The Cultural Heritage of the Cateran Ecomuseum

In 2022, the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Archaeology Institute and Institute for Northern Studies (Perth College) were awarded grant funding to undertake a cultural heritage assessment for the Cateran Ecomuseum.

The Ecomuseum aims to engage both the people who live and work in the area and visitors. Amongst the activities and outputs since its launch in 2019, are community consultations on which sites should be promoted, a set of self-guided itineraries co-designed with local people, a programme of live events and activities, the website portal and most recently the launch of the ecomuseum hub in Alyth Museum (May 2022). It has chosen to frame its visitor offer around an innovative regenerative / circular tourism approach, where the visitor is encouraged to help ‘leave things better’ by engaging in activities that are restorative, regenerative and re-use resources and which bring tangible and equitable benefit to communities that live in and around the Ecomuseum.

This report summarises the results of the assessment which aims to support a programme of archaeology and heritage activities. The project was funded by an award from the UHI Knowledge Exchange and Innovation grant scheme in May 2021 and completed in June 2022. A knowledge exchange weekend for the Board and UHI team, with site visits and a workshop, was held on the 10-12 December 2021.

Throughout the text, Canmore ID numbers are referred to in brackets with ‘live links’ and a summary of sites is provided in Appendix I.

Following initial discussions during 2021 with the Ecomuseum Board the UHI team were asked to develop an archaeology and heritage assessment for the Cateran Ecomuseum area. This was underpinned by a desk-based assessment of archive and online resources, supported by site visits and knowledge exchange by the UHI team with Ecomuseum directors. In this way, case study areas and topics/themes that are particularly suitable for the Ecomuseum’s activities and perhaps those that present new and innovative angles, have been identified for consideration in a next phase public facing Phase II programme. 4 Figure 1. Cateran Ecomuseum study area location.

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The Ecomuseum, so far, has created a series of primarily walking and cycling heritage-based itineraries  hosted on their website portal  and accessed through the Komoot app and delivered a programme of live events and activities that aim to interpret the heritage of the area in new and unusual ways.

In 2021 it secured investment for the first phase of its innovative ‘Museum of Rapid Transition’ programme. The first of its kind in the world, this aims to mobilise heritage for climate action and biodiversity restoration. This included a major piece of work increasing the number of Regenerative Tourism experiences offered together with a ground-breaking community engagement programme curating new tangible and intangible heritage resources designed to motivate rapid transition to more sustainable ways of living.

In order to develop this programme further and tell the story of the transition from the past to the present across all three of its three principal themes - people, places and landscapes - the Board require support from heritage and archaeology specialists and have turned to UHI for assistance towards co-designing an activities programme that will fully encompass the areas’ 8,000 years of human history.

The intention is for a two staged project:

• Phase I: cultural heritage assessment, interpretation assessment, knowledge exchange, initial development plan (this project)
• Phase II: Archaeology and heritage activities programme (future Lottery funding application)

The assessment was carried out in conjunction with an initial assessment of open access LiDAR data (aerial laser scanning) to assess archaeological sites for the main river valleys (covers 30% of the area) to aid in the selection of future case study areas. All site and LiDAR geospatial data has been combined in a project Geographic Information System (GIS) and industry standard output files along with web-ready illustrations.

The overall aim is to draw on the combined expertise of the UHI team to provide a baseline heritage data set for the Ecomuseum, to support the future development of an archaeology activities programme and develop a firm plan for the future development of heritage and archaeology aspects of the ‘Museum of Rapid Transition’.

The archaeological desk-based assessment aims to:

• Establish the sources of data, main inventories and relevant research studies
• Undertake a broad assessment of the Historical Environment data sets
• Provide summaries of archaeology and heritage assets in the Ecomuseum (the Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework was released during the final stages of this study, and provides detailed period summaries and research questions for the region)
• Assess the data for potential case studies, study areas and topics
• Create a GIS for the Ecomuseum to visualise sites and information, and create a series of illustrative maps for the report / website
• Supply open-source data sets from the GIS to the Ecomuseum Board

• Scope the open-source LiDAR data for the Ecomuseum area.
• Demonstrate the potential for detailed processing and analysis
• Provide data sets for Ecomuseum GIS

The aims of the heritage assessment were to identify:

• the current provision of heritage interpretation to provide a baseline for the current offer to residents and visitors of the Ecomuseum
• recent and current heritage projects within the Ecomuseum to provide information on existing resources
• opportunities for development of assets and activities in line with the aims of the Ecomuseum and the focus on ‘rapid transition’

The proposed outcomes and impacts of this first stage report are:

• The quantification and summary assessment of the heritage / archaeological resource and narratives in the Ecomuseum area to identify key sites and landscapes and new areas of potential, enabling better interpretation provision and inclusion of archaeology and heritage in future activities (e.g. the Museum of Rapid Transition) for focused activity in Phase II
• To increase awareness of the heritage and archaeological resource within the Ecomuseum board to develop knowledge and understanding of how it may be used to achieve the aims and objectives of the Ecomuseum, encouraging further project development and public engagement (for example through development of an interpretation strategy or plan)
• To emphasise the potential that the heritage and archaeology in the Ecomuseum has, enabling it to be developed, enhanced, and better understood within the context of the Museum of Rapid Transition
• To establish a strong working relationship between the UHI team and the Ecomuseum board and its network of key and stakeholders to support development of a Phase II project
• To provide a baseline for the development of the Phase II public facing archaeology and heritage activities programme.

Ecomuseums are a relatively new concept to Scotland, but they encompass the idea of a museum linked to territory rather than a traditional building or place, with community at its heart (de Varine 2006). The concept has developed since the 1970s with hundreds of ecomuseums being created across the globe to address issues including preserving heritage while also having positive impacts on local, place-based social and economic issues (Bowden and Ciesielska 2016). As de Varine clarifies, “the ‘eco’ prefix means neither economy, nor ecology in the common sense, but essentially human or social ecology: the community, society, and even mankind in general, are at the core of its existence, its activity, and its process (de Varine 2006: 226).

One of the key aspects of how ecomuseums engage with communities and visitors is through the process of heritage interpretation.

Heritage interpretation is a means of communicating meaning and significance about places and objects that is more than just the transmission of facts. Effective interpretation can create connections between people and places which provide a range of benefits for audiences and communities, including enhancing visitor experiences, increasing visitor numbers, encouraging people to stay longer and visit more of the area, increase awareness and understanding of the cultural and natural heritage, and opportunities for reflection and understanding of the key issues facing society today. Interpretation can also help to deliver the management aims and objectives of organisations, presenting this in an engaging, relevant, and organised way.

Interpretation is an integral part of the visitor experience and the wider visitor communication cycle, with all communications taking key messages from the interpretation. Research has shown that the interpretive elements of heritage experiences are critical in creating successful experiences which have the potential for a range of benefits for visitors, communities, and organisations. Visitors are often looking to be entertained or engaged rather than educated, though this does not mean that the focus of interpretation should only be positive – interpreting challenging subjects in a sensitive and thought-provoking way has the potential to raise awareness and be pro-active in attitude and behaviour change. Through creating appealing experiences, the Ecomuseum can engage visitors and communities in heritage experiences which achieve the wider objectives of the organisation.

There are a range of approaches and models for planning interpretation. Many follow a thematic approach, which provides a structure to the interpretation, enabling audiences to understand what the experience is about (e.g. Brochu 2014; Ham 1992; Knudson, Cable and Beck 2003).

An interpretive theme differs from a topic: where a topic is the focus of the interpretation (the ‘thing’), the theme is the bigger idea that the interpreter wants to communicate about that topic. Developing effective and engaging themes encourages connections between people and places. These themes can be developed through a scaffolded approach to devise sub-themes and storylines or messages which communicate various aspects of the planned experience to the audience in an engaging and holistic way, reflecting they key aims of the Ecomuseum, and linking a wider range of projects with the Ecomuseum in an organised and connected way.

Learning is often seen as a key objective for interpretation, as those providing the interpretation want to communicate something about that place or resource to the audience. Interpretive experiences are normally part of wider visits and itineraries, often related to leisure activities which make them informal learning environments. Learning may occur during the visit, but it may not be the primary aim of visitors. Organisations may also want the interpretation to have other impacts on visitors - behavioural objectives outline what you want visitors to do; with emotional objectives reflecting how you want visitors to feel and react.

Heritage interpretation can play a key role in the visitor experience, but only as part of the wider social context of visits. Visits to the Ecomuseum will normally occur during leisure time (day visitors and holidaymakers) and will often be experienced in social or family groups which are a key aspect of the experience. In this way visits to heritage sites may have three contexts as identified in Falk and Dierking’s Interactive Experience Model (1992):

• the Personal Context of the visitor: this includes personal characteristics, such as reasons for visiting, preferred learning style, prior knowledge of the place or subject, as well as wider experiences, attitudes, interests and cultural background
• the Physical Context they encounter: the physical characteristics of the site including where it is located, what it looks like, its interpretive features and the 'feel' or site ambience
• the Social Context of the experience: including people with whom they have attended, as well as the staff, volunteers and other visitors encountered during the experience. Another important influence in this context is cultural factors.

It is critical to the success of projects and activities in the Ecomuseum that there is a clear understanding of audiences and their needs. Identifying existing and potential audiences for the Ecomuseum is critical in helping to inform how content is developed, the choice of media, and the range of experiences developed within the Ecomuseum. Different audiences will have different needs, interests and abilities, for example families with children, those with specialist interests such as mountain biking, or those with additional access needs.

It should also be recognised that the experience of the Ecomuseum begins long before many will visit to when they are planning the visit, as well as the kinds of experiences and activities that are available to them when they arrive. The Ecomuseum needs to have a clear understanding of who current and potential audiences are, and the needs and interests of these different groups, to ensure that this informs the development of heritage projects in the proposed Phase II.

It is important that, as a key aspect of the interface between the Cateran Ecomuseum and its communities and visitors, that the heritage interpretation is central to future developments. Using the structure of interpretive themes will help to frame a range of activities, including new interpretive provision, to create a holistic approach to a broad range of activities across the Ecomuseum, enabling crossover between a range of activities that connects back to the key aims of the Ecomuseum and its initial theme of ‘rapid transition’.

The Ecomuseum has enormous potential to engage communities and visitors in actions and activities involving the cultural and natural heritage that will have a range of benefits. Heritage interpretation can help the Ecomuseum to achieve its vision to “to enable holistic, democratic and sustainable involvement with culture, history and heritage” through the planning and creation of visitor experiences and community activities, and management of the diverse cultural and natural heritage within its boundaries through:

• developing experiences and activities that support the vision and mission of the Ecomuseum
• create visitor experiences that appeal to the widest possible audiences • increase awareness of the Cateran Ecomuseum for both visitors and communities – what it is, where it is, and what it does
• through the development of interpretive themes, to connect the places and people of the Ecomuseum with key issues facing the world in the 21st century

The following archaeological desk-based assessment (DBA) reviews the main sources of information and summarises potential for this aspect of the cultural heritage in the Ecomuseum. The following sources / inventories were consulted as part of the DBA:

• Ordnance Survey Open map data and name books
• Canmore data (National Record for the Historic Environment)
• Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Gardens & Designed Landscapes
• Listed Buildings, Buildings at Risk register
• Historic Environment record (HER) data (Perth and Kinross, Angus, Aberdeenshire)
• Historic Land Use Assessment data
• Historical Ordnance survey maps (National Library of Scotland)
• Other historical maps
• Cateran Ecomuseum trails (GPX)
• LiDAR

The value of these as resources for the Ecomuseum project is discussed below; alongside an explanation of statutory designations for the historic environment. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the resource outlining the nature and variety of archaeological remains that exist within the Ecomuseum.

