A Powerful Place of Pictland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Power Centre of the 4th to 6th Centuriesad

Abstract

Our understanding of the nature of late and post-Roman central places of northern Britain has been limited by the lack of historical sources and the limited scale of archaeological investigation. New work at Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland has begun to redress this through extensive excavation and landscape survey that has begun to reveal the character of a Pictish central place of the 4th to 6th centuries AD that has European connections through material culture, iconography and site character. In addition to reviewing the place-name and historical context the article outlines preliminary reflections on five seasons of excavation and survey in the Rhynie landscape that are brought together for the first time.The article also provides a detailed consideration of chronology including radiocarbon dating and Bayesian statistical analysis. The results reveal the multi-faceted nature of a major nonhillfort elite complex of Pictland that included a series of enclosures, timber buildings and a cemetery. The evidence from Rhynie provides a rich dataset for a new consideration of elite centres of early medieval northern Britain with wider implications for the nature of power centres in late and post-Roman Europe.

Warrior ideologies in first-millennium AD Europe: new light on monumental warrior stelae from Scotland

“…These were excavated in 2013, revealing two adjacent square barrows (Figure 8), one containing a partially preserved skeleton. Noble et al (2019) radiocarbon-dated the buried individual to cal AD 420–570 (SUERC-52935 1559±30 BP; MAMS-21252 1602±21 BP; 95% probability). The larger square enclosures were not burial monuments; they have been interpreted as playing a role during funerary ceremonies held at a major cemetery (Noble et al 2019: 73).…”

“…Noble et al (2019) radiocarbon-dated the buried individual to cal AD 420–570 (SUERC-52935 1559±30 BP; MAMS-21252 1602±21 BP; 95% probability). The larger square enclosures were not burial monuments; they have been interpreted as playing a role during funerary ceremonies held at a major cemetery (Noble et al 2019: 73). The enclosures resemble monuments found at other high-status Pictish sites and are also similar to a type of enclosure found in association with some Anglo-Saxon cemeteries (Blair 1995; Mitchell & Noble 2017: 17; Campbell et al 2019: 90–91).…”

“…The cemeteries at Rhynie and Newton of Collessie are of a form closely dated to the fifth to early seventh centuries cal AD (Maldonado 2013: 6; Mitchell & Noble 2017: fig 15). More specifically, one of the square barrows at Rhynie has been directly dated to the fifth or early sixth century AD (Noble et al 2019).…”

“…Hall 2013: 104; Noble et al . 2013: 1147, 2019: 87). Given the dating evidence outlined above, Roman inspiration for the martial motifs is possible.…”

“…While there are examples of axe-wielding figures, including Rhynie (stone 7), Mail and Papil, Shetland, Golspie, Sutherland, and Glamis, Angus, these again differ from the spear-bearing figures, and perhaps signal yet another kind of status or societal role for these figures (Fraser 2008: 54, 98, 130–33; see discussion in Hall 2013: 104; Noble et al . 2013: 1147, 2019).…”