Forged in Fire

: An anthracological investigation of woodland management and fuel selection for Iron Age metalworking at Culduthel, Invernesshire, UK

Abstract

The Iron Age craftworking centre of Culduthel, Inverness (Scotland), housed a community of skilled metal, glass and enamel workers between 810-550 cal BC to cal AD 130-340. The scale and importance of metal production at the site is evidenced by its ten specialised workshops, nine smelting furnaces, and smithing hearths, which produced the largest later prehistoric metalworking assemblage in Scotland. Over the last two decades, research around this site has significantly altered many aspects of our understanding of Iron Age craft skills and manufacture. Yet, the question of which woodland resources and fuel procurement strategies sustained such a vast operation has remained unanswered.
This thesis presents the results of the anthracological investigation conducted on primary and secondary fuel waste remains from workshops 2, 12, 13, and 16 at Culduthel. The study investigates fuel procurement in relation to large-scale metalworking activity and seeks to reconstruct the vegetation dynamics in Iron Age Inverness, through analysis of both primary and secondary fuel waste deposits. The methods applied included standard botanical identifications, recording of dendroecological features, qualitative evaluation of growth ring curvature, and quantitative estimations of minimum wood diameter, as well as sequential measurement of ring width. Multivariate statistical techniques were also employed as a mean to detect patterns in large dataset and explore the role of specific taxonomic and/or physical characteristics of wood in prehistoric fuel choices.
The results provide the first characterisation of people-environment interactions in the context of metalworking fuel procurement at Culduthel. They point towards the use of a size-selective procurement strategy, targeting mainly small and medium-sized timbers, and revealed evidence of probable management for hazel and alder. The anthracological data also provides the first evidence for Iron Age woodland for this area of Inverness in the absence of palynological information and suggests that wood fuel was collected from more than one source area.
The study contributes to the creation of a more holistic narrative of prehistoric craftworking, which goes beyond traditional technological considerations. It brings attention to an understudied set of remains, highlighting charcoal’s unique potential to offer insights into strategies of fuel procurement in the context of metal production.

Date of Award	17 May 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of the Highlands and Islands
Supervisor	Scott Timpany (Supervisor) & Martin Carruthers (Supervisor)