Building for the future — learning from the past
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WHEN it came to finding the perfect place to live, it seemed Bronze Age man and woman could have done worse than to settle in the Inverness area, according to archaeologist Nick Garry.
Not only did the coastline and rivers offer good access routes for the area’s residents, they also enjoyed an amenable climate.
Slackbuie — close to where the Asda supermarket is being built — was particularly desirable for inhabitants up to 4000 years ago.
"It was all about location, location, location," says Mr Garry. "If you go up the hill there, you can see everything to the north. It is an amazing site with amazing geography."
There is already well-documented evidence from previous archaeological excavations indicating early human activity at both Slackbuie and nearby Culduthel which was a bustling pre-historic industrial estate of epic proportions.
But further information has come to light following a dig at the Asda supermarket site which was carried out as a condition of planning permission.
Archaeologists last year uncovered a Bronze Age burial site, featuring cremation pits surrounded by a ring ditch, while hundreds of flint flakes were discovered in a nearby field.
Pieces of Neolithic pottery known as Unstan Ware were also discovered during the digs led by Mr Garry of Edinburgh-based NG Archaeology Services.
Although the evaluation work is still continuing and a full report has yet to be compiled, Mr Garry will talk about the excavation during a two-day conference at Eden Court on 15th and 16th October.
The event, which is being held as part of the month-long Highland Archaeology Festival, will feature speakers covering a diverse range of subjects, including Inverness’s past.
Mr Garry believes that the area would have boasted a sizeable population during the Bronze Age partly due to its strategic location. Inverness was at the junction for people travelling along the Great Glen, the Moray Firth, or even from further north such as Orkney.
"People in the Bronze Age travelled hugely," said Mr Garry. "People would go hundreds of miles quite easily.
"They were not living in very tight communities with no communication. It was a very cosmopolitan place. There would have been hundreds of people living in the area, there is no doubt about it."
Highland Council’s archaeologist Andrew Puls agrees. "The river was very important — in pre-history it was the main way of getting around rather than overland," he said.
"Inverness, being where it is, was in a really good spot for communication by sea or river.
"There were good defence possibilities as well. Craig Phadrig, for instance, was an Iron Age fort. You could see from where people were coming from a long way.
"The area also had a good climate. In pre-historic times, there would have been higher temperatures than we have today."
Mr Puls maintains there is growing interest in the area’s rich archaeology.
"There has always been a considerable interest," he said.
"Inverness is one of those places where there have been people since pre-history.
"When anyone digs a hole in Inverness, very often it throws up a significant find."
As the city continues to grow and extend its boundaries, so new developments are offering further opportunities to discover more about the past.
It is usually a condition of planning permission in potentially archaeologically-sensitive areas that surveys are carried out before work goes ahead.
Excavations led by the AOC Archaeology Group on the site of the proposed new Inverness Campus on the city’s eastern outskirts have revealed evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlements, for example.
Archaeologists working at the Beechwood site, which is being developed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, recorded the remains of timber-built roundhouses and crop marks and also uncovered fragments of prehistoric pottery, including Neolithic grooved ware.
Laboratory tests are continuing on soil samples and other materials from the site which will ultimately reveal more information.
Although Beechwood threw up few artefacts, the discoveries are significant.
"Beechwood is important in that it tells us more about the settlement patterns of Inverness," Mr Puls said.
"It is part of the bigger picture. The east side of Inverness has a lot of prehistoric settlements.
"At the Tesco site, for example, there were burial mounds some of which were of national importance."
While it might seem frustrating to see such archaeological sites subsequently built over and buried forever, Mr Puls remains philosophical.
"It is part of the nature of what we do," he reflected. "It is development-led archaeology. If these sites were not being developed, we would not have found out about the archaeology.
"If things are left in the ground and not disturbed, we would not find them and our knowledge would not progress. These things are being preserved by record."
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To find out what is going on during the festival visit www.highlandcouncil.org.uk
