Prehistoric Forteviot: excavations of a ceremonial complex in eastern Scotland

A monograph reporting on the prehistoric sites excavated at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK, as part of phase 1 of the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot project (SERF) between 2007 and 2010. Sites discussed are the Forteviot palsaded enclosure, Henges 1 and 2, and a double ring-ditch enclosure, set within the broader cropmark complex. This monograph explores the regional and broader implications of these discoveries and contextualises them within current discourse. Discussed are themes such as the emergence, construction, maintenance, and decline, of major late Neolithic ceremonial centres; Neolithic oak monumentality; palisaded enclosures and henge monuments; late Neolithic and early Bronze Age funerary practices; and social change in the 3rd millennium BC. Tangible evidence of a connection between the prehistoric ruins, and the establishment here of an early medieval royal centre, is a significant discovery, and suggests the seeds of the royal seat of Forteviot were sown thousands of years before in prehistory