'FORT OF THE SPEAR SHAFTS’ OR 'FARM HILL’ - The Traprain Law Community And Environs Interpreted Through Botanic Remnants.

Abstract

The Iron Age/Roman hillfort site of Traprain Law, East Lothian (NT 58163 74443) presents a distinct absence of plant-based evidence despite an extensive excavation history. The latest of these investigations (1999/2000 excavation), recovered a number of organic residues (in approx. 20 samples) containing plant macrofossils and micro/macro charcoal and a block sample from the ‘Pond/Tank’ (Contexts – 3127, 3128) which enabled palynological analysis. This extended investigation undertook morphological analysis (incl. ring-counts, preservation assessments) and species identification plus secondary analysis via carbon and nitrogen isotopic methodology on the plant macrofossil and micro/macro charcoal and furthered interpretation of a previous unpublished preliminary pollen analysis. This extended investigation was intended to aid in the construction of a subsistence/resource profile for the Traprain Law site and to determine the nature and extent of agricultural practice and wider community-environment interactions. This was enabled through analysis of the plant macrofossil and micro/macro charcoal, which highlighted a subsistence profile weighted to cereal agricultural production and a wood-focused fuel profile, whilst also suggesting that the Traprain Law community may have been distant from direct environmental interaction and largely a consumer site. Further understanding of the nature of the wider Traprain Law environmental context was also an intended target of investigation, this was highlighted largely in the isotopic and palynological analysis. Traprain Law was an Iron Age site surrounded with agricultural clearance, sediments were fertile and, in some instances, potentially saturated and there was minimal arboreal cover evident. A wider comparative discussion was also developed, a comparison of the Traprain Law systems to plant-based profiles from published environs Zone 1 (<5km from Traprain Law) and Zone 2 (>5km-20km from Traprain Law) sites to contrast wider inter-site community-environment interactions. There are many different site-environment interactions within this collective of connected communities, and a definition for localised subsistence lifescapes emerges which includes both proactive and passive relationships to environments. The purpose of Traprain Law has never been clearly defined, and is still a diverse possibility, however regarding community-environment and environ inter-site interactions, Traprain Law is certainly more ‘Farm Hill’ than ‘Fort Of The Spear Shafts’.