The Mote of Mark: A Dark Age Hillfort in South-west ScotlandThe Mote of Mark is a low boss of granite rising from forty-five metres above the eastern shore of Rough Firth, where the Urr Water enters the Solway, between the villages of Kippford and Rockcliffe. The summit comprises a central hollow between two raised areas of rock and was formerly defended by a stone and timber rampart enclosing one third of an acre. The Mote of Mark appears to have first attracted the attention of antiquaries in the late eighteenth century, and first assumed national importance with Alexander Curle's major work in 1913. After the interruption of the First World War, the site was left largely alone until it was re-excavated in the 1970s. These excavations, in 1973 and '79 were designed to answer three specific questions: How many phases of activity are represented in the structural history of the defences? How many phases of activity are represented by the evidence for Early Medieval metalworking and occupation? And, how does the evidence of occupation within the defences relate to the structural history of the defences? This book presents the results of the excavations and their interpretation within the framework of these questions. |
Contents
The stratigraphic evidence of the 1973 and 1979 excavations | 6 |
Metalworking evidence | 25 |
4 | 50 |
Copyright | |
7 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
1913 assemblage 1913 excavation curv Alcock Anglian Anglo-Saxon England artefacts assemblage Site context backfill of earlier bead Body sherd boss Britain brooches buckles buff Core buff Outer face Campbell cantref Celtic central hollow circular clay Context group contexts Site context crannog crucible Curle curvilinear diameter Dinas Powys disturbance of latest Dunadd earlier contexts earlier excavations early Medieval evidence example excavations Site context face casting face glass grey Core grey Outer face ingate Inner face casting Inner face/casting face Ireland iron known Dimension rating Lagore late occupation post-dating latest occupation material metalworking Mote of Mark north rampart objects occupation post-dating rampart panel pellet penannular brooch pieces possible late occupation post-dating rampart slighting pottery Primary valve rectangular represented Rheged Roman roundel Scotland Secondary valve seventh century shank sherd sixth century slag slighting Site context stone suggested surface Sutton Hoo topsoil Site context Urien vessel vitrified ware Whithorn