University of Edinburgh Moray Endowment Fund

Award value: £1,500

Building Ancient Lives: the role of architecture in prehistoric societies
The project comprised a re-assessment of original environmental material from excavated prehistoric roundhouses in Northeast Scotland to test its suitability for new radiocarbon dating and statistical Bayesian modelling.

The project has fostered a new research relationship between the Building (Ancient) Lives project and the Bayesian researchers at SUERC. Close co-operation allowed me to develop my own skills and expand my knowledge about Bayesian modelling.
The specific work as funded by the Moray Endowment Fund has resulted in a new joint research exercise in collaboration with SUERC, with the ultimate aim to produce a refined prehistoric settlement sequence for NE Scotland. This started with revisiting the archives of two selected sites to assess the survival of environmental samples from secure contexts and select new material for AMS radiocarbon dating. The new and old dates combined allowed for developing a new model for the use-life sequences of the sites' Middle Bronze Age roundhouses.