Ordnance Survey maps contain the first consistent survey of archaeological sites in the Ecomuseum. Part of the process of mapping and recording place names included recording archaeological sites. These were illustrated on map sheets and often formed the basis for subsequence archaeological surveys. The Ordnance survey name books – now digitised online – provide an invaluable insight into how the names were recorded, who was asked and how that relates to what we find today. For example, Perthshire place names were recorded between 1859-62 in 79 volumes.

Ordnance Survey maps formed the basis for detailed archaeological inventories in many counties in Scotland, with some undertaken and published in the early 20th century and continuing into the 1990s by the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments (RCAHMS). The two volumes covering the Cateran Ecomuseum were completed in 1990 11 (North-East Perthshire) and 1994 (South-West Perthshire). These campaigns resulted in numerous sites and areas gaining statutory protection, for example large areas of upland containing remarkable prehistoric landscapes either side of Strathardle are now Scheduled Ancient Monuments (see 7.3 below for discussion of SAMs). These inventories, enhanced with aerial photographic evidence and ground survey, remain the backbone of archaeological characterisation in the region, now enhanced online with the National Record for the Historic Environment (Canmore) and HERs. Many sites recorded and surveyed in the RCAHMS volumes have since received little additional attention.

Region-based Historic Environment Records (HER) contain information derived from the RCAHMS inventories, Canmore and regular updates from research, survey and developer funded projects (Figure 3). As such, they provide the most up-to-date record of sites, monuments and events. HER data within the Ecomuseum area is available on searchable maps on the HER web pages and in Pastmap ( https://pastmap.org.uk/ ; a map version of Canmore). The ecomuseum falls across three HER areas – Perth and Kinross, Angus and Aberdeenshire. Recent improvements to regional and national data sets include the polygonization of sites – showing them as areas rather than single points (Figure 4). This links to the use of GIS by organisations to store, interrogate and display the data in-house and online.

There are 3790 sites listed in the combined HERs and 3305 listed in Canmore (Table 1). The difference in number can be accounted for the with the inclusion of events (e.g. projects and commercial activities) and more regular updates to the HER data sets.

It was beyond the scope of this initial assessment to integrate and examine the HER data in detail. Such analysis would form part of the next targeted phase of investigation. For the purpose of this broad study, the Canmore data set has been used to provide a general characterisation of the archaeological resource in the Ecomuseum to provide a baseline study which can be developed. Sites and monuments from Canmore are summarised by period in Section 10 below.

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 Check out more Perth and Kinross Historic Environment Record data at this link! 

There are 136  Scheduled Ancient Monuments  (SAM) in the Ecomuseum. SAMs are nationally important sites and areas that have statutory protection, administered by Historic Environment Scotland, with the aim of preserving sites as far as possible. Scheduled areas can be small areas around a specific site or larger areas of landscape containing numerous sites. Permission is required to conduct intrusive and non-intrusive archaeological fieldwork on scheduled sites and areas.

The majority of scheduled sites in the Ecomuseum (88%) are prehistoric sites and landscapes, including ritual and funerary monuments (e.g. standing stones, stone circles, cairns, barrows) and defensive and domestic sites (e.g. settlements, enclosures, souterrains, hut circles, round houses and field systems). Most were scheduled in the 1980s and 1990s following the RCAHMS surveys. An example of large area of upland designated as a SAM are the settlements, field systems and cairns at Pitcarmick Estate ( SM5324 ) which covers an area of approximately 400 hectares. Four ecclesiastical sites have scheduled status, including the abbey precinct ( SM5772 ) and gatehouse ( SM1629 ) at Coupar Angus and Coupar Grange ( SM7327 ). Other scheduled sites include the Bruceton Farm symbol stone ( SM1619 ), Cardean Roman fort ( SM2306 ), Glasclune Castle ( SM5104 ), Creag Bhreac sheilings ( SM6114  at two large sites) and a pill box at Kirkmichael ( SM13729 ).

 Listed buildings  are designated and administered by Historic Environment Scotland. There are 452 listed buildings in the Ecomuseum. These include 16 buildings that are A-Listed, 219 B- Listed and 217 C-listed. These are too numerous to describe in detail here. Examples of A- listed buildings including the miliary road bridge at Glenshee ( LB11489 ) and the Haugh of Drimmie suspension bridge ( LB19830 ), castles (e.g. Newton Castle  LB22314 ), large houses (e.g. Keithick House  LB6170 ) and the War Memorial, Wellmeadow, Blairgowrie ( LB22321 ).

The  Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland  is maintained by the Scottish Civic Trust on behalf of Historic Environment Scotland, and provides information on properties of architectural or historic merit (usually in a conservation area) throughout the country that are considered to be at risk from demolition, collapse or disrepair.

Within the Ecomuseum, there are 16 buildings listed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland (13 in Perth and Kinross, 3 in Angus). There are eight buildings at risk in Blairgowrie, including Lornty Mill, Oakbank Mill and Tannage Street warehouse. The cornmill on Bamff Road, Alyth and the Meigle House steading are also at risk. Many buildings registered at risk are also listed buildings.

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There are three Garden and Designed Landscapes in the Ecomuseum: Airlie Castle (outstanding 19th century landscape;  GDL00009 ), Drumkilbo (19th century landscape with 20th century formal gardens;  GDL00142 ) and Craighall Rattray (designed landscape with outstanding scenic value;  GDL00112 ).

Land use characterisation has been undertaken across Scotland to provide an assessment of past and present anthropogenic and historical elements in order to manage landscape change (Figures 5, 6 & 7). This complements landscape characterisation of natural heritage. Current and historical ordnance survey maps, aerial photographs and other sources were used to map areas of land use using 12 categories. Historical Land use Assessment ( HLA ) data is available online and can be downloaded for use in GIS. For the Ecomuseum, the HLA can be used to assess board landscape changes and inform more detailed case studies. It can also help visualise changes across the varied topographical and geological zones in the Ecomuseum.

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Clear distinctions are visible in the historical and current land use maps in the Ecomuseum (Figures 5 & 6). The topographical and geological differences across the Highland Boundary Fault are evident in past land use, with the upland areas in the north predominantly moorland and rough grazing, interspersed with area of woodland and forestry. Areas of agriculture and settlement are most common in the lowland area in the south of the Ecomuseum, with intrusions northwards into the straths and glens. These areas comprise rectilinear fields and farms, mostly laid out during agricultural improvements in the 18th and 19th centuries. Strathardle has a near continuous area of rectilinear fields in its base to Straloch. Similarly, in Glenshee, areas of rectilinear fields continue north-west of Spittal of Glenshee and in Glenisla to Dalhally. HLA also records areas of planned rectilinear fields and farms, mostly in Strathardle, but also in lowland areas south of Blairgowrie and east of Alyth. Several golf courses are also located in the lowland areas. Two substantial reservoirs are located north of Alyth (Loch of Lintrathen and Backwater Reservoir).

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Small areas of managed woodland are present, generally along the course of rivers and within the main straths and glens. Small areas of land use dating to the medieval period have been identified in the main urban centres of Alyth, Blairgowrie, Coupar Angus and Meigle. Areas dating to the 17th century are still small but more widespread, typically relating to large houses (e.g. Keithick House, Ardle Castle and Bamff) and areas of ancient woodland (e.g. along the Ericht gorge north of Blairgowrie and parts of the River Isla). More broadly, historical land use in the 18th and 19th centuries follows a pattern of divide across the Highland Boundary Fault. To the south the area is dominated by land use dating to the 18th century to present, corresponding with agricultural areas in the lowland and up the straths and glens. Areas of forestry, largely fringing upland areas but with some in a lowland setting, date to the 20th century to the present. Large areas of rough grazing in the upland area of the Ecomuseum are characterised as late 20th century in date reflecting their current management by estates.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the earth, typically using airborne laser scanning techniques which can measure earthworks and structures in fine detail.

Two sets of LiDAR data were downloaded from the Scottish Remote Sensing Portal, which represent all the Lidar data that is currently available for the area covered by the Cateran Ecomuseum under the Open Government Licence.

Phase 1 – Geotiff format Digital Surface Model (DSM) and Digital Terrain Model (DTM)

Commissioned by the Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water collectively in 2011, the contract was awarded to Atkins, and the LiDAR data was collected and delivered by Blom. Airborne LiDAR was collected between March 2011 and May 2012. The point density was a minimum of 1 point/sqm, and approximately 2 points/sqm on average between the collection areas. By July 2012 Blom had delivered raw LAS files alongside Digital Terrain and Digital Surface Models at 1m resolution (ESRI Grid and ASCII format). They also provided reports detailing the height accuracy and point density for each collection area.

The Phase-1 data covers approximately 324 square kilometres which represents 32% of the area of the Ecomuseum (Figure 8).

The downloaded geotiffs were added to the QGIS project file created for the mapping of the ecomuseum and processed to create simple hillshade images (Figure 9). The DSM dataset was then subjected to a rapid scan assessment of the LiDAR data to view the results and gauge the potential for further analysis.

This rapid scan analysis indicated that there was evidence for multiple features, some of which are previously unmapped and unrecorded, potentially archaeological in origin, such as field boundaries and structures.

Following this initial analysis, one area was selected and subjected to additional analysis using multiple algorithms to process the geotiffs further to assess the potential of additional work for the analysis, identification and mapping of any potential features across the area covered by the LiDAR data.

The area chosen lies to the east Castle Pirnie, Strathardle (Figures 9, 10 &11). The algorithms utilised for the processing were: Hillshade, multi hillshade, analytical sky-view and slope analysis.

From Canmore, numerous sites have been recorded in this area (Figure 9). However, these are predominantly standing structures such as buildings and cairns. What can be seen from the processed images (Figures 10 & 11) are several field boundaries and enclosures which have either not been recorded in Canmore or recorded in part but unmapped. This is particularly true of the field enclosures which may represent several farmsteads associated with the buildings which are recorded in Canmore. There is a very good potential to enhance and expand upon the existing mapping of the enclosures and farmsteads in this area from the analysis of this additional processing of the LiDAR datasets.

The Cateran Ecomuseum covers a large area containing thousands of known archaeological sites and monuments and it is beyond the scope of this study to embark on detailed site-by-site description. Instead, this section will focus on the overall history of research, a period-based summary (presented in a basic timeline) and summary descriptions of the main sources of data (e.g., Canmore, Historic Environment Records). The limitations of a linear timeline-based chronology are recognised (e.g., it presents a linear view of time where reuse and the complexity of multiperiod sites and landscapes are supressed), but is used here as a starting point to underpin more detailed contextualised case studies later on. In the same way, a review of site types is used as a means of identifying gaps and potential for the development of topics and themes.

