The abandonment of souterrains: evolution, catastrophe or dislocation?

This paper* considers the evidence for the abandonment of souterrains in that part of east central Scotland characterized by Wainwright as 'southern Pictland'. The evidence suggests that most souterrains here were deliberately destroyed, or at least infilled, and that none seems to have outlasted the early third century AD. The process of destruction seems to have been associated with a significant degree of ritual activity not previously noted. It is postulated that the evidence would allow for a single episode of abandonment (a 'souterrain abandonment horizon'), in the late second or early third century AD, which might be related to a major reorientation of social and political structures, perhaps associated with changes in Roman frontier policy. THE SOUTERRAINS OF 'SOUTHERN PICTLAND' Souterrains, albeit under a variety of epithets, have been recognized since the first stirrings of antiquarian interest in Scotland. As early as the 18th century, souterrains were being discovered, explored, and speculated upon, while the arable intensification of the Improvements brought a steady flow of new discoveries during the 19th century. This gave rise to numerous antiquarian records of enormously variable quality. F T Wainwright, the founder of modern studies of souterrains, recognized the immense variety in the form, and probably also in the date and function, of structures which had been classed as souterrains throughout Scotland (Wainwright 1953a). Indeed many shared little more than their subterranean setting. In order to facilitate meaningful analysis, therefore, he took the important step of isolating a distinctive group of large, generally stone-lined, curving, passagelike souterrains overwhelmingly concentrated in Angus and neighbouring Perthshire (Wainwright 1963). Where dating evidence was available (almost exclusively in the form of Roman objects), it appeared that this group could be placed broadly in the period from around AD 50-250 (ibid, 116). Despite the great increase in the numbers of known souterrains over the past two decades, this 'southern Pictland' group retains its geographical integrity (illus 1). In broad terms the 'southern Pictland' group can be seen to be concentrated in Angus and lowland Perthshire, extending into northern Fife and south Kincardineshire. Important outliers are scattered south of the Forth in Midlothian and around the northern fringes of the * School of Archaeology & Palaeology, Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 INN t This paper was awarded the Chalmers-Jervise prize. 578 SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1999