A Rectilinear Post-Built Structure, Roman Field Ovens, and Prehistoric Settlement, Perth and Kinross

CFA Archaeolgy
Oct 1, 2023
2 min read

Updated: 2d

CFA published an article entitled A rectilinear post-built structure, Roman field ovens and prehistoric settlement at Alyth Substation, Haughend, Perth and Kinross, written by Magnus Kirby with contributions by Diane Alldritt, Angela Boyle, and Ann Clarke, in the October 2023 Volume 29 of the Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal. This site, excavated in 2021, featured a roundhouse, a series of ovens, and a semi-rectangular post-built structure.

The excavations carried out at Haughend identified three distinct periods of activity within the area spanning either: the period from the earliest farmers through to the coming of Rome, or from early metallurgy through to the end of the Viking period - depending on how the rectilinear post-built structure is interpreted.

Evidence of Late Bronze Age settlement consisted of a single roundhouse, and there was some tentative evidence to suggest that a small pit grouping a short distance from the roundhouse was a contemporary cemetery.

Overview of an excavated roundhouse within a large archaeological excavation.

Next, the site included an early Roman ditch which may have belonged to a temporary camp and which was associated with nearly twenty field ovens. These ovens are amongst the earliest features in Scotland which can be tied in with recorded historic events and are most likely to date to the Agricolan campaign of 79–84 AD and might represent an earlier temporary camp located directly opposite its counterpart from the Severan campaign of 208–211 AD (Cardean Temporary Roman Camp). These ovens would have been used to cook cereal grain to feed Roman soldiers at the camp, and they show a glimpse of the domesticity associated with, and often forgotten about, Romano-British military campaigns.

The biggest conundrum from this site turned out to be the interpretation of the rectilinear post-built structure. Initially interpreted as Neolithic, based on a combination of its monumental size, wooden post construction, and the recovery of a flint scraper and hammerstone, the radiocarbon dates suggested that it belonged to the medieval period. Viewed as a single structure, the nearest parallel from the medieval period was the Norse longhouse of Scandinavia; when viewed as an alignment of separate structures, however, it would better fit with a tradition of timber building in England and Southern Scotland. Some tentative evidence also exists that the turf and stone longhouses of the Pitcarmick-type building tradition may have had timber structural elements which left negative features, such as those excavated here. If so, this is an exciting example of a somewhat unknown type of longhouse and adds significantly to our understanding of the local and surrounding areas.