The Cateran Ecomuseum contains contrasting landscapes divided by the Highland Boundary Fault with different stories of cultivation and settlement over the past 6000 years and contrasting types of archaeological remains and survival. North-east Perthshire contains considerable blocks of upland, exploited by people in the past, but now beyond cultivation. North of the Highland Boundary Fault, the area is characterised by hard metamorphic rocks which rise to the Highland Grampians. To the south-east, the rocks are predominantly Old Red Sandstone, with some harder lavas and tuffs (RCAHMS 1994: 1). Geology, topography and land use vary greatly across the Ecomuseum transect, from lowland river valley to upland and high mountain, with shifts in agriculture and settlement between upland and glens over millennia, to more recent population movements from rural settlements to industrial towns in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Preservation of archaeological sites and monuments across the Ecomuseum area falls into three broad zones – present cultivation (cropmarks, upstanding buildings and monuments), areas of rig and furrow (between cultivated land and steep slopes, and high glens), and heather moorlands (prehistoric settlement and field systems) (RCAHMS 1990: 1). Recent surveys have recorded numerous new sites, including earthworks in the upland and cropmarks in the lowland, but very few of these have been investigated with intrusive archaeological excavation.

This summary is designed to provide a broad overview to contextualise the heritage assessment and case studies. For more detailed period summaries please refer to the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Agenda  (released during the final stages of this assessment).

For this assessment, Canmore data has been used to provide a broad summary of site types, to feed into the identification of potential themes. The sets of HER data are in a slightly different format, and it was beyond the scope and needs of this study to combine the data sets and undertake detailed analysis. A visual assessment has been made of the HER data sets in the GIS, and areas of difference noted. Detailed sample maps of case study areas have been used to illustrate the range and distribution of site data.

Our knowledge of the upland areas was greatly enhanced by the first RCAHMS survey in the area, which took a multi-period landscape approach and recorded large areas of unrecorded former settlement and cultivation remains which survive as upstanding earthworks (RCAHMS 1990: 1). Large areas of upland were mostly abandoned by the end of the first millennium BC leaving extensive areas of settlement and cultivation remains. The upland areas in the northern part of the Ecomuseum contain some of the most remarkable prehistoric landscapes in Scotland. Glenshee has always been an important route through the eastern Highlands, probably since prehistory, and was formalised with the route of the 18th-century military road to Braemar. Several key routes from the west and east converge at the head of the glen.

In contrast, south-east Perthshire is an area of great agricultural wealth, with fertile straths flanking the River Tay and its tributaries (including the River Isla), and the strategic location of Perth with sea access to the east (RCAHMS 1994: 1). The wider landscape is characterised for several millennia by areas of more intense farming activity interspersed with rough grazing and forest (RCAHMS 1994: 1). The large majority of known archaeological sites in Strathmore have been ploughed out, with few upstanding, except in the Sidlaw Hills to the south. Most of the sites in Strathmore are evident as cropmarks, with the majority found in wheat or barley crops, their visibility dependent on soil type and patterns of survival and discovery (RCAHMS 1994: 8-10). Cropmarks in south-east Perthshire tend to be pits, ditches or other cut features, appearing as dark spots or stains, ditched enclosures, pits (discrete or in settings) and linear features (RCAHMS 1994: 11-12).

Evidence for the first settlers in the Ecomuseum area is lacking. Once the glaciers had retreated following the last Ice Age, leaving wide straths and glens, it is generally accepted that the area was inhabited by the 7th millennium BC (Stevenson 1999: 20-21; Wright et al. 2022). Evidence for hunter gatherer communities in the region is sparse, with evidence for burning appearing in pollen records, although it is highly likely that communities were exploiting the rivers, glens and uplands which would have been rich in natural resources. Outside the Ecomuseum, evidence for Late Mesolithic activity has been found in the Tay estuary at Wellhill, and in the uplands at Edramucky Burn (Wright et al. 2022). Survival of the ephemeral evidence from temporary camps is rare, with some examples excavated on the coast in Fife (e.g. at Morton, Canmore  33111 ). No Mesolithic settlement sites are listed in Canmore or the HER records for the Ecomuseum area and evidence of early human activity in the region is so far restricted to surface lithic scatters. For a detailed over view of the Mesolithic period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Wright et al. 2022).

In the Neolithic, new forms of material culture and farming practices appear in the area from a more settled way of life: burial monuments, domesticated animals, standing stones, rock art and new objects such as pottery, polished stone axes, carved stone balls and new ways of working flint. Neolithic sites can be isolated upstanding monuments in farmland, evident as cropmarks, or discrete clusters surviving in upland areas that have escaped modern ploughing and improvements (cropmarks are caused by buried features or structures resulting in different growing patterns in the crop which can be seen from the air). Settlement evidence before the Early Bronze Age is lacking in the region, but is most likely to exist in the upland areas (Knight & Sheridan 2022). In north-east Perthshire there is a lack of Neolithic evidence (mostly only visible in pollen diagrams) with no Neolithic cairns or barrows in Strathardle or Glenshee. Rings cairns, cup-marked stones and hut-circles all follow a similar pattern of distribution (RCAHMS 1990: 2). Beyond the monuments, there are numerous prehistoric find spots throughout the Ecomuseum which are Neolithic to Bronze Age in date, including flint scatters, stone axes and a single carved stone ball (with six carved knobs, found at Netherton, 83289). One of the axeheads is an exquisite polished jade axehead found buried in the bank of the River Ericht at Rattray ( 28876 ) sometime in the Neolithic and  originally from Mount Viso  in the Italian Alps. For a detailed over view of the Neolithic period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Brophy & Sheridan 2022).

Burial practices become visible in the Neolithic, when the dead were buried collectively in earth and stone-built tombs which were often constructed in prominent places in the landscape, for example the prehistoric cairn on the natural mound at Knowehead Farm, near Coupar Angus ( 30928 ). Due to the materials used and their elevated location they often survive in the landscape today. Burial monuments in the Ecomuseum include chambered tombs, long and round cairns and ring cairns. Late Neolithic ring cairns, for example at Lair and at Balnabroich, contained large amounts of white quartz (RCAHMS 1990: 2), a material that elsewhere in Scotland was associated with the dead.

Ceremonial monuments, such as standing stones and stone circles, are more commonly found in south-east Perthshire, where they are upstanding as earthworks or evident as cropmarks in arable areas. One henge monument, typically a circular bank and ditch with entranceways, has been identified as a cropmark in aerial photographs at Whiteloch near Blairgowrie ( 28905 ). There are 25 standing stones and 13 stone circles listed in Canmore for the Ecomuseum area. The stone circles are distributed from around Blairgowrie to Glenisla in the north, with a distinctive cluster of six stones circles in Glenshee. Within this there are 11 ‘four poster’ stone circles listed, including the Grave of Diarmid at Spittal of Glenshee ( 29594 ), which form a distinctive monument type in the region. Where excavations of four posters have occurred in the region, they are generally Early Bronze Age in date, although this is from a limited number of excavated sites (Knight & Sheridan 2022). Recent excavations at Na Clachan Aoraidh ( 25877 ) near Blair Athol, outside the Ecomuseum area, showed that the standing stones were surrounded by a cobble-built platform with an outer kerb and cremation burial (Ellis & Ritchie 2018). In north-east Perthshire, single standing stones and paired stones are generally located on valley floor terraces (RCAHMS 1990: 2).

In addition to the stone monuments, there are two timber circles in the Ecomuseum surviving as cropmarks, one at Carsie Mains ( 79654 ) which was excavated in 2002 (Brophy and Barclay 2004), and another possible example as part of a more complex cropmark site at The Welton ( 71369 ). Timber circles consisted of rings of timbers set in large post holes and were used for 27 ceremonial practices in a wider ritual landscape. The timbers were removed or sometimes burnt in-situ, leaving infilled postholes which can show as cropmarks.

Cursus monuments are long (often measuring kms) earthwork enclosures, defined by an enclosing bank or line of posts a ditch on the outside. There are several cursus monuments in the region. The Cleaven Dyke, a massive linear earthwork or cursus dating to the Neolithic – and the largest in Scotland - is just outside the Ecomuseum area, with another at Blairhill, even further to the south. These demonstrate the importance of this wider area for ceremonial activity, with a broad group of other ritual monuments to the north-east of the Cleaven Dyke, including mortuary enclosures, a henge, and pit settings, circles, and alignments (RCAHMS 1990: 25). Within a broad group of pit alignments and settings in the Ecomuseum, there are two pit defined cursus monuments identified as cropmarks (e.g. Milton of Rattray  72843  and Kinalty  32316 ).

Pits can signify Neolithic and Bronze Age activity and are usually evident as cropmarks found in south-east Perthshire. Pits could represent prehistoric settlement or other ceremonial boundaries or monuments. A palisade is a fence constructed of wooden stakes, and a palisaded settlement has been identified at Dillivaird, Angus, ( 31053 ) and other palisaded enclosures at The Welton settlement could have been bounded by numerous timber posts. There are two pit alignments (e.g. Balendoch  30723  and Cardean 30745) one pit enclosure and 21 single pits, pit groups / settings listed in Canmore. Many pits and pit alignments are evidenced as cropmarks in arable fields (e.g. Ardmour  71338 , Berryhillock  68331  and Myreside  84761 ), mostly in the Blairgowrie area.

There are a significant number of rock art sites in the Ecomuseum. Rock art normally takes the form of cup or cup-and-ring marked stones which are broadly dated to the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. These simple pecked designs connect us with the actions of individual people in the past, but it is difficult to be certain of the original meaning and intentions behind the rock art. They are often found along routeways in the landscape or carved into other prehistoric monuments such as standing stones or significant earth fast rocks. Were they spiritual designs connected with ancestors and a living landscape? Were they waypoints or markers at significant places in the landscape? Many rock art sites are located at prominent places in the landscape with interconnecting views. In the Ecomuseum, rock art is typically found on earth fast stones and sometimes part of more complex sites such as areas of settlement and field systems.

In the Ecomuseum there are 34 recorded rock art sites, with eight cup-and-ring marked stones, and 26 cup-marked stones listed in Canmore. Some of the more complex designs with multiple rings with cups are found on earth fast stones, often with clusters of cup-marks, some surrounded by single or multiple rings: for example, the triple and double rings with cup-marks at Muir of Gormac near enclosures and hut circles ( 28810 ); the 28 cup-marks and two triple rings and quadruple ring at Drumderg ( 29140 ); and stones with multiple cup-marks such as the 40 or so on the stone at Tulloch ( 27661 ). Many cup-marked stones were found during the RCAHMS survey and are within prehistoric field systems. There are nine cup-marks on the large standing stone at Craighall (Glenballoch Stone,  28707 ) and one cup-and-ring marked stone has been found reused inside an Iron Age souterrain at Ruthven ( 30686 ).

Upstanding burial mounds, such as earthen barrows and stone-built cairns, are the most common funerary monument in south-east Perthshire, often located in conspicuous places in the landscape. In the Early Bronze Age, there was a change in burial practices to individual burial, often as cremated remains but also inhumation burials in stone-built cists (stone-lined burial boxes) or pits, often within pottery urns (Stevenson 1999: 26-28). For example, the cist excavated at Mains of Airlie, Angus ( 32387 ), contained cremated remains and a specific type of pottery from this period known as a Beaker vessel (distinctive decorated pots). In general, there is a variety of burial practice in the Early Bronze Age in the region, in cists, cairns and earlier monuments (Knight and Sheridan 2022). Cists were often covered with earth mounds (also known as barrows), sometimes with surrounding enclosures or sometimes built into earlier monuments such as Neolithic tombs. For a detailed over view of the Bronze Age period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Sheridan & Knight 2022).

