Fieldwalking Anthropology

The settlement of New Kinord is a privately owned, and protected site situated in the Muir of Dinnet, Aberdeenshire. Although it has not yet been radiocarbon dated it is thought to date from the Iron Age. Aerial photography shows the presence of features that are thought to be hut circles, enclosures and a souterrain.

During the Iron Age people lived in roundhouses in which there was a central hearth where the fire was used to cook food and provide heat and light. The fire could have been used to smoke meat for preservation and to dry herbs. The people of the Iron Age were farmers and kept livestock such as sheep, cows and pigs to provide meat and dairy products. They also grew crops such as oats, wheat and barley which could be used to
Fieldwalking is a good method for covering a large area of land. In his book, Techniques of Archaeological Investigation, Philip Barker describes fieldwalking as an “essential supplement to all other methods of site discovery and assessment.” (Barker, 1977). However, at this particular site, it may be difficult to find artefacts as the terrain is so rough. Using a geophysical method, such as metal detector, which is an electromagnetic sensing device, would be useful to find metal artefacts lying on or just below the
If a hearth was discovered, possible finds might be small animal bones, ash or possibly the remains of old shells. Macrofaunal remains such as animal bones can reveal a lot about what meat was eaten and how it came about. If there is an abundance of cow, sheep and pig bones, it is likely that these animals were domesticated. Organic matter found within the hearth can be used for radiocarbon dating. This technique would give a time window of when this site was built/lived in. Some inorganic artefacts that may also be recovered from a hearth area are pot sherds. These could be the remains of pots used for cooking and could have residues to be examined under a microscope. Chemical analysis of the residues can reveal evidence of phosphate or animal fat which implies the cooking of meat. Iron objects may be recovered from a hearth trench as iron may also have been made into pots for cooking although pottery made using a pottery wheel was more common. Iron Cauldrons used over the hearth had many uses in meal preparation such as boiling meat or heating drinks (Online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk, 2016). If the remains of an iron cauldron were found it may also contain residues that can be chemically analysed. Iron would also have been the material used to create many of the tools used in the process leading up to a meal. Iron spear heads or knives would have been used to slaughter the