The Fermtoun: What is a long-house? Surrounding the bastle was the 'fermtoun'. This consisted mainly of 'longhouses' that is long narrow houses where the animals lived at one end, and the humans at the other - a good way of providing 'central heating' in the winter.
Even the form of roof can be deduced from the position of the roof crucks - the post holes that held the curving timbers that supported the roof.
The long houses were often in pairs facing each other across a cobbled roadway. It is an arrangement which had been known since Viking times, and may have been a convenient way of driving animals in and out of byres (cow-stalls).
In the corner of the byre on the left, two silver coins were found, a thaaler (dollar) issued in Cologne in 1610, and a Dutch rijksdaaler from Zeeland, sometime after 1606.
A carving on a slate of a Union Jack suggests that the Union of Scotland and England was already beginning to have some meaning.
Glenochar is situated near Abington service station on the M74 motorway.
Go along the A702 to Dumfries, near Elvanfoot. A book describing the excavations can be obtained from:
The Moat Park Heritage Centre, Biggar, ML12 6DT, price £2.50 post free.
Current Archaeology
CA 216
Britain's Industrial Glories:
how
archaeology has preserved our industrial heritage
Cossington:
death and ritual in the Bronze Age
Pioneering Ladies: the women who made archaeological history
World Archaeology
CWA 27
Secrets of the Red Snake :
The great wall of Iran revealed
Lawrence's Jordan :
Latest results from the dig's second season
Syria's Fort of Jerablus :
Guard on the Euphrates
Tuxedni and Clam Clove :
North America's most intriguing rock art
CWA 27
Secrets of the Red Snake : The great wall of Iran revealed
Lawrence's Jordan : Latest results from the dig's second season
Syria's Fort of Jerablus : Guard on the Euphrates
Tuxedni and Clam Clove : North America's most intriguing rock art
AD 700 - Saxon London Discovered
What happened to London after the end of Roman rule? Bede calls it a 'mart of many nations' yet for long the archaeologists could find no trace of this early Saxon London. Then, suddenly, they found it. Not where they expected it, in the ruins of Roman London, but on an entirely new site a mile or so to the west, underlying what is today the West End and the Aldwych - a name which itself may refer to the "Ald wych'' or "old town".
Opinion
Who should be in charge of community archaeology?
Professional archaelogists.
Amateur groups.
Smalltalk
No events
Popular
AD 700 - Sutton Hoo
Subscriptions
Visiting Pompeii
AD 300 - Roman Mosaics
Mick Aston reveals the secrets of Time Team
Latest News
Problems logging on?
Click here for help logging on
Copyright © 2008 Current Archaeology.
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=30