page_title: Clatchard Craig
section_title: Archeological Excavations
hierarchical_section_title: Clatchard Craig / Archeological Excavations
caption_attribution_description: English: Ceramic moulds for the casting of pennanular brooches. Recovered from Clatchard Craig, Fife, during excavation in the nineteen-fifties.
context_page_description: The fort of Clatchard Craig was located on a hill of the same name by the Tay. A human presence on the site has been identified from the neolithic period onward and the fort itself was occupied from the sixth century AD until at least the eighth century. It stood close to several places which were centres of secular and religious power during the early Middle Ages including Abernethy, Forteviot, Scone and Moncreiffe. As such it seems to have been an important stronghold of the Picts.
  In the late twentieth century AD Clatchard Craig was entirely destroyed by quarrying for aggregate authorised by the British Ministry of Transport. The former site of the fort, now privately owned, remains a quarry.
context_section_description: The two excavations of Clatchard Craig, with other archaeological discoveries, allow an outline of the site's history to be described. The earliest signs of human activity on the site were pottery fragments and a petrosphere both dating to the neolithic period. Continued occupation during the Bronze Age was indicated by the discovery of a cist burial and fragments of pottery identified with the beaker culture.
  Iron-Age occupation attested by a scatter of pottery in both upper and lower enclosures. During the Roman era the site continued to be used. A rotary quern, iron-age pottery and fragments of Samian ware were identified. However, few of these artefacts dated to the second and third centuries AD, when Rome was very active in central Scotland. During these centuries the Antonine Wall was occupied and Septimius Severus led a campaign in the area between 208 and 211 AD. The nearby Roman fortress of Carpow was constructed under Severus.
  The first evidence of permanent structures on Clatchard Craig date to the Dark Ages. While occupied as a fortress, it consisted of a series of six ramparts surrounding a building on the summit of the hill. It comprised three main structural phases, the latest being the sub-rectangular enclosure on top, which measured 230 feet (70 m) by c. 115 feet (35 m), from which relics of early medieval date were obtained. This stood within a heavy oval rampart, 330 feet (100 m) by 200 feet (61 m). The next rampart overlay a series of hearths in which pottery was found, and in this rampart were masonry blocks with adherent mortar in which were fragments of tile. The third rampart, like the two preceding, was timber-laced, later replaced by earth and stone. There were a further two ramparts with minor additions and supplementary features. The earliest two ramparts, built in timber-laced stone were dated to the sixth century AD by radiocarbon dating. Construction of the ramparts continued throughout the era with pieces of recycled Roman tile and mortared masonry included in the fabric. The fort's walls were vitrified at some point suggesting that the site had once been destroyed by fire. A date cannot be ascribed to either the burning of the fort nor its abandonment.
  The presence of a paved hearth on the summit of the fort indicated a residence of high status while the discovery of clay moulds for the casting of pennanular brooches showed that elite craftsmen worked within the fort. The impression that the fort was a high-status site was reinforced by the discovery of an ingot of silver and by the presence of fine metalworking activity within its perimeter.
caption: Clay moulds for the casting of pennanular brooches found at Clatchard Craig. (RCAHMS).
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