The reuse of earlier monuments was common in the Early Bronze Age throughout Britain (Bradley 1993). Sixteen barrows are listed in Canmore in the Ecomuseum, for example the large barrow on Culhawk Hill ( 32268 ) and the mound at Milton of Drumlochy ( 28722 ) which was excavated in the 19th century. In south-east Perthshire, the discovery of cists and urns is often related to the destruction of barrows or where the mounds have been completely removed (RCAHMS 1994: 15) often as a result of landscape change through the expansion of cultivation during the Agricultural Revolution (see Section 12.3). With the covering burial mound removed or ploughed out, many of the locations for barrows survive only as cropmarks. Where they do survive as upstanding monuments, barrows and cairns are often tree covered, and located on lower lying ground (RCAHMS 1994: 16), though some are located within the Sidlaw Hills.

There are currently 47 records in Canmore for sites in the Ecomuseum which contain cists, though many are undated. Cists and urn burials are common in Strathmore and sometimes found in cemeteries, most dating to the Bronze Age. Recent excavations at funerary sites within the Ecomuseum are rare, with more examples in the south of the region. Ring ditches are a common site-type, and some may have had a funerary role, but this type of site may also represent prehistoric round houses. Without excavation it is difficult to ascertain their original form and function. There are 22 ring ditches listed in Canmore, many associated with hut circles, with more found at higher altitude (over 400m above sea level; RCAHMS 1990: 25). There are numerous prehistoric cairns and cairn fields in the Ecomuseum (over 200 listed in Canmore). These may result from clearance for agriculture during the prehistoric or early historic periods, rather than funerary uses, though most cairns are undated. Many are associated with enclosures and settlement in upland areas.

Round house groups (often shown on maps as ‘hut circles’) dating to the Bronze Age in north east Perthshire “form one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric settlement remains known in Scotland” (RCAHMS 1990: 2). Over 845 hut-circles are listed in the 1990 survey, generally in the heather moorland zones, even up to 300-400m above sea level. Their survival is in part due to the changes in agricultural and settlement pattern in the uplands at the end of the Bronze Age, and subsequent rough grazing. Early recording, including excavation in the first part of the 20th century, occurred at the Balnabroich and Dalruzion groups ( 29060 ). Despite early classifications the types of hut-circle in the region are highly varied, but all generally have single (most common) or double walls – the latter being “the most distinctive element of the Perthshire hut-circle groups, representing a form of elaboration rarely seen elsewhere” (RCAHMS 1990: 3). Many hut circles are denuded or robbed of stone, but some have external and even internal facing stones surviving. The wall core may have extended upwards with turf, but most are now reduced to stony banks or low platforms (RCAHMS 1990: 2). Some show evidence of multi-period construction with modifications in the medieval period (e.g. Pitcarmick houses).

There is little dating evidence for hut circles. Where excavations have taken place dates are at the end of the 2nd Millennium BC (e.g. Tulloch Field, Enochdhu; Thoms and Halliday 2014) and pottery suggests a late 2nd or early 1st millennium BC date (e.g. Dalnaglar and Dalrulzion; Thorneycroft 1933). In general, the hut circles, field systems and cairns appear to span a broad period in later prehistory. Upland areas were probably cultivated by the late 3rd or early 2nd millennium BC, with subsequent periods of occupation and abandonment. The final occupation at a number of ring cairn sites is represented by the Pitcarmick-type buildings (see Section 12.3) in the early medieval period (RCAHMS 1990: 4). Overall, the prehistoric settlement pattern was one of dispersed farmsteads clustered around cultivated land.

Prehistoric agricultural remains tend to survive around settlements, evident as cairns or stony banks, forming field systems. These can be associated with specific huts; form larger enclosures (sometimes enclosing several huts); or lynchets (field terraces) and strip fields, for example at Drumderg ( 29140 ). Burnt mounds, which have a range of interpretations from saunas to cooking or wool fulling sites, may also have been associated with Bronze Age settlement. They often survive as mound of discarded burnt stone containing a water tank or pit and are associated with structures. In the Ecomuseum, 26 burnt mounds are listed and distributed widely, with examples around Alyth, Blairgowrie and Kirkmichael. Many survive as substantial mounds and were identified during the RCAHMS surveys.

Pollen analysis in the north-east of Scotland has demonstrated that a change in agricultural practices occurred at the end of the Bronze Age, from upland to lowland, coinciding with a widespread deterioration in the climate (Tipping et al. 2008). This change did not necessarily represent the complete abandonment of upland areas but is likely to account for the shift in settlement and agriculture to the glens and lowlands within the Ecomuseum.

Enclosed settlements became more common during the first millennium BC, with four undated forts listed in Canmore evident as cropmarks with a large enclosure ditch (e.g. Auchrannie promontory fort in Glenisla  31071  and the small hill top fort at Castle Hill, Meams  32228 , both undated). No forts have so far been identified in Glenshee or Strathardle. The only example of a large hill fort in the Ecomuseum is at Barry Hill ( 31061 ). This is a substantial enclosed settlement with multiple outer banks that have been remodelled on many occasions (Stevenson 1999: 30; Atlas of Hillforts 2016). A large oval inner enclosure is surrounded by a ditch which may have been recut with earlier enclosures evident to the west. The hill fort has not been excavated and interpretations are derived from examining the earthworks alone. Smaller scale Iron Age settlement is evident in the two crannogs at Loch of Kinnordy ( 32345 ) and Stormont Loch ( 72061 ). Other settlement is evident as roundhouses which often show as cropmarks and in association with souterrains and enclosures (e.g. The Welton  71369 ).

Souterrains are a significant group of monuments in the Ecomuseum. These are stone-lined underground passages and chambers, often associated with settlement. Interpretations of their function are varied, from underground storage to more ritual purposes. There are 38 souterrains listed in Canmore in the Ecomuseum, with at least 5 likely examples identified from cropmarks (with some 15 more cropmarks as possible examples).

Although Iron Age funerary evidence is rare, there are five square barrows listed in Canmore (e.g. The Welton  28907  and Wester Denhead  30958 ). Square barrows consist of a square outer ditch with a central burial and are often Pictish (see Section 11.1). Some potential examples are evident as cropmarks (e.g. at Monkmyre Burn  30951 ) or part of wider monument complexes (e.g. Burnbank  83150 ). These are all located in the Blairgowrie and Coupar Angus area. For a detailed over view of the Iron Age period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Strachan et al. 2022b).

Evidence for Roman occupation in the region is well attested. Within the Ecomuseum there is one fort, at Cardean ( 30689 ), with a further two temporary camps (at Cardean  30693  identified in aerial photos, and Coupar Angus Abbey as an earthwork enclosure  30555 ), and a possible signal station at Westmuir ( 32305 ). For a detailed over view of the Roman period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Strachan et al. 2022b).

The time periods that follow the Romans can be confusing as they appear under several different labels, as set out in Table 2. The dates assigned to these time periods vary too, but one of the most common divisions has been followed here.

In Canmore, the archaeological remains from the historic periods (i.e. the medieval to modern periods) have often been assigned a wide date range, such as ‘medieval’ covering AD 400 1550, or even ‘medieval/post medieval’. The reasons for these classifications vary; many remains have simply not been closely dated, but many sites/parts of sites also remained in use over very long periods of time. In view of these long periods, the discussion in Section 12 of the key archaeological remains in the Ecomuseum will be thematic, allowing a more useful overview and discussion of the remains.

Scotland after the Romans was a diverse and politically shifting area. In early medieval Scotland several different peoples or cultures were present. The ones most relevant to the Ecomuseum are the Picts and the Dál Riata (Gaels). The Dál Riata were found in Argyll, while the Pictish area extended over most of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Pictish heartland was the territory between Inverness and Perth, within which the Ecomuseum sits and where significant Pictish archaeological remains have been found, in particular stone sculpture of different types.

The Picts appear in written sources from the late 3rd century. Their name, derived from the Latin word picti, was first recorded in a Roman letter from AD 297. Picti is translated as the ’painted’ or ‘tattooed’ people and was intended to distinguish those living north of the Roman border from the Romanised Britons further south. This well-known letter, together with other mostly external written sources, has created an awareness of the Picts as a strong presence in early medieval Scotland. The difficulty for early researchers to identify and understand Pictish archaeological remains however meant that many studies were dominated by rather basic questions. Without satisfactory answers, the Picts came to be viewed as ‘enigmatic’ and ‘mysterious’, expressions which are still found in popular writing today. In current academic research, the Picts are no longer viewed as ‘problematic’, but are instead on a par with any other historic people.

The Picts and the Dál Riata gradually amalgamated and by c. AD 900, they formed the kingdom known as Alba. This newly amalgamated identity is termed Scottish and the people north of the Forth-Clyde line are generally called Scots. For a detailed over view of the Early Medieval period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Strachan et al. 2022a).

The High and Late Middle Ages, which lasted between the 11th and the 16th century, saw much change on the political scene. By the late 11th century, the kings of Alba were using the term rex Scottorum, or ‘King of Scots’, to refer to themselves. By the 12th century, the Kingdom of Scotland had political boundaries that closely resembled those of the modern nation. Following the Norman conquest of England, Norman influence can be traced in Scotland as well. After the reign of King David I (c. 1084 – 1153), the Scottish kings are often seen as Scoto Norman rather than Gaelic. French institutions, ideas and values took hold. In the Late Middle Ages, the ‘wars of independence’ raged, with Scotland asserting its sovereignty over England through the aid of well-known figures such as William Wallace (late 13th century) and King Robert the Bruce (14th century). The Stewart Dynasty took over in the 15th century and steadily gained power for the crown. It was in the High and Late Middle Ages that many towns developed and grew, and the royal burghs appeared, as well as a large number of castles, churches, and monasteries. For a detailed over view of the Medieval period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Bowler & Rhodes 2022).

The period after 1500 saw major changes in religious, political and economic terms. The Reformation led to the establishment of a new Church through the Reformation Parliament held in 1560. This led to the discontinuation of religious houses, with many of them sacked. Changes were also made to the interior design of churches and in time, a variation of new reformed Churches appeared. In terms of political change, the Union of the Crowns took place in 1603 and with the Acts of Union in 1707 Scotland and England united in a single kingdom.

The Agricultural Improvements, which lasted between the 17th century and the end of the 19th century led to a huge increase in productivity and agricultural net output. This in turn supported an unparalleled growth in population and freed up a large proportion of the workforce. In the Ecomuseum lowland areas, the old outfield-infield farming systems were abandoned, and new crops were introduced together with land drainage and crop rotation. In the Highland areas, livestock production was expanded into lands that had previously been small communal holdings and fermtouns, and population levels decreased. As a result, the existing clan society and structures disintegrated. Before this time, the majority of the population would have had access to land, which they cultivated mostly for their own needs. After the reforms, large parts of the population became wage labourers (Duncan 1999: 92-3). Another result of the Improvements was the introduction of geometrically laid-out villages.

