Contextualising the cropmark record: the timber monuments of the Neolithic of Scotland

The Neolithic period is well known for its stone and earth monuments. However, the cropmark record and a small number of excavations demonstrate that monuments, in a variety of different forms, were also built of timber. Although timber monuments have been photographed from the air since aerial survey began in Scotland and, as a result, the National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) holds a very rich record of these sites, there has not yet been any analysis or synthesis of this record as a whole. I hope to begin to remedy this through my PhD research which aims to identify and examine the Neolithic timber monuments of Scotland as a whole for the first time. This paper is a preliminary note following almost a year of research. My research, which is based at Glasgow University, is funded by the AHRC and is in collaboration with RCAHMS