Living on Water in the Early Iron Age and beyond: High precision chronologies of crannogs in Loch Tay, Scotland.
Michael J Stratigos*, Piotr Jacobsson*, W Derek Hamilton*, Gordon Cook*, Nick Dixon**, Barrie Andrian**, Anne Crone*** and Jennifer Miller****

Scottish crannogs are artificial island dwellings found throughout Scotland. Their emergence in the Early Iron Age (800–400 cal BC) has long been known, however, due to the imprecision of radiocarbon dating in this period, the precise timing, tempo, scale and character of this move to settlement on water has remained stubbornly unclear. The Living on Water project has brought together different chronological methods to unpick the episodic use histories on crannogs in Loch Tay, Scotland. The approach has resulted in radiocarbon wiggle-match dated groups of structural timbers that form the first chronologies for a group of crannogs resolved within the Hallstatt plateau period of the radiocarbon calibration curve (800–400 cal BC). New insights have been gained on the life-cycle of these timber pile-dwellings indicating episodes of major construction are followed by decadal scale periods of regular repairs punctuated by longer periods of abandonment before further episodes of substantial re-occupation. With the aid of exceptionally preserved ecofactual material, the new high precision chronologies allow a detailed social history of this lake-dwelling community on Loch Tay from the 5th century BC to emerge. This community was engaged in an agro-pastoral economy which accessed resources in their entire landscape. This has transformed our understanding of crannogs in Loch Tay, but also has wider implications for the models of society we choose to apply to Early Iron Age Scotland.

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre/University of Glasgow Independent Researchers AOC Archaeology Nottingham Trent University