The Industrial Revolution involved the transition to new manufacturing processes, from production by hand to using machinery and the rise of factories. The textile industry developed in the Ecomuseum area because of the availability of waterpower, the locally growing flax, and imported jute and cotton. By the middle of the 19th century, mechanisation of the textile industry and the increasing number of factories had major effects on the population distribution as people moved from the rural areas into the towns. The population of Blairgowrie, for example, increased almost tenfold between 1800 and 1900, to c. 4,000 people (Duncan 1999: 95; Cooke 1999: 190). Other improvements also took place with new road systems and bridges and Blairgowrie received its own waterworks in 1870 (Duncan 1999: 96). Over time, the textile industry went into decline, although Blairgowrie kept its jute mill into the 1960s (Cooke 1999: 190). For a detailed over view of the Medieval period see the  Perth and Kinross Archaeological Research Framework  (Rhodes et al. 2022).

The Ecomuseum contains around 30 significant carved stones from the early medieval Picts, both symbol stones and the later Christian cross slabs (Figure 12). The symbol stones (often named Class I stones) are erratic boulders or roughly prepared slabs of stone, decorated with groups of incised or pecked symbols, such as animals and various objects. The Class II stones are seen to represent the next chronological phase, the coming of Christianity, and are more carefully finished slabs onto which symbols and a cross have been carved on one or both sides. Usually, the cross is on one side and the symbols are on the other. Class III stones are a more disparate group, which is given a rather late date, overlapping in time with Class II. Class III stones are carefully shaped pieces where elaborate crosses are the main features. Some of them also have figural embossed scenes and date from the late 8th and 9th centuries.

In the Ecomuseum, the biggest collection consisting of 26 carves stones dating from the late 700s to late 900s AD are found in the  Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum , discussed below (Section 12.2). The sheer number of stones suggests that an important church or monastery was once located here. They have all been found nearby, many in the churchyard or the old church, when it burnt down in the late 19th century. In addition, there is a Class II stone in Alyth High Kirk ( 30756 ), a Class III stone in Kingoldrum Parish Church ( 32256 ), and a fragment too small to classify in Lintrathen Church ( 318443 ).

Medieval Christianity had a strong presence in the area, although this is not always visible today as medieval buildings and other features have frequently been demolished or incorporated into later churches and their cemeteries. Here, the most important churches with associated cemeteries, chapels and monasteries are discussed in terms of their multi period remains.

Alyth is one of the few locations in the Ecomuseum with standing remains of a medieval church. Approximately 120 metres away from the current parish church (which dates from 1839) are parts of a wall and a 25-metre-long aisled arcade, dating from the late 15th or 16th century. These are the remains of the Old Parish Kirk of St Moloc's ( 30806 ), which seems to have had a square-ended choir, a nave, and aisle(s) of three bays as well as a chapel or sacristy (RCAHMS 1990: 86). As noted above, Meigle is also important in terms of medieval remains although no church from this period has been found. The current Meigle Parish Church ( 30879 ) dates from the late 19th century, and it is noteworthy that when the previous church burnt down, no Romanesque (c. 1000-1150 AD) details were found, which may lend support to the suggestion of a church from the 8th or 9th century (RCAHMS 1994: 130).

There are several other interesting churches dating from the early modern and modern period with reported remains from the Middle Ages. Blairgowrie Old Parish Church ( 225341 ) is one such example; the present church dates from 1824 and a medieval church is recorded for 1207 (RCAHMS 1990: 86). In the churchyard there are gravestones daring from the 17th century onwards, such as a flat slab with the relief inscription 'HERE LYES THE BODYS OF JOHN BAXTER' from 1691 and a slab from 1706 with a skull flanked by crossed bones (a common motif from this period). Bendochy parish church ( 30917 ) is another interesting example. This church was first recorded in 1221 and was, prior to the Reformation, the parish church of Coupar Angus. The present church dates from the 17th century and it was restored around 1885 by Alexander Johnston of Dundee. The medieval church may have been situated on a 20-metre-long terrace on the southern side of the present church. This cemetery too contains several noteworthy gravestones from the 17th and 18th century. Inside the church there is moreover an ornamental sacrament house which probably belonged to William Turnbull, Abbot of Coupar Angus Abbey (1507-1523/4), as well as some late-medieval grave slabs (RCAHMS 1994).

Kingoldrum Parish Church ( 32254 ) is another modern building (dating from 1840), but with an earlier church and a medieval origin. Written evidence states that Kingoldrum church was dedicated to St Medan and given to Arbroath Abbey in 1211-4 by King William I ‘the Lion’. Three fragments of sculptured stones, found in the walls of the older church, suggest an early medieval foundation (RCAHMS 1984: 10 and Canmore). Similarly, Airlie Parish Church ( 268557  and  221978 ), which dates from the 18th century and was built to replace an 17th century church, has a possible medieval effigy built into the wall, suggesting a medieval origin (RCAHMS 1984: 7).

For the church at Spittal of Glenshee ( 268534 ), however, no medieval remains are found and the suggested medieval hospital at Spittal cannot be substantiated. The present church was built in 1831 and a rectangular depression on its south-eastern side suggests there was an earlier, 18th-century chapel, which is further supported by the 18th-century gravestones, as well as map and documentary evidence (RCAHMS 1990: 88).

The Ecomuseum has one monastery: Coupar Angus Abbey ( 30556 ), a Cistercian monastery, which was founded in the grounds of the royal manor of Coupar in 1161/2 under the patronage of King Malcolm IV by monks from Melrose Abbey in the Scottish Borders. The medieval abbey grew wealthy and rather influential with large landholdings (Eagles 1999: 71). Today, only the gatehouse remains (Figure 13), which stands in the south-west corner of the modern cemetery of the Abbey Church in Coupar Angus (the probable location of the old abbey church). Some fragmentary stonework is found by the Gatehouse and also inside the parish church. A number of stone coffins from the monastic cemetery were moreover found in the late 18th century (RCAHMS 1994: 127-8).

Rural settlements from the medieval period are rarely visible on the surface but tend to be found through archaeological excavations. One such example is the Pitcarmick-type buildings which are turf-built houses of long and narrow shape with rounded ends, often in ‘sequence between prehistoric roundhouses and medieval and post-medieval dwellings’ (Carver et al. 2013: 145; RCAHMS 1990: 12). The dates of these buildings have been subject to much debate, but recent work at Pitcarmick has dated these houses to AD 700–850, with reuse between AD 1000 and 1200 (see Strachan et al. 2019 for Lair in Glenshee). These houses are distinctive to the region and have been seen to demonstrate connections with contemporary practices across the North Sea (Carver et al. 2013). There are 25 sites with Pitcarmick-type buildings listed in Canmore in the Ecomuseum, with sites such as Pitcarmick burn ( 27327 ), Lair ( 29437 ) and Pitcarmick Loch ( 27270 ) containing the remains of several turf-built houses, sometimes in association with prehistoric monuments (e.g. the Bronze Age ring cairn at Lair). Typically surviving in upland areas, these houses often form part of the later occupation phase of extensive prehistoric landscapes with field systems and round houses (e.g. Pitcarmick Burn, see Section 10.4).

Farm remains of different kinds are found across the rural landscape, although most are undated. At times they can be found on older maps, such the 1st edition OS maps (1865) or in written sources. Some documentary evidence suggests that rural buildings in the late 17th and 18th century were often constructed around timber-framed structures with wattle and daub walls. There are also many partly upstanding stone buildings (Walker and McGregor 1999b: 178, RCAHMS 1984: 17-24). A number of fermtouns (small clusters of farm buildings and outbuildings for workers) are found in the Ecomuseum, reflecting the construction and layout provided by the written sources (Walker and McGregor 1999b: 178). Altogether the evidence for the Ecomuseum suggests a mixed settlement pattern with some large fermtouns and cottertouns (peasant farms), as well as smaller fermtouns and individual farms. The names of the fermtoun can also serve as a guide, as for example a fermtoun that included a church may take on the name Kirktoun, as in Kirkton of Kingoldrum. Most maps and documents derive from the time after the Improvements and the pre-Improvement landscape is therefore more difficult to reconstruct, but the most common rural settlement type indeed seems to have been fermtouns, which consisted of a cluster of farmhouses with common fields divided into as many ridges (run-rig / rig-and-furrow) as there were farmers. In this way, every farm had an equal share of the good and the bad land (Foster 1999: 115).

An interesting area with a ‘remarkably intact’ pre-Improvement landscape in the Ecomuseum is Glenshee (RCAHMS 1990: 136). This covers an area 2.4 km wide, from the Spittal of Glenshee to Dalmunzie. The remains include a fermtoun, farmsteads and significant traces of former cultivation. The fermtoun is situated around 200 metres from Spittal Church and has the remains of sixteen buildings, many set around yards. The well-preserved old head-dyke runs alongside the glen and below are the remains of rig-and-furrow cultivation. Canmore lists 288 farmsteads dating from the medieval to post-medieval periods (too numerous to discuss in detail here).

Canmore lists 13 ‘castles’ and 11 ‘tower houses’ in the Ecomuseum, and as these two categories have a significant overlap they are best treated together. Most of these remains in the Ecomuseum are of medieval date, with some from the Early Modern Period. The castles vary in design and layout. The early ones from the 12th century are often defined by motte and-bailey, or at times a ringwork, while the later ones were built of stone, often consisting of a curtain wall enclosing a courtyard (Walker and McGregor 1999: 165). ‘Tower houses’ refer to fortified houses dating from the 14th to 17th century. Despite their name they appear in many different shapes and sizes. These buildings are associated with cultivable land and seem to have had links to courts of offices (RCAHMS 1996: 98-101). Many castles and tower houses are still occupied today and may therefore not be accessible to the public.

Clunie Castle (28970) is one of the most interesting sites on the western boundary of the Ecomuseum, located on the natural elevation known as Castle Hill. Clunie features in a range of medieval sources, such as The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba for AD 849, and may have been a fortified site already at this point. King Alexander II reportedly resided at Clunie in 1215, and in 1296 it was occupied by King Edward I. Today, remains of the stone castle are visible, and the presence of an earlier motte is possible. The stone castle was dismantled in the early 16th century and the materials used to construct a tower-house for the Bishops of Dunkeld on an island in the loch. The island is most likely artificial and extended on several occasions. The tower-house is significant as it is an unusual example of ecclesiastical estate architecture, with an L-shaped plan consisting of a main block of three stories and a wing of five stories. It was destroyed by fire in the 20th century and is now a roofless ruin (RCAHMS 1994: 141).

The Ecomuseum has a few other castles with some visible medieval remains. Alyth castle, recorded between 1196 and 1199 (probably identical with Inverquiech Castle ( 30695 ), is regarded as a parallel to Clunie, although today only a few wall remains are visible (RCAHMS 1994: 106-7). Airlie castle ( 251566 ), which was probably constructed after 1432, still has one courtyard wall (9 metres high and 3 metres thick) with a gateway and tower (RCAHMS 1984: 13.) Finally, the Castle of Rattray ( 30764 ) is a motte with two baileys, badly damaged by quarrying.

There is one possible deer park in the Ecomuseum: Buzzart Dikes ( 30556 ) is an earthwork enclosing approximately 86 hectares on Middelton Muir, interpreted as the remains of a medieval the deer park. Large parts of the perimeter have survived, consisting of a bank (1.4 metres high) and an internal ditch (1.2 metres deep), up to 10 metres wide (RCAHMS 1990: 93-4).  Durward’s Dike  (312068) is another possible medieval deer park, and the  Forest of Alyth  seems to have been a royal hunting reserve.

