|
A broch () is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic Roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. The theory that they were defensive military structures (an Iron Age equivalent to the castles and tower houses of medieval Scotland) is not accepted by many modern archaeologists (see the 'general references' below), while the alternative notion that they were farmhouses is dismissed by some others. Although most stand alone in the landscape, some examples exist of brochs surrounded by clusters of smaller dwellings. ==Origin and definition== The word ''broch'' is derived from Lowland Scots 'brough', meaning (among other things) fort. In the mid-19th century Scottish antiquaries called brochs 'burgs', after Old Norse ''borg'', with the same meaning. Place names in Scandinavian Scotland such as Burgawater and Burgan show that Old Norse ''borg'' is the older word used for these structures in the north. Brochs are often referred to as 'duns' in the west. Antiquaries began to use the spelling 'broch' in the 1870s. A precise definition for the word has proved elusive. Brochs are the most spectacular of a complex class of roundhouse buildings found throughout Atlantic Scotland. The Shetland Amenity Trust lists about 120 sites in Shetland as candidate brochs, while the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) identifies a total of 571 candidate broch sites throughout the country. Researcher Euan MacKie has proposed a much smaller total for Scotland of 104.〔Armit (2003) p. 16.〕 The origin of brochs is a subject of continuing research. Sixty years ago most archaeologists believed that brochs, usually regarded as the 'castles' of Iron Age chieftains, were built by immigrants who had been pushed northward after being displaced first by the intrusions of Belgic tribes into what is now southeast England at the end of the second century BC and later by the Roman invasion of southern Britain beginning in AD 43. Yet there is now little doubt that the hollow-walled broch tower was purely an invention from what is now Scotland; even the kinds of pottery found inside them that most resembled south British styles were local hybrid forms. The first of the modern review articles on the subject (MacKie 1965)〔MacKie, E. W. (1965) 'The origin and development of the broch and wheelhouse building cultures of the Scottish Iron Age'. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 31, pages 93-146.〕 did not, as is commonly believed, propose that brochs were built by immigrants, but rather that a hybrid culture formed from the blending of a small number of immigrants with the native population of the Hebrides produced them in the first century BC, basing them on earlier, simpler, promontory forts. This view contrasted, for example, with that of Sir Lindsay Scott, who argued,〔Scott, Sir Lindsay (1947), ‘The problem of the brochs’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 13, pages 1-36.〕 following Childe (1935),〔Childe, V. G. (1935) ''The Prehistory of Scotland''. London.〕 for a wholesale migration into Atlantic Scotland of people from southwest England. MacKie's theory has fallen from favour too, mainly because starting in the 1970s there was a general move in archaeology away from 'diffusionist' explanations towards those pointing to exclusively indigenous development. Meanwhile, the increasing number – albeit still pitifully few – of radiocarbon dates for the primary use of brochs (as opposed to their later, secondary use) still suggests that most of the towers were built in the 1st centuries BC and AD.〔Parker Pearson, M. & Sharples, N. ''et al.'' (1999) ''Between land and sea: excavations at Dun Vulan, South Uist''. Sheffield.〕 A few may be earlier, notably the one proposed for Old Scatness Broch in Shetland, where a sheep bone dating to 390–200 BC has been reported.〔Dockrill, S. J., Outram, Z. and Batt, C. M. (2006) Time and place: a new chronology for the origin of the broch based on the scientific dating programme at the Old Scatness Broch, Shetland, ''PSAS'', v. 136, p. 89-110, ISSN 0081-1564〕 The other broch claimed to be substantially older than the 1st century BC is Crosskirk in Caithness, but a recent review of the evidence suggests that it cannot plausibly be assigned a date earlier than the 1st centuries BC/AD〔MacKie, E. W. (2007) ''The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 BC - AD 500: architecture and material culture. Part 2 The Mainland and the Western Islands''. British Archaeological Reports British Series. Oxford.〕〔For the C14 dates for the Shetland sites see (Shetland Amenity Trust ) Retrieved 14 August 2007.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Broch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|