An Archaeology Outing

One of the classes I'm taking here is entitled Archaeology in the Modern World. I'm taking this because I have always been interested in Archaeology and it is the closest I could get to a class for my major (Anthropology). Anyway, part of the class included a day of field work. Now from that description I was super excited. I thought we were going to go to a dig or a site that had been recently excavated and see what it was like. This was not the case. At all. Instead what this entailed was going to four different sites of archaeological significance (a cathedral, a castle, a broch, and a Roman fort) and taking notes on how they were displayed to the public. There were two different groups that traveled the sites in opposite directions. My group happened to be the one going backwards in time....it also happened to be FREEZING.


The first stop was Dunblane Cathedral. From the second we got off the bus I was thinking about my mom. I know this sounds strange but my mom LOVES churches. It has gotten to the point that every time we pass a church (usually on road trips) we yell out "Look mom a church!" I mean she really loves castles too but since we don't have them in the states a game was never developed for them. Anyway, the cathedral was beautiful. It was a mix of Norman and Gothic architecture which I found very interesting. The woodwork was also extremely impressive. The cathedral is lined with cloisters on either side that show some signs of weathering since it was without a roof for quite a period of time. What we were supposed to learn from this site is how to achieve a mix of historical site and working building since the cathedral does hold regular services. We were in the cathedral for about 30 minutes then it was off to the next site, Doune Castle.

Doune Castle is a very pretty little castle, however the weather was starting to decline rapidly (so there will be fewer pictures as we go along). The castle was built for the Regent Albany and he used it during his campaign for the crown, saying that he already had the castle so he should be king. The castle's most famous feature is the gatehouse tower which holds the Lord's hall and some beautiful views from the top. If you manage to make it up the terrifying steps. We were told to notice a few steps and label the rooms on a floor plan we were given for a graded online worksheet we were to complete later. We were also told some interesting facts about the castle. For instance, they are not entirely sure if the castle is unfinished or meant to look the way it does. The castle has also been featured in a couple of movies including Ivanhoe and the French Guard scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In fact, the gift shop sold coconut shells until recently. After a cold visit here we were off to an even worse weather location...

After a short break in Sterling for some food and the facilities my group was off to Tappock Broch. This location is somewhat hidden from the public. There aren't any clear signs pointing to the broch and there is no information about the structure once you get to it. The group arranged themselves on top of the walls while one of our lecturers positioned himself in the middle to talk to us about it. We found out that there is very little known about the broch. It was only excavated once in the late 1800s and record keeping was not what it is today. For those of you who don't know what a broch is, its basically a round tower used to either store things or as sort of a central meeting/gathering location for a population. We were given some time to look around the broch but by this point we were all freezing since it was snowing, raining, and hailing. We were also right out in the open without any cover what so ever. All we wanted to do was get back in the warm coach.

Our final stop was Bar Hill. This site is on a farmer's property up a pretty substantial hill. The climb warmed me up nicely but the effort was not really worth the site. It was very underwhelming. The site included cement in the shape of where the foundation of the main building and the bath house would be with small signs dictating what the rooms were (they were not always helpful). We were told that this is very representative of the 1960s style of presenting sites. I did enjoy seeing s glimpse of the Antonine Wall but other than that I was just ready to go back to the University. I had lost feeling in my extremities and we were all pretty miserable since the rain was relentless. We looked around for a little bit and everyone was pretty quiet when attempting to discuss the site so we were finally off to the bus to head back.

The Antonine Wall (what I was most interested in)

Overall it was probably one of the worst field trips I've been on. It took me several hours to get full range of movement back to my hands. I went straight back to my flat, put on my pjs, made some tea, and curled up in bed. It was interesting comparing the way sites are displayed and I'm sure if the weather had been tolerable I would have really enjoyed it. It kind of sucks that the success of the trip was dictated by forces beyond our control but that happens. I just wish I were here for the archaeology courses offered to second years. That's when the learn to dig up stuff and go to a field school over the summer. So lucky.

Principia Consortium Field Trip

My studying here in Glasgow is through a program the university has with liberal arts schools in the States, specifically with their Honors Program. There aren't very many schools that take part in this program and Christopher Newport is the only one in Va. So as a stipulation of the program, everyone participating is required to take the class Scottish Enlightenment: Ideas and Influences where basically we talk about the major figures of the Scottish Enlightenment and their contributions to the era. Another part of this program was a planned field trip which we took part in this weekend. There are only 10 people participating in the Principia program this semester so we're a pretty small group.