The Ecomuseum has nine burghs recorded in Canmore, although not all may have been established as such: Balnakilly, Balnald, Dalnagairn, Alyth, Blairgowrie, Coupar Angus, Kirkmichael, Meigle and Rattray. A burgh was a Scottish town with royal privileges for trade and a special form of government, expressed through a particular type of architecture. The burghs had the rights to town gates and walls, a tolbooth and a mercat (market) cross (Mair 1988, 5). A common street pattern was a single street which widened (often ‘Broad Street’) to make room for the mercat cross, which was the symbol of the burgh’s right to trade and which was also used for public announcements and punishments (RCAHMS 1996: 78-80). The Tolbooths housed council meetings, court sessions and prisons and the mercat crosses were frequently placed just outside these buildings (Mair 1988: 29–68). The burghs also had ‘luckenbooths’, a row of shops where valuable items were sold, and on either side of the street were the burgess lands with multiple occupancy buildings (RCAHMS 1996: 78-80).

Alyth is the only burgh with clearly visible remains. It was erected a burgh of barony by a charter of King James III (1460-88) ( 68341 ). The surviving market cross ( 30815 ) was erected in 1670 by James, 2nd Earl of Airlie, but has been moved from its original position. The other burghs have few visible remains of their burgh status, but documentary evidence shows that Blairgowrie was erected a burgh of barony in 1634 (and in 1929 united with Rattray, a burgh of 1877 ( 28765 )), while Coupar Angus was erected a burgh of barony in 1607 ( 30961 ), and Kirkmichael in 1511. (27589). Balnakilly, Balnald and Dalnagairn were licensed as burghs, but never seem to have been established as such. In the modern period, townhalls often replaced the tolbooths, and in the Ecomuseum there are three townhalls from the 19th and 20th centuries: in Blairgowrie, Alyth and Coupar Angus.

Evidence for textile industries (flax, jute and rayon) that were so important for Scotland are visible in many parts of the Ecomuseum, such as Blairgowrie and Rattray. Erichtside Works ( 144723 ), where flax spinning and weaving took place, is found on the 1st edition OS map (Perthshire, 1867, sheet LXIII). The Object Name Book (ONB) of the Ordnance Survey described it as follows: ‘This name applies to those very extensive Flax spinning and weaving mills lying on the East side of the River Ericht a short distance from Blairgowrie’ (Ordnance Survey 1859). Other key industrial sites include Craighall, Lornty Mill, Westfield Mill, Bramblebanks Works, and Keithbank Mill.

In the Middle Ages, a looser system of roads and bridges was in place, with some military roads created in the 18th century. In the modern period, the network of communications was expanded and greatly improved. A comprehensive road system was developed in the early 19th century, which went hand in hand with the agricultural improvements (RCAHMS 1996: 63 -5). There are two striking suspension bridges of 19th-century date at Kirkton of Glenisla ( 31135 ; Figure 14) and Haugh of Drimmie ( 29160 ) (RCAHMS 1996: 71-2). The Kirkton of Glenisla bridge is an unusual suspension bridge, made of forged wrought-iron and a timber deck. This is one of the earliest suspension bridges in Scotland and may be the first to have been erected outside the Borders.

A  system of drove roads  also ran through the Ecomuseum, for example the Monega Pass, one of the Mounth Passes. Drove roads were used by herders and drovers to transport their animals, such as cattle and sheep, between farms and sheilings, to markets, as well as other locations.

In the 19th century, the network of railways was also created. In the Ecomuseum, the railway bridge at Crathies Cottages dates from the 19th century ( 30711 ), and there are also six 19th/20th century railway stations, e.g. in Alyth, Blairgowrie and Meigle.

Scotland and the highlands have a long history of renewable energy, dominated by wind turbine and hydro electric schemes. Early hydro schemes from the 1930s to 1960s led the way in the UK industry with renewable energy providing a significant proportion of Scotland’s energy needs. Major hydro electric schemes (lochs, large dams, tunnel systems and power stations) such as Shin, Conon, Great Glen, Foyers and Breadalbane cover vast catchment areas (Scottish and Southern Energy 2005). Although none of these hydro schemes fall within the Cateran Ecomuseum, the Tummel Valley scheme is located just to the west. Early development of this scheme in the 1930s has resulted in a network of interconnected lochs, tunnels and large dams, including the Pitlochry Dam now with a visitor centre. Such is the interest in renewable energy by the wider public, Highland Council has developed a section their website, including an interactive  Hydro Storymap . Other councils have online maps showing renewable energy planning applications and developments, for example the  Perth and Kinross small scale hydro schemes map . Many of the more recent developments are private developments for small scale hydro schemes used to serve small estates or facilities. For example, the new Bucky Burn Hydro scheme near Butterstone within the Ecomuseum area provides enough power for 500 homes every year, including a nearby school.

A key site within the Ecomuseum is the Backwater Reservoir ( 311736 ), located within Glen Isla. Although it is not engaged in hydro electric schemes, this reservoir provides drinking water to places such as Dundee, Angus, and parts of Perth and Kinross, and is connected to the smaller Lintrathen Reservoir. The Backwater Reservoir was begun in 1964 by the Dundee Corporation Waterworks and was officially opened in 1969. The dam embankment is c. 43 metres high and 570 metres long and the reservoir behind the dam covers an area of 3 kilometres.

Only one renewable energy site is listed in Canmore in the Ecomuseum, the Drumderg windfarm ( 349306 ). Sixteen turbines are located on a plateau northeast of Bridge of Cally and north west of Alyth, situated within an area of upland containing numerous prehistoric sites (see section 10.4). The windfarm provides a key landmark in the ecomuseum, visible from the Strathmore in the south and Glenshee in the north. There are numerous small micro turbine developments in the ecomuseum. These renewable developments in the ecomuseum represent some of the most recent industrial sites in the landscape and provide key examples of rapid change.

The archaeological review highlights the range of archaeological remains from over 6,000 years of human history which survive within the Ecomuseum both as standing remains and below the ground surface. Aspects of this cultural heritage have been identified and developed for visitor or community engagement. There is, however, great potential within the Ecomuseum to develop and interpret this heritage to increase knowledge and understanding through new community heritage projects and visitor experiences.

A review of existing heritage visitor attractions within the Cateran Ecomuseum was undertaken to provide a baseline for the area. This review highlighted a limited number of formal visitor attractions or planned visitor experiences, with most of the content aiming to engage visitors with the heritage of the area comprising resources developed by the Cateran Ecomuseum itself.

A key part of the on the ground activity is related to the Cateran Trail, one of a series of long distance walking routes that is part of  Scotland’s Great Trails . Named after the Caterans, medieval cattle raiders who existed in the area in the Middle Ages, the trail is a loop following old drove roads and ancient tracks. It is fully waymarked, extending for 64 miles (103 kms) and is entirely located within the boundaries of the Ecomuseum. The Trail was developed and is maintained and promoted by  Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust  (PKCT). It is divided into five sections, with a mini trail covering a shorter distance of 20 miles (32 kms). PKCT provide a  downloadable leaflet  which includes a map of the route and a brief description of the terrain for each of the stages. The full trail route is also available to  download to GPS devices  through the Komoot app. PKCT has also developed a  geocaching trail  on the Cateran Trail.

At present the visitor experience developed by the Ecomuseum comprises 25 self-guided itineraries focusing on various aspects of the cultural and natural heritage of the Ecomuseum (see Appendix IV for full list of self-guided itineraries). These itineraries are available on the Ecomuseum website, and available to download as a GPS route through the Komoot app. The website also contains further information on over 140 sites of interest within the Ecomuseum, and links to six digital leaflets/booklets including the ‘From Deep Time to Our Time’ cycle tour booklet developed in 2021.

The majority of the self-guided itineraries are devised for cyclists (14 for mountain biking and/or road biking). Each of these itineraries contains a range of web-based content, including videos, music and images, alongside text highlighting key elements of the heritage of that place, often linking into folklore and community history. With the archaeological assessment of the Ecomuseum territory there is potential to expand up this aspect of the Ecomuseum’s offer, to devise new itineraries, and augment existing ones. This includes identifying suitable methods and media for engaging a range of different audiences that the Ecomuseum seeks to engage with (potentially through an interpretation strategy), addressing the different needs for example between schools as compared to overseas visitors. Examples of how this could be developed are outlined in section 16.

In May 2022, the Ecomuseum launched a  new hub in Alyth Museum . This includes a permanent display about the Cateran Ecomuseum and a temporary exhibition which will change each year. In 2022, this featured local myths, legends and stories.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the public body ‘established to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment’. Amongst the 300+ Properties in Care (PICs) managed by HES, is the  Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum  which houses 26 carves stones dating from the late AD 700s to late 900s. The site was closed during the period of data gathering, but it is recognised as holding one of the most important collections of early medieval sculpture in Western Europe. This reflects the importance of the site during the Pictish period, and highlights links across the Ecomuseum area to other Pictish sites in the landscape as well as the wider Pictish kingdoms. The site also has links to myths in the form of the legend of King Arthur, with the mound at the site connected to his Queen ‘Vanora’, as a small plaque in the churchyard suggests (Figure 15).

Alyth Museum is located in the centre of the town and run by  Culture Perth & Kinross , a charitable trust which oversees the delivery of museums, libraries, archives, family and local history and creative learning in Perth and Kinross region. Alyth Museum was closed at the time of data collection as it underwent a redesign, opening again in May 2022. Previous exhibitions have focused on life in the local area, with an  exhibition  and booklet created as part of the Cateran Common Wealth project focusing on The Story of the Cateran Trail in 100 Objects. The revamped museum now contains the  Ecomuseum hub  with permanent and temporary exhibitions, challenging visitors to think about human impacts on the environment and transitions to more sustainable ways of living.

In the uplands the  Mount Blair Community Archive  is a project supported by the Mount Blair Community Development Trust, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Drumderg Community Fund. The project is based around the website and is run by volunteers. It provides content on the social and cultural history of the Mount Blair area, which includes Strathardle and Glenshee. In the lowlands the Coupar  Angus and District Heritage Association  has a small heritage centre in the town focused on photographs, artefacts and maps of the local area and in Blairgowrie and Rattray, the  Our Heritage  Group celebrates the cultural, economic and social heritage of the town.

The Ecomuseum includes two nature reserves, at Loch of Lintrathen run by the  Scottish Wildlife Trust , and Loch of Kinnordy which is a  RSPB  nature reserve. Neither location has a visitor centre nor visitor facilities such as toilets. At Lintrathen visitors have access to two hides, and there are opportunities for fly fishing by permit. At Loch of Kinnordy three viewing hides are available.

An interpretation panel at the old bridge in the Spittal of Glenshee is part of wider provision across Perth and Kinross as part of the Bridging Perthshire’s Past project. This panel focuses on the construction of the bridge as part of the wider development of military roads and bridges in Scotland by British troops “in response to the threat of Jacobite unrest at the time”. The panels contain a brief overview of the reasons for the reasons behind the construction of the military roads and bridges, alongside a map showing their locations (and the location of Spittal of Glenshee). Inset images show an artist’s impression of the phases of construction of the bridge (Figure 16).

