The Iron Age
The Iron Age in South-West Scotland - the period when
metalworking technology advanced to allow production of weapons and
tools in iron - began around 700 B.C. and includes the brief
periods when Scotland was incorporated into Roman Britain in the
1st and 2nd centuries A.D.. Archaeologists and historians give an
arbitrary end date for the Iron Age at A.D. 400 - the abandonment
of Britain by the Romans - but in reality, in Scotland there was
little social and economic change between late Iron Age society and
Early Historic society which followed from the 5th century.
Scotland- like the rest of North-West Europe before the Romans -
was a Celtic warrior society with tribal territories in the
Lowlands and Highlands. Language was the only common denominator
between the Celtic peoples, who shared some aspects of their
cultures but differed in others. Ptolemy's Geography, written
around 140 A.D. gives the names of the tribes which occupied
South-West Scotland. Much of present-day Dumfries and Galloway was
occupied by people of the Novantae tribe. To the east in the
Borders, but perhaps also in eastern Dumfriesshire, were the
Selgovae people. In Ayrshire and north to the Clyde were the
Damnonii or Dumnonii. It is believed that all spoke a common
P-Celtic or Britonnic language, which is the root of the
present-day Welsh, and also Manx, Cornish and Breton. There are a
several surviving Britonnic place names in Galloway, such as
'Threave' and 'Terregles' both including the word 'tref', meaning a
farmstead.
South-West Scotland was largely cleared of forest before the
Iron Age, and the people lived in small settlements, and practised
a mixed agricultural economy, growing a form of barley and raising
cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The high standard of metal goods
found in Galloway indicates a wealthy society, which may have been
based on the exploitation of its copper resources. There is
possibly an early mining site at Tonderghie, near Whithorn, and
mining tools and ingots have been found at Barhullion near Port
William.
Most families lived in timber, wattle and stone round houses,
varying in diameter from 6m - 15m., which might have provided
accommodation for an extended family. Round houses might be
clustered together and enclosed for example as at Rispain Camp in
Wigtownshire. In South-West Scotland in particular, round houses
were built on artificial platforms in lochs. These are called
'crannogs', and there are many examples known in Ayrshire and
Galloway, for example at Lochlee near Tarbolton, or Dowalton in
Wigtownshire. Dating evidence from excavated crannogs suggests that
this form of settlement was current throughout the Iron Age period.
Lochs and bogs appear to have been of religious or ritual
significance during the Iron Age, for high value metal goods have
been recovered from them, which appear to have been deposited as an
ritual offering. This includes the Carlingwark hoard deposited in a
cauldron in Carlingwark Loch near Castle Douglas around A.D. 100
which included a quantity of Roman military and Iron Age native
metalwork. The Torrs pony cap, dating to around 200 BC, and found
in a bog at Torrs, near Castle Douglas, is another example. Both
finds are displayed in the National Museum of Scotland,
Edinburgh.
Hill forts are more common in Dumfriesshire and
Kirkcudbrightshire than in Wigtownshire. Once thought to be the
strongholds of a tribal elite, they may be thought of as hill-top
villages, containing numbers of round houses. Included in this
group are small promontory forts found along the coastline of
South-West Scotland. The fort at Burnswark, Dumfriesshire was one
of the largest of these. In the west of Galloway are examples of
stone built brochs (large towers) and duns (small, substantial
stone walled houses or forts). These types of structure are more
commonly found in the North and West of Scotland, and therefore
indicate the spread of building customs down the west coast and
into Galloway. This, and the distribution of certain artefacts,
suggests an East-West cultural boundary between the Rivers Cree and
Fleet.
The Iron Age warrior was armed with a long sword, a shield and a
spear. Chariots were also used in warfare, or for ostentatious
display. Two near-identical horse harness guides or terrets were
found recently but separately in Crossmichael parish, just north of
Castle Douglas. When these are considered with other high value
Iron Age objects found nearby, for example the Carlingwark hoard,
the Torrs pony cap and the mirror from Balmaclellan, it may be
suggested that the area of the Dee valley around present day Castle
Douglas was of particular social and economic importance. It was
perhaps a tribal focus for the Novantae. This may have determined
the Roman Army to site a major Roman fort at the river crossing of
the Dee at Glenlochar, just north of Castle Douglas.