish raiders are a menace on the Welsh coast, and the Dál Riada is the result of an Irish migration, where the peoples on the Irish Coast brought Gaelic culture and eventually merged with and overtook the Pictish culture already occupying the area. The balance of power is very different in this world. This is not the 18th and 19th century when Brighid is firmly under the heel of a British jackboot and even when the British government was willing to concede slightly on empire, the British army nearly revolted when it was even considered to maybe, perhaps, rein in unionist violence in nineteen-fourteen just months shy of WW1. Winston Churchill was also behind that, in case you need more reasons why he's an allmighty cunt.

I give them all Celtic roots. Brighid is probably 300-500 years older than Alasdair, and then political solidification in Wales brought Rhys along and then Arthur as the reorganization of Celtic Britons in Roman Britain. This might be a hot take, but while the Anglo-Saxon ‘invasion’ in the 400s-500s brought Germanic rule and language to England, the Cumbrians and other Celts were not wiped out. Mostly it's a cultural shift. So he’s born as much a Celt as his siblings and experiences dramatic changes earlier in his life than they do. However, if you get to the root of English culture under all of the bullshit of empire and all the German royalty who built up their legitimacy by reviving Anglo-Saxon memory, history has more Celtic elements than someone might think.

In Northern England, Southern Scotland, Eastern Ireland, and the maritime fringes of Wales, there was an Iron Age tribe by the name of the Brigantes, whose name was taken from the northern goddess Brigantia, which means either ‘the exalted’ or ‘highlanders.’ Either way works for me because it is the root word of Brighid’s name, the Welsh word for prestige, honour, dignity and power, all things connected to fire, power and elevation. As all modern knowledge of her comes from 8 inscriptions and some statuary material, and her name is so goddamn appropriate, I’m running with it. It’s so close to Brittania. According to Strabo, writing about a now-lost account of a Greek sailor and explorer Pytheas, it comes from a feminine name likely from the Celts itself.

In the tradition of Catholic patron saints of specific places, Brigantia seems to have been a goddess associated with lakes, rivers, and coastlines. Saint Brighid, from the same name base, is the patron saint of Ireland, bastard children, babies, children, midwives, sailors and poets. Me, hitting a bong in 2021; yeah, that sounds like mother and daughter to me. Eirian, whose name is a version of the Welsh name for King Arthur’s mother because I’m ✨original✨ ruled her own kingdom directly. She was a queen regnant in a culture that saw that crop up often. She was a product of the Iron Age, a warrior culture where swords and a hierarchy of militancy ruled society. Brighid was her firstborn child, and very much her mother’s daughter, sharing that long, beautiful hibernian gold (think rose gold) hair down to her waist. She was tall and gorgeous, with a head for politics as well as martial talent, but Eirian was as much a goddess of the hearth as the sea and war; she still took her tributes in blood, and treasure. She ruled directly with iron and faith.

Brighid, however, while just as capable of that, had a personality that found early Christianity very appealing. It’s hard for us to imagine now, but 1,500-2,000 years ago, Christianity was, in many ways, a much gentler religion than some flavours of what we now call paganism. And while just as capable at every aspect of ruling as her mother, I do think Brighid has aspects to her personality that were kinder, a bit softer. She was an artist in the scriptoriums, a weaver, all these things in her golden age. And she was grown, or near it, by the time Arthur came along. And the gentlest things he remembers about his mother are usually Brighid. An image of a woman weaving, red hair pouring down her back as her fingers fly over the shuttle and her feet work the treadles. That is Brighid. Another of a woman’s elegant and quick fingers on the spindle, fitting the handle into a clumsy child’s hands, laughing when he gets frustrated. Also Brighid. Picking him up and giving him a raspberry even when he kicks to be let down because he wants to run everywhere, is also Brighid. Teaching him to put his knife into the kidney because he’s young, and that's the highest he can reach? That’s his mother. The two images, his powerful mother and his bright sister swirl together when Arthur gets into a strange mood.

He'll yammer away in Cumbrian and hum the tune of the songs who's words he cant remember. When she died in the 5th or 6th century, they scattered as their various regions expanded and solidified linguistically as Common Bythronic became Welsh, Gaelic, and Cumbrian (Scotland’s native Celtic language is actually extinct, replaced by Irish Gaelic in late antiquity.) England imploded under the pressure of the Germanic migrations, so I picture Arthur kind of wandering through his numerous kingdoms most of the year. Brighid may have, too. It was common for high-status people to go on progress and stay with the nobility from time to time in various European societies. However, I can also see her with her own mini-kingdom inside the Gaelic system of ranking kings, over kings and high kings. Arthur would usually spend the winter with one of his siblings. Usually Rhys, but he would have been welcome with Brighid for a long time, even as the wee cuckoo, half-German bastard that he was. He may have even lived with her for long periods. But once, she was power, and once she loved him and once he wasn't the cause of all the horror of her years. It was a different world before the Vikings came.

