An age of transition? Castles and the Scottish Highland estate in the 16th and 17th centuries

Abstract

In the archaeology of post-medieval rural Scotland, research traditions have inhibited understanding of social change prior to the 18th century as the emphasis has been on the dramatic overturn of 'traditional' society with Improvement and the Clearances. This contrasts with the situation for England and, indeed other parts of Europe, where there is an established concern for the much earlier 'Age of Transition' from medieval to modern. Here I explore the ancestry of Improvement by considering the genesis of the landed estate in the 16th and earlier 17th centuries, and this is primarily achieved through an analysis of the architecture and geography of castles in one area of the Highlands. This case study concerns the castles of the Glenorchy Campbells, a lineage emerging in the earlier 15th century and proceeding to become one of the most significant of Scottish, and British, landed families. In no small part through a changing approach to castle building, their rise was predicated on the transformation of clan territory into landed estate in the period after 1550. The usefulness of the 'Age of Transition' construct, in this specific context and in general, is appraised. In concluding, I argue for the alternative of the dialectical Marxist concept of contradiction. This places the focus on tension, fluidity, and lack of resolution in society, running counter to the idea of transition from one state to another. With contradiction, modern society as a simply definable entity is never established and cannot be delineated in a straightforward way. It is an itinerant process, constantly emerging and changing.     

“Eastern” ornaments of the 11th‐13th centuries in the Sami areas: Origins and routes

Ornaments of east‐European origin found at Viking Age and Early Medieval sites in northern Scandinavia have been analysed by many Scandinavian scholars. In the Scandinavian context, the presence of these import items has given rise to many theories concerning inter‐ethnic relations and the function of these ornaments as markers of ethnicity. In this paper, the Soviet scholar N. A. Makarov offers an analyses of where these “eastern” ornaments could have been produced and what their distribution patterns in these areas may reveal about the origins of and contact routes between various peoples.     

Traditional Perceptions of the Dog Among the Khakas People of the Late 19th–Mid-20th Century

The article describes a body of myths and rituals associated with the dog, one of the most prominent ? gures of Khakas folklore. The analysis covers the functional and symbolic aspects of the dog as well as the relationship between the dog and rituals associated with life cycles.     

Rminiscences of the 10th Panchen Erdeni

Talkingaboutthesuddendemiseofthe1OthPanchenErdeniinTibet1Oyearsago.everyoneImetexpressedtheirsorrowbysay-ing"Itwasfartooearly".Indeed,the1OthPanchenErdeniwasagreatmasterreveredbyall.MyfirstmeetingwithhimtookplaceinLanzhouinApril1951,whenIwasworkingintheEthnicGroupOfficeoftheCPCGansuProvincialUnitedFrontWorkDepartment.HewasonhiswaytoBeijingtopaytributetotheCentralGovernmentandassistinthenegotiationswiththelocalgov-ernmentofTibetonmattersconcern-ingthepeacefulliberationofTibet.Heimpr…     

Headaches of the 14th Dalai Lama

AIthoughthe14thDalaicliquehasbeenmakingabigfanfareaboutthesocalled"Tibetanissue",thecliqueisbeingtornLapartbyinfightingHEROSBECOMEENEMY.The"fourriversandsixmountainranges"referstoareactionaryrebelorganizationfirstfoundedbysomeheadmen,religiousfiguresandbanditsinearly1956intheTibetanareasinSichuanandYunnan.In1958,asegmentmovedintoTibet,totheappreciationandsupportofthe14thDalaiLamaandTibetanseparatistforces.The"religionprotectionarmyofthefourriversandsixmountainranges"wasformedtoresis…     

Paleopathology of The Population of Krasnoyarsk,Central Siberia (Pokrovskiy and Voskresensko-Preobrazhenskiy Cemeteries of the 17th– Early 20th Centuries)

Published data on the paleopathology of Siberian populations are scarce. However, two samples of adult and non- adult skeletons taken from excavations at the Pokrovskiy (17th–18th centuries) and Voskresensko-Preobrazhenskiy (17th–early 20th century) cemeteries in Krasnoyarsk (123 and 204; 101 and 81, respectively) revealed cases of rickets, tuberculosis, and congenital syphilis in children, and vertebral tuberculosis and tertiary syphilis in adults. Trauma areas included ribs, hands, forearms, and tibiae. These two samples provide evidence on which to base an assessment of the health of the Krasnoyarsk population from 1628 to the early 1900s.     

Reincarnation of the 6th Living Buddha Razheng

Whiletherestoftheworldgreetedtheadventofthenewmillenniumwithfireworks,theTibetanscelebratedwithagrandBuddhisteventofhistoricalsignificance.OnJanuary16,2000,two-yearoldSoinamPuncogwasrecognizedasthereincarnatedsoulboyofthelate6thLivingBuddhaRazheng.BornonOctober13,1997inJialiCountyinnorthernTibet,theboybecamethe7thLivingBuddhaRazhenginfrontofthestatueofSakyamuniintheJokhangMonasteryinLhasawiththeapprovaloftheCentralGovernment.SEARCHINGFORTHESOULBOY.Followingthedeathofthe6thLiv…     

In Memory of the 10th Panchen Erdeni

he10thPanchenErdenihasbeengonefromusforeightsharpyears.HissmilesandwhathedidfortheTibetansaresofreshinmymindthatImisshimverymuch.IfirstmettheBuddhistmasterinthelate-197oswhenChina,havingexperi-encedthe1o-yearordealduringthechaotic"culturalrevolution",wasb…     

Birds in the medieval culture and economy of the East Slavs in the 10–13th centuries AD

The paper is devoted to a re-examination of the bird remains from the numerous East Slavic settlements (10–13th centuries AD). Species diversity suggests that medieval people in the Eastern Europe used birds for food, falconry, in ritual and, possibly, for aviary specimens and pets. Furthermore, bird feathers were used for preparing arrows. The most popular bird of prey was goshawk. Primary game birds were ducks, geese, swans, common crane and corvids along with black grouse and capercaillie in forest zones. The archaeological data present evidence for the use of wild birds (e.g., hooded crow) in funeral ceremonies for the first time. The majority of the identified birds have not changed their distribution, but in recent times some of these taxa have become rarer. Red-breasted goose is now extant in the area but its remains were found in the medieval layers, although this species could have been an occasional visitor in the Ukraine. Archaeological data and historical sources prove that white stork has lived in the territory of Ukraine since the Middle Ages or even earlier. The most common domestic poultry for the East Slavs was chicken. Domestic ducks and geese were much rarer. Historical documents were also consulted in this study and these also contribute to our understanding of the role of birds in the life of the East Slavs.     

A Gift to the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of Qamdo─On "Qamdo of Tibet: History Tradition and Modernization

Atthetimewhenthe500,000PeopleofQamdowerecelebratingthe5Othanniversaryoftheliberationoftheirarea,thebookQaIndoofnbet'Histo-ryTraditionandModemizationcameoffthepresses.WthLiGuanRwen,YangSongandGelegaschiefeditors,thebookisChina'sfirstacadendcworkexplainingthehistoryandstatusquooftheregioninasystematicway.Thebookcontainstheresultsofresearchintothetr8ditionalcultUreandmod-ernizationintheTibetan-inhabitedareasofChina,aprojectconductedundertheleadershipofGeleg.AdozenpeoplefromBeijing,Chengdu…