The day started off with everyone boarding a small, yet very comfortable bus, at 8:45am. Then we were off to our first stop, Robert Burns's Birthplace. Robert Burns is a very famous Scot because of his poetic contributions. He is celebrated throughout the world on his birthday (which I talked about in a previous blog). He also has more monuments and statues around the world than any other author. It's about a 45 minute drive from Glasgow to Alloway where the Burns Cottage and Birthplace Museum are located. Once we arrived in Alloway we headed to the Burns' Cottage, but unfortunately we arrived early and it wasn't open yet so we took a wee walk through the town. The town is really only made up of one street so we meandered for a while then decided to head back. Once we got into the site our Professor who was accompanying us told us some facts about the house before we were joined by a tour guide who would be accompanying us until we reached the museum, a short walk away. The cottage was built in 1757 and is still standing today in great shape with only one mishap occurring during a winter storm soon after Burns' birth. His father fixed that wall very well and it is in great shape today. The cottage is made up basically of four rooms, one to keep the animals at night, one for milking, churning, and cheese making, one as a parlor/family room, and one as the bedroom. This was typical of the time and the Burns were not terribly poor people. They had some cows and William Burns was a groundskeeper for a more prominent member of society in the town.

One of the scarier aspects of the cottage

After we looked through the cottage we took a walk along a path that lead to the Birthplace Museum. The path is fondly called Poet's Path and has statues depicting several works by Burns along the way, the most notable being Tam o' Shanter (a poem about a drunk man and witches). We stopped by the Auld Kirk which was built in 1516 but has been in ruins since Robert Burns' time in the town, yet it is the resting place of Robert's father William. His gravestone is inscribed with Burns' eulogy on the back. There is still a lot of superstition surrounding the Kirk and many patrons are afraid to walk by it at night. Across the street from the Auld Kirk is the newer Church which was built in the 19th century. We then walked towards Brig o' Doon which has a beautiful bridge and gardens. It is adjacent to the Burns Monument and Gardens, which was our next destination. We went into the monument which has some lovely views of the town but is in need of some TLC. The paint was peeling in several places and it looked as though it hadn't been dusted in several years. Our last stop in Alloway was the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Here the tour guide left us and we were free to explore the museum and get lunch. Becca and I being the fiscal curmudgeons we our took the packed lunch route but everyone else in the group got lunch from the cafe in the museum. The food looked really good by the way. Then we went into the exhibit, which isn't very large but you can only have so much stuff to commemorate one guy. I learned about Burns' reputation with the ladies, which is quite extravagant. He fathered 16 children to 5 women, several of his illegitimate children were raised by his wife as well. Burns was a pretty famous man even in his own time, which is strange for a poet. He sold out the first edition of his poetry collection in 6 weeks. There was more information about the time as well as references to the level of influence Burns really has (they alluded to some pretty interesting people...). But probably the most interesting fact I learned is that Robert Burns died on my birthday in 1796. I know, that's really cool.

William Burns' grave

These poor people lost 3 children in 3 days

remnants of the auld kirk

and the newer kirk

Burns Monument

After the museum we made our way to Culzean (kul-layn) Castle which is absolutely stunning. It is right on the water and is associated with a large piece of property with several gardens, walking trails, ponds, and a deer enclosure. We had about 2 hours to wander around the grounds as we wished. Unfortunately the actual castle was closed to visitors but we got to see a good deal of the extensive grounds. Most of the class went together to wander but a couple of people went their separate ways. We started off by going up to the castle and looking at the structure and then wandered down to the beach to climb some rocks. Then we ventured into the woods in an attempt to find the Swan Pond. Along the way we passed the old gunpowder tower as well as some other vestigial structures. Upon making it to the pond we watched to birds for a little while then headed to a pagoda where the family used to keep monkeys. After that Becca and I decided to check out the adventure playground while the others went to find another beach. Unfortunately the playground was intended for people under 16 and there were a lot of kids and families there so we didn't stay long. We decided to leisurely walk back to where the bus was getting us and pass the walled gardens and a greenhouse on the way. The gardens weren't all that spectacular since we're just starting to get any semblance of warmth over here but it was interesting none the less. The greenhouse was also very pretty. It's not really a greenhouse per se but I'm not exactly sure what you would call it. It was made mostly of glass and had potted plants in it though. We made it back to the bus after a lot of walking but it took a while to get everyone back. We were then off to get back to Glasgow. It was a really great day and I had the chance to get to know some of my classmates a little better. It was also really great to see such a beautiful castle and a location of such cultural importance all in one swoop. I am very grateful the program planned this trip and the people in charge are trying to have some more afternoon outings planed so I'm really looking forward to those.

Arch that was made to purposely look like it was in ruins