[ivandurak]

Both oral traditions and archaeology suggest that warfare was rife in the sierra from Ecuador to Argentina after ad 1200 or a bit later. Many communities settled on the peaks in protected villages well above the best farmlands. Some of the most powerful societies of the time, including the Lupaqa and Qolla, lived around Lake Titicaca. In the early Colonial era, they called their pre-Inca rulers kings, but they do not seem to have attained a state level of organization. Instead, the region’s societies seem to have lived in considerable instability, in which local conflict played a major role in both begetting chiefly alliances and fracturing polities (Arkush 2011). Radiocarbon dates suggest that the settlement pattern shifted radically about ad 1300, which may have been a result of a significant growth in conflict among neighboring communities (Arkush 2011). Groups living in the populous Peruvian sierra, such as the Wankas, lived in towns that contained as many as 4,500 densely packed circular houses and may have housed 10,000 or more people. Significantly, the shift to defensively situated communities occurred about the same time in that region as had occurred in the Titicaca area, suggesting that similar processes were in play in both areas (D’Altroy et al. 2001). In the south Andes, the largest towns contained a few thousand people, but regional polities still held no more than 20,000.

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Linguists have recently arrived at the view that the Incas may have adopted Quechua for imperial rule precisely because it was already widespread. Before then, the Incas spoke one or two other languages, most likely Aymara and possibly Puquina.

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The language that the Incas used to administer their domain is commonly known today as Southern Peruvian Quechua, but its speakers knew it as runasimi, or human speech.

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The term Quechua itself was probably imposed early in the Colonial period by Spaniards who mistook the word qheswa (valley) in the phrase qheswa simi (valley speech) for the name of the language (Mannheim 1991).

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Quechua was entrenched by 1532 as the language in which all official business was supposed to be conducted.

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the home region of Quechua lay along the central Peruvian coast (figure 2.6a). The language had split into two major branches and was already widely distributed in the highlands at least five centuries before the Inca rise to power. The variant that the Incas adopted appears to have been Chincha Quechua. Its roots lay on the south-central coast, but it was used in parts of the Andes from Ecuador to south Peru (Adelaar and Muysken 2004). The Incas’ major contribution to the geographic spread of this form of Quechua was in the south Andes, and even some of that distribution can be attributed to Spanish Colonial practices (DeMarrais 2012).

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Drawing from historical linguistic and toponymic (place-name) evidence, some linguists suggest that the Incas probably spoke Aymara well into the early imperial era, since that was the language of the southern Peruvian highlands in late prehistory and Aymara place-names are even found as far north as the central Peruvian highlands (Adelaar and Muysken 2004; Cerrón-Palomino 2004, 2008; Heggarty and Beresford-Jones 2012; figure 2.6b). Quechua and Aymara speakers apparently interacted a great deal, to the extent that the two languages now overlap about 30 percent (e.g., in lexicons)

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The leading Andean linguist today, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino (2012), suggests that the shift may have occurred as late as the rule of Wayna Qhapaq, that is, no more than three or four decades before the Spaniards’ arrival, because its widespread use in the lands to the north made it an effective sociopolitical tool. Intriguingly, a few chroniclers (e.g., Garcilaso, Murúa) reported that the Incas maintained a secret language that only they were allowed to learn. Many scholars have dismissed that idea as fancy, but those who accept its existence have settled on Aymara or Puquina as the most likely candidates.

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key Inca terms for sacred places (the capital qusqu, lake Titicaca) or beings (e.g., the Sun deity Inti) arguably have Puquina origins or were filtered through mixed Aymara–Puquina structures (Cerrón-Palomino 2004, 2012).

Terence D'Altroy. The Incas. Second edition.

[dreamingbrownie]

Summary:

“Male remains of a high-status warrior uncovered at Roman fort near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire… believed to be legendary King Arthur.” Albus bowed over the table like a man punched into the gut. “No. It can't – This is not him. Merlin shoved Arthur so far into that godsforsaken lake with Avalon waiting on the other side, they could drain the whole thing and find nothing but wet soil under the murky water. And Yorkshire, that’s- That’s too far north.“ “Is it?” Gellert asked, very gently, covering Albus’ left hand with his own. There was something terribly afraid in his eyes, something as familiar as the howling rainstorms and the feeling of his magic washing over the splinters which Albus got into his fingertips. “How long did we take to ride as far north as we could before stumbling over that druid village? Three weeks, at most? It wasn’t a full moon’s turn. Had Camelot been any further south, we would have taken months to reach the Highlands.”

Immortal Grindeldore, Camelot AU, second installation. Y'all seemed to like the previous brainworm of mine in which I placed these two in Camelot during King Arthur's reign, so here I am, taking this idea all the way into the 1940s when the search for Camelot really kicked off with the onset of modern archaeology. Sorry for the painfest, happy belated Samhain!