Two recent notable projects engaging local communities with the heritage of the Ecomuseum area were the Cateran’s Common Wealth, and the Glenshee Archaeology Project.

The Cateran's Common Wealth project ran during 2017 and focused on a programme of arts, cultural and heritage events and activities around the Cateran Trail with the theme of common wealth, or common weal, in a sense for the benefit and wellbeing of all. Included in the outputs for this project were the exhibition at Alyth Museum – A Story of the Cateran Trail in 100 Objects, a new archive of stories from Alyth, housed in an old red telephone box, a set of curated photographs of the archaeology of the Cateran Trail and a series of for schools to engage with a range of aspects of the area’s heritage, and newly commissioned place name research for the Cateran Trail. The latter provides detail about the place-names and their meanings in Gaelic and Scots and highlights the value of this kind of intangible cultural heritage in creating broader understandings of place (see Appendix III).

The  Glenshee Archaeology Project  was developed by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust in partnership with Northlight Heritage and ran between 2012 and 2017. The project focused 43 on the ‘Pitcarmick’ style buildings at Lair in Glenshee, alongside related features in the landscape, with excavation enabling members of the local community to participate in discovering more about the landscape during the Early Middle Ages (Figure 17). Wider research through the project also produced a  place-name report  (and see Appendix III).

The extraordinary range and quality of the cultural heritage resource in the Cateran Ecomuseum provides huge potential for the development of archaeological and heritage projects and new interpretation. The range and diversity of site types from all periods and areas of highly rich multi-period landscape provides a range of options. This study has demonstrated that there is an extensive depth of potential for developing new projects that address the aims of the Cateran Ecomuseum.

A knowledge exchange workshop and site visits were held with the UHI team and members of the Ecomuseum Board and Alyth Museum in December 2021. This resulted in a broad discussion about the range of sites and landscapes and the potential they could offer. Taking the central ecomuseum concept of ‘rapid transition’ the discussion identified a number of interrelated tropics that could be used to develop wider topics and themes (Figure 18 and see Appendix IV for more detailed development of topics). These are by no means exhaustive, but provide a platform for development. It is recommended that these topics are taken as a starting point, and wider stakeholder groups are consulted.

It is also important to define what we mean by rapid, as the process of change is relative. For example, changes in the Neolithic may have been slower with changes in monument and artefact types taking hundreds or even a thousand years to occur. But in that temporal context some are ‘rapid’, such as the take up of farming– change is relative to its context and has different tempos (Crellin 2020). Historical accounts can bring a sharper resolution to our exploration and understanding of change in the past. Rachel Crellin has recently suggested that change is often ignored in favour of continuity and stability, when change in general is the most pervasive thing (Crellin 2020:1-2). She advocates the importance of time, scale and biography when studying change, and how this should include the diversity and nuances of change in the past, and how things are always in the process of changing, just at different rates and scales (Ibid: Chapter 7). Future work could include ‘Designing for transition’, incorporating radical change and activism; learning about transition in the past and present for the future.

In considering rapid transition / change, the discussion between the UHI team and the Ecomuseum board members identified some types of transition that occur / have occurred in the Ecomuseum which can operate at a range of scales (micro to landscape):

• geographical / spatial
• geological
• technological
• agricultural
• religious / spiritual
• political
• social
• economic
• cultural
• population
• migration

New heritage interpretation can be developed in conjunction with archaeological investigation and other fieldwork to create a short and / or long-term programme of activities. One potential route is to establish a pilot project to help build engagement and use this as part of the process to develop a larger programme along with stakeholder consultation, some of which could be done in landscape. Another option is to undergo stakeholder consultation prior to a larger activities and interpretation programme, using the consultation to guide the areas investigated. There is a key question of scale for any activities programme, which could be discussed at development workshops, as to whether activities targeted a themed question across the whole of the Ecomuseum (and therefore would need to have currency across a varied study area), whether activities focused on a number of sites / case study areas at the same time to address a theme question, or whether a single case study area was investigated in great detail. It is also possible that different levels of fieldwork (intrusive and non-intrusive) could be employed to provide different levels of investigation at a number of locations (e.g. one site could form a focus with more detailed fieldwork, and the others could have limited interlinked non-intrusive activities). Any programme would benefit from targeting a tightly defined theme question to give it focus and maximise impact, whilst still addressing some of the bigger questions and aims. Either way, a staged process of consultation, fieldwork and interpretation would be most effective.

The following section provides examples of the potential to develop projects focusing on different aspects of heritage within the Ecomuseum. These are not presented here as recommendations for projects, but rather as a starting point to highlight the range of approaches which may be taken to develop projects around the idea of “rapid transition”, with an overarching theme that “rapid transition is caused by the movement of people and ideas that result in dramatic change”.

The exemplars listed below (1-6) can be used as a starting point for further consultation and development (Phase II). These exemplars can be elaborated and do not at this stage provide project designs.

Location: Fermtouns/landscape around Spittal of Glenshee and Blairgowrie

Time: 17th – 19th/20th centuries

Overview: This case study involves rapid change that impacted on life and landscape as a result of the Improvements and Clearances. At this time, people were forced off their land where their families may have lived for centuries and as a result many people became wage labourers in other rural or urban areas. This time period involved a massive shift of population, above all from upland areas to the now expanding towns where they found work in mills and other factories.

This involved changes on several levels, including: 1) Physical and infrastructural change, which can be studied via the fermtouns and urban areas in Blairgowrie. 2) Social and cultural shift in practices as people moved from the land to settlements and town. Deterioration in health as some towns had poor water supplies and low accessibility of fresh produce. 3) Further migration could be investigated (e.g. people leaving for Canada or Australia). 4) Linguistic changes in the switch from Gaelic to Scots and English.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including survey of fermtouns and industrial buildings, archival searches for individual stories connected to the Ecomuseum relating to migration, urban life.

Potential outputs: Interpretive media; new interpretations, detailed site histories, scaled plans and maps, project reports, updates to HER / Canmore, walking routes.

Location: Various potential locations e.g. Muir of Gormac, Lornty Burn. Option for multiple sites across the Ecomuseum

Time: around 4000 – 2000 BC

Overview: These intriguing designs connect us with the actions of individual people in the past. Often found along routeways in the landscape or carved into other prehistoric monuments such as standing stones or significant earth fast rocks, these enigmatic features are part of a landscape of rapid change as humans settled the land to farm, adopting new ideas and technologies. The rock art of the Ecomuseum provides connections to people across the British Isles and to parts of western Europe. Were they spiritual designs connected with ancestors and a living landscape? Were they waypoints or markers at significant places in the landscape? Many rock art sites are located at prominent places in the landscape with interconnecting views or of the coastline. In the Ecomuseum, rock art is typically found on earth fast stones and sometimes part of more complex sites such as areas of settlement and field systems.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including walkover survey; planning and recording; school activities – art/maths.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media. Learning resource pack for school children (could also include Pictish stones to broaden the scope). Updating rock art records in Canmore, 3D models.

Location: Landscape around Meigle/Coupar Angus

Time: AD 400 – 1300

Overview: This case study involves rapid change that impacted on people and landscape as a result of religious shift. The Picts seem to have adopted Christianity from the 6th century onwards. Although little is known of Pictish pre-Christian religion and practices, they can be linked to key places in the landscape, such as symbol stones and burials. Christianity as a religion is strongly expressed in material culture, such as churches, churchyards, and monasteries. Early medieval Christianity in the Ecomuseum is above all visible in the stone sculpture held at Meigle. Remains from the High and Late Middle Ages tend to be found within later churches, but Coupar Angus Abbey is an exception and therefore highly interesting. Changes in belief systems did not only involve mental shifts, but had a major impact on the physical landscape, with shifts to new religious sites. With the rise of monasticism and Cistercian Monastery at Coupar Angus, the surrounding landscape also changed by the introduction of drainage of land, the setting up of Grange farms, the growing of medicinal herbs. These changes would have affected both the monastic community and the wider population.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including geophysical survey of cropmark sites; fieldwalking.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media, new interpretations, detailed site histories, scaled plans and maps, project reports, updates to HER / Canmore, walking routes.

Location: Prehistoric landscape and renewables development Drumderg

Time: 1000 BC (and extended more broadly)

Overview: The upland prehistoric landscapes in the Ecomuseum, for example around Drumderg, have a range of sites linked to prehistoric agriculture and settlement, including round houses, field systems and burnt mounds. Evidence from other parts of Scotland suggest that these upland areas were abandoned in the Late Bronze Age, a time of climate change. This landscape change presents an opportunity to link into narratives of climate change and climate crisis and people living on the edge in the present. Human response to climate change also extends back to Neolithic (introduction to farming; settling landscape) and Mesolithic (humans exploiting resources after retreat of ice). It could include renewable energy sites such as wind farms and hydro schemes and their role in tackling the climate crisis (material culture associated with construction and use). Work could form the basis for new walking routes in the Ecomuseum.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including geophysical survey; measured survey; walkover survey; excavation.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media, project reports, scaled plans, 3D models, updates to HER / Canmore, walking routes.

Location: various across the Ecomuseum e.g. Roman roads, 18th-century military roads, and rivers.

Time: AD 100 – 300; AD 300 – 700 AD; 1720s – 1760s

Overview: This case study focuses on various periods and phases of activity related to roads and routeways, including rivers. The development of land-based travel can be studied in the Roman period with the construction of a long-stretching system of roads, as well as any continued use of these roads in the early medieval period. What impact did the new road system have on the Iron Age communities of the area in terms of movement and travel through the landscape? Another important aspect is the enabling of greater control/coercion of both people and landscape. Another period of rapid change in terms of roads and routeways was the 18th century and the creation of the military roads, which further impacted on life in the Highlands. Rivers should also be included as they naturally were important routeways across time and can usefully be studied together with land-based movements and travel.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including walks; measured survey, walkover survey; map regression, archive work.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media, project reports, maps, updates to HER / Canmore, walking routes.

Location: Upland settlement (e.g. Dalrulzion settlement)

Time: 2000 BC to 1000 AD

Overview: Late prehistoric settlement and land use change could be explored through a detailed case study of an upland settlement. Many upland settlements, after being recorded by the RCAHMS survey, have since received little attention. The plans and descriptions drawn by RCAHMS could be revisited, with additional condition surveys made through walkover survey. Geophysical survey could be used to answer specific questions about the evolution of the upland settlement. Excavation could be used to target field boundaries and other structures to put the settlement in a wider context and recover material for dating. Some settlements, such as Dalrulzion, are currently within an area of forestry, providing an opportunity to reassess sites in this environment and work with other partners, e.g. the land owner, and Forest and Land Scotland. The area around Lornty Burn and Middleton Muir NW of Blairgowrie is another rich prehistoric landscape, including Middleton Muir Ring cairn (accessible from the Cateran Trail), providing an alternative focus for this case study.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including geophysical survey; LiDAR analysis / survey, walkover survey; excavation.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media, project reports, updates to HER / Canmore, new walking routes.

