Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or further afield, but focusing on this particular geographical area sheds light on the origin of the widespread remains and monuments in Scotland, and on the background to the history of Scotland.
The Tumulus culture was the dominant material culture in Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age.
Edin's Hall Broch is a 2nd-century broch near Duns in the Borders of Scotland. It is one of very few brochs found in southern Scotland. It is roughly 28 metres in diameter.
The Atlantic Bronze Age is a term that has never been formally defined. Some take its meaning to be a label for the period spanning approximately 1300–700 BC in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain; that is, the Atlantic coast of Europe. Others assign it to a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period in prehistoric Europe that is defined by the culture prevalent at this time and location.
Adabrock, is a village in the area of Ness, Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Adabrock is within the parish of Barvas, and is situated on the B8015 between Lionel and Eorodale. It is at the northern tip of Lewis, south-west of Port of Ness.
A gold lunula was a distinctive type of late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and—most often—early Bronze Age necklace, collar, or pectoral shaped like a crescent moon. Most are from Prehistoric Ireland. They are normally flat and thin, with roundish spatulate terminals that are often twisted to 45 to 90 degrees from the plane of the body. Gold lunulae fall into three distinct groups, termed Classical, Unaccomplished and Provincial by archaeologists. Most have been found in Ireland, but there are moderate numbers in other parts of Europe as well, from Great Britain to areas of the continent fairly near the Atlantic coasts. Although no lunula has been directly dated, from associations with other artefacts it is thought they were being made sometime in the period between 2400 and 2000 BC; a wooden box associated with one Irish find has recently given a radiocarbon dating range of 2460–2040 BC.
Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from c. 2500–2000 BC until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. Being categorised as the Bronze Age, it was marked by the use of copper and then bronze by the prehistoric Britons, who used such metals to fashion tools. Great Britain in the Bronze Age also saw the widespread adoption of agriculture.
The Mold gold cape is a ceremonial cape of solid sheet-gold from Wales dating from about 1900–1600 BCE in the British Bronze Age. It was found at Bryn yr Ellyllon burial mound near Mold, Flintshire in 1833.
This timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland. Prehistory in Scotland ends with the arrival of the Romans in southern Scotland in the 1st century AD and the beginning of written records. The archaeological sites and events listed are the earliest examples or among the most notable of their type.
South Dell is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the community of Ness, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. South Dell is within the parish of Barvas, and is situated alongside the A857. The Dell River separates South and North Dell. The artists David Greenall and Ruth O'Dell live in South Dell.
The Galloway Hoard, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland, is a hoard of more than 100 gold, silver, glass, crystal, stone, and earthen objects from the Viking Age discovered in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland in September 2014. Found on Church of Scotland land, the hoard has been described by experts as "one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland". With years of extensive study and research, scholars are still not certain who buried the hoard, why they did so and whether they were Vikings or Anglo-Saxons. During the Viking Age, Galloway found itself squeezed between two Viking kingdoms and essentially cut off from other Anglo-Saxons in Britain - "Galloway is where these different cultures were meeting. It’s not just Scandinavians, but people from Britain and Ireland as well."
The Dowris Hoard is the name of an important Bronze Age hoard of over 200 objects found in Dowris, County Offaly, Ireland. Items from the deposit are currently split between two institutions: the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin and the British Museum in London.
Cecily Margaret Guido,, also known as Peggy Piggott, was an English archaeologist, prehistorian, and finds specialist. Her career in British archaeology spanned sixty years, and she is recognised for her field methods, her field-leading research into prehistoric settlements, burial traditions, and artefact studies, as well as her high-quality and rapid publication, contributing more than 50 articles and books to her field between the 1930s and 1990s.
The Horsehope or Horse Hope Craig Hoard is a Bronze Age hoard found in Scotland in 1864.
The Heights of Brae hoard is a group of at least eleven Bronze Age gold ornaments, currently held in the National Museum of Scotland. Gold bracelets, 'cup-ended ornaments' and a corrugated gold band were discovered through ploughing, and later excavation, in a field in the Highland region in Scotland. The objects date to the Late Bronze Age in Britain, around 950-750 BC, and represent the largest hoard of Bronze Age gold objects from Scotland.
The Duddingston Loch Hoard, currently held by National Museums Scotland (NMS), comprises Late Bronze Age weapons and other objects which were found in Duddingston Loch in Edinburgh when workers were dredging for marl in 1778. The bronze objects were found along with human bones and animal horns.
The Talnotrie Hoard is a 9th-century mixed hoard of jewellery, coinage, metal-working objects and raw materials found in Talnotrie, Scotland, in 1912. Initially assumed to have belonged to a Northumbrian metal-worker, more recent interpretations associate its deposition with the activities of the Viking Great Army.
The Knowes of Trotty is a Bronze Age cemetery located in Mainland, Orkney in Scotland. The ancient site consists of a group of twelve surviving burial mounds, dating to 2030–1770 BC. Along with cremated human remains, four gold discs and a number of amber beads and pendants were discovered in the largest mound in 1858. Knowes of Trotty is one of the earliest group of burial mounds in Orkney and one of the largest Bronze Age cemeteries in the United Kingdom.
