Category: News

ACFA Newsletter No 47 has been published and has been distributed to members.  The newsletter archive can be accessed by members by logging in to the Members’ Area.  

There was another bumper crop of entries for this year’s photography competition, they can all be seen in the Gallery.  First place and winner of the ACFA Quaich was Susan Hunter and her photograph of Swedish rock art, “Hand-to-Hand Combat in Bronze Age Sweden”.  Judges awarded second place to Irene Dayer’s “St Kilda in July”, third place “Glasgow Cathedral Key” by Janie Munro with an honourable mention to Sue Hothersall for her photograph of Whitby Cathedral.  Sue was also the winner of the Members’ Vote, a new introduction to this year’s competition and voted for by members at the AGM.

Right: Hand-to-Hand Combat in Bronze Age Sweden, Susan Hunter winner of the ACFA Quaich

Members met on Saturday October 15 for the Annual General Meeting and lunch.  Chairperson Dugie MacInnes presented a annual report which demonstrated that ACFA members have had an exceedingly busy year taking part in surveys and excavations from the Clyde Valley to the island of Tiree. There were no changes to the committee this year and thanks were expressed to everyone who had contributed to such a successful year.

After the formal meeting Dr Tertia Barnett from Edinburgh University spoke to members about the Scottish Rock Art Project which aspires to reassess and create a database of the wealth of rock art in Scotland. She invited ACFA to take part in the project.

The guest speaker after lunch was Dr Paul Murtagh from the Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership.  A number of ACFA members have already worked on surveys for the project. After an introduction to the background of the project Dr Murtagh gave a presentation about the history and archaeology of the orchards of the Clyde Valley which are the next focus for CAVLP.  Volunteers are sought for this project and more details of survey dates will be announced in due course.

Left: Members survey a house site at Balephetrish, Tiree Photo A Blackwood

During Acfa’s week on Tiree in April, many present were privileged to experience a demonstration and a presentation of a photogrammetric and acoustic study of a ‘Ringing Stone’ near  Vaul, by Dr Stuart Jeffrey of the Digital Design Studio at Glasgow School of Art.

Photogrammetry and RTI (Reflective Transformation Imaging) as possible tools for enhancing publication quality and understanding of sites and structures has interested some of us for a number of years. They allow astonishing 3D manipulatable and enhanced images of structures and sites.

One of Dr Jeffrey’s Masters students, Rachel McCrae contacted us to enquire if there was any interest in assisting her with a study of three of the Ogham inscriptions and Dugie and I seized the opportunity to join her at the Church of the Three Brethren at Lochgoilhead on the 14th June for a photogrammetry exercise.

The church, unknown to us both, is a gem of interest, with a magnificent Late Renaissance door formerly accessing the mausoleum of the Campbells of Ardkinglass

It also has a number of enigmatic sculptured fragments hinting at earlier medieval phases at the site, including an arresting monolith of bewildering symbols and motifs and a block of sandstone, with eight crudely carved random letters of the roman alphabet on the front face and an undeciphered ogham inscription along the edge.

Thanks to the consent and assistance of the congregation and the local church warden, we were granted access to some happy hours of recording and