Location: Lowland/Meigle area

Time: 19th – 21st centuries

Overview: Landscape and farm study into the development and current activities of the fruit growing industry. This could involve looking at the industry on a landscape scale and exploring some farms with detailed case studies. Archive work could study historical maps and material. Field recording could record traces of the history of the industry, explore the development and change of farms, and record present day buildings and structures. Oral history recording could explore family connections, memories and what thigs were / are used for. Case studies could include an area with more ancient crop marks, which could be explored with excavations to extend interpretation and narratives back in time. Topics could include agriculture, industry, labour, migration, flooding, land use etc.

Potential activities: community and voluntourism opportunities including archive research, map and air photo interpretation, oral histories, walkover survey; building recording, excavation.

Potential outputs: Range of opportunities for outputs including interpretive media.

Archaeological fieldwork typically uses a series of stages in order to deliver effective research and engagement processes and outputs. Fieldwork would normally follow the sequence of desk-based assessment and non-intrusive investigations leading to intrusive excavation. For example, a case study area in an upland setting could be assessed with walkover survey and measured survey, which could lead to test pitting and further excavation. Another example in the lowland setting could start with aerial photographs, field walking, test pitting and further excavation to investigate a cropmark site.

Photogrammetry and drone survey can be used to enhance the interpretation of sites and areas, also enabling greater inclusivity through sharing and virtual experiences online. Geophysical survey would be topography and geology dependent (e.g. limited with igneous bedrock), but could potentially be employed in Strathmore to investigate cropmark sites. For more contemporary sites, a combination of non-intrusive fieldwork might be more appropriate, for example archive research, GIS mapping, walkover survey and photogrammetry / drone survey could be used to study fruit growing farms. There is potential through non-invasive techniques to inform development of new heritage interpretation for case study areas.

A summary of archaeological methods, from desk-based analysis, non-intrusive and intrusive fieldwork is shown in Appendix II.

Climate change is a fast-growing threat to heritage with many sites already suffering negative impacts, damage and degradation (Day et al. 2019: 3). Impacts include rising temperatures, sea level rise, extreme precipitation, storm intensity and frequency, flooding, coastal and river erosion, drought, worsening wildfires and human displacement (ibid.). These impacts are likely to worsen and all but coastal erosion may increasingly impact heritage assets in the Cateran Ecomuseum (e.g. built heritage, upland and lowland archaeological sites and landscapes). Recent flooding and extreme storms in the region have been tangible evidence for climate change. Currently, no study has been undertaken to assess the impact of climate change on heritage and archaeology in the Ecomuseum. A climate risk assessment was recently carried out to pilot a ‘Climate Vulnerability Index’ (CVI) for World Heritage sites, using 51 the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site as a case study (Day et al. 2019). This method assesses climate impacts to sites with Outstanding Universal Value (criteria used by UNESCO to assess World Heritage status) and community value (local, domestic and international). The study indicated that the CVI process highlighted the potential value of a repeatable framework for the rapid assessment of non-World Heritage sites across Scotland, with the potential to contribute to decision-making and management (ibid.: 49).

This cultural heritage assessment has demonstrated the great potential for further development of the Cateran Ecomuseum, highlighting the nature and extent of the archaeological and wider heritage resource across the area. This underlines the opportunity to increase the range of projects and outputs that will help address the aims of the Ecomuseum, particularly the focus on the ‘Museum of Rapid Transition’ programme. This can be through the existing work of the Ecomuseum, and to develop new projects under the Ecomuseum umbrella. This study has summarised the archaeological resource and heritage interpretation for the ecomuseum area and provided a series of outline case studies.

Engaging the community and visitors with the archaeology and wider heritage of the Ecomuseum is a key aim. Developing new projects within the Ecomuseum has scope to address the needs of local communities, so that they can benefit from the landscape they inhabit. It has been suggested that because heritage participation is a matter of free choice, the influence of motivational factors on visitors’ learning is of paramount importance, and there is some evidence that personal goals or pre-visit agendas influence visitors’ behaviour and learning in museums (Packer and Ballantyne, 2002). Developing the interpretation provision within the area will also encourage more visitors to the Ecomuseum, inspiring them to stay longer and engage more deeply with the place and its people. This will have benefits for local communities and visitors as it strengthens the development of a circular economy.

The proposed Phase II of this project will enable some of these ideas to be realised, with plans developed to extend the impact into the mid- and long-term, for example through training members of the local community to enable future projects to be developed and managed within the capacities of the Ecomuseum, raising funds that can support new employment opportunities.

The following recommendations and next steps have been identified from the research along with consultation at the knowledge exchange workshop, leading to and/or part of Phase II:

1. There is an opportunity to take a holistic approach to interpretation across the Ecomuseum, given the limited existing heritage interpretation (especially in landscape), beyond the new Ecomuseum Hub at Alyth Museum and the website. There are a range of opportunities for the Ecomuseum to develop greater non-personal and personal interpretive experiences for different audiences. The development of an interpretation strategy for the Ecomuseum would provide a framework for the development of interpretive provision in a coherent and connected way.
2. Evaluate the proposed case studies and topics to see how they / some of them can be used to explore change and transition in different contexts and tempos.
3. Consultation workshops with key stakeholder groups in the Ecomuseum would be advisable (leading to and/or part of Phase II). This could be based on the case studies and topics identified and ‘rapid change’ to evaluate how to develop and refine them. Key groups and ideas from the consultation could be used to target the activities programme.
4. Archaeology and heritage projects could link to wider interpretation and marketing / promotion of the Ecomuseum, addressing push / pull factors relating to visitors’ choices to visit. A pilot fieldwork project could be used as another form of consultation, initial engagement and as evidence of the need for larger projects.
5. Heritage at Risk: explore the potential for undertaking a heritage at risk assessment in the ecomuseum. This could apply the Climate Vulnerability Index (Day et al. 2019) to non-world heritage sites and contribute to prioritising archaeological fieldwork objectives and the management of sites and landscapes.
6. Any fieldwork strategy must match Ecomuseum aims and objectives for regenerative archaeology with a circular economy approach using participatory science and volunteering. A sustainable approach to fieldwork is recommended linked to case studies/topics. It is moreover important to acknowledge that excavation is unsustainable, as museum storage is often full and archaeology in itself is a finite resource. In view of this, a focus on sites threatened by climate change e.g. flooding and erosion could be targeted (e.g. the current LiDAR data matches these threatened areas as it was produced by the environment agency for flood management). Key sites under threat could be identified, or alternatively a model / next step to do this could be proposed. This process could add to the HER and support the management of sites and landscapes.
7. Use part of the Cateran Trail as a springboard for shorter walks, providing more accessible routes that draw on the fieldwork. The routes could be enhanced with walkover survey and other archaeology activities to feed into developing a route and interpretation.
8. LiDAR analysis of existing data: The pilot assessment undertaken as part of this study has demonstrated the high potential for the existing LiDAR data set. More widespread detailed processing, digitising and analysis of the existing dataset would be beneficial for the interpretation and management of sites and landscapes within the area covered by the data. This could link with case study areas and sites if possible.
9. LiDAR survey: there is a case to seek funding for a LiDAR survey of entire Ecomuseum area, to cover upland areas as well as lowland areas. This could link in with other forms of land use management such as forestry, estates and flood management and could support detailed studies, for example prehistoric landscape deep mapping with detailed surveys.
10. Expanding the place-name analysis across the entire Ecomuseum area would provide a sense of deeper time from a cultural heritage perspective and link in to developing themes for the Ecomuseum. This data could be visualised into the Ecomuseum GIS.
11. On the ground there is no confirmation of visitors arriving in or leaving the Ecomuseum. Consider potential for boundary markers / welcome markers and main routes into the Ecomuseum area to raise awareness of the Ecomuseum amongst residents and visitors.
12. Basic GIS training would be beneficial for Ecomuseum board to utilise the supplied data sets. The GIS could support new map visualisations and interactions on the ecomuseum website.
13. Develop placements within the Ecomuseum working with partners to develop themes. Future archaeology and heritage projects could also provide work placement, local employment and voluntourism opportunities.
14. Residents and visitors could be made heritage guardians (Like the SCAPE model for coastally eroding sites in Scotland) to monitor, photograph and record sites under threat.
15. Engagement with local schools to develop sets of archaeology / heritage activities suitable for children and young people in line with the curricula.
16. A long-term strategy could be developed aiming to train the local community to continue non-invasive projects over a longer period and bringing in funds that can support these employment opportunities. In addition, the team will, in collaboration with the Ecomuseum Board, provide more detailed plans to assist with the development of their ‘people’, ‘places’ and ‘landscapes’ topics and suitable activities for the Phase II programme (e.g. engagement and training, field survey, evaluation excavation, heritage interpretation). The team will make recommendations for potential avenues where archaeology and heritage can contribute to the circular economy, regenerative tourism, and volunteering opportunities.

Report text: Daniel Lee (1), Alex Sanmark (2), Steven Timoney (2), Crane Begg (1)

1 Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, UHI Archaeology Institute

2 Institute for Northern Studies, Perth College UHI

LiDAR assessment and Figures: Crane Begg

The project was managed by ORCA, UHI Archaeology Institute (Project no 927).

Many thanks to Clare Cooper and the Cateran Ecomuseum Board.

Thanks to Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust HER and Aberdeenshire HER for supplying the HER data for the Ecomuseum area under license free of charge.

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Canmore site types with frequency of more than 3, providing and overview of the range and frequency of the more common site types:

Common Wealth Project

 Stage 1: Blairgowrie to Kirkmichael 

 Stage 2: Kirkmichael to Spittal of Glenshee 

 Stage 3: Spittal of Glenshee to Kirkton of Glenisla 

 Stage 4: Kirkton of Glenisla to Alyth 

 Stage 5: Alyth to Blairgowrie 

 Mini Trail 

Glenshee Archaeology Project

 The Place-names of Glenshee 

Content on website with route available to download as gpx:

The Last Glaciers in Glenshee (walk) –  link 

A Spin Along the Ericht (walk) –  link 

Den ‘o’ Alyth (walk) –  link 

In & Around Kirkmichael (walk) –  link 

Alyth Auld Town (walk) –  link 

A History Tour around the Kirkton of Glenisla (walk) –  link 

Hill of Alyth (walk) –  link 

Bamff Estate and Bamff Wildland Project (walk) –  link 

Alyth Geotours (walk) –  link 

Monega Pass Mountain Bike Adventure (bike) –  link 

Cateran Gran Fondo Road Bike Adventure (bike) –  link 

Kitty Swanson’s Family Gravel Bike Gallivant (bike) –  link 

Three Towns Road Bike Ride (bike) –  link 

Kindrogan Woods Gravel Bike Circular (bike) –  link 

Drimmie Woods Gravel Bike Stravaig (bike) –  link 

Hill of Alyth & Bamff Wildland Mountain Bike Tour (bike) –  link 

Hill of Alyth Road Bike Ramble (bike) –  link 

Hill of Alyth Road Bike Ramble (bike) –  link 

Backwater and Glenisla Gravel Bike Jaunt (bike) –  link 

Glenisla and Kilry Gravel Bike Trail (bike) –  link 

Strathmore’s Secrets Road Bike Reveal (bike) –  link 

Glenisla Forest Gravel Bike Meander (bike) –  link 

Forter & Folda Road Bike Rove (bike) –  link 

Loch of Lintrathen Road Bike Tour (bike) –  link 

Backroads and Byways to Glenisla (car) –  link 

The Snowroads Scenic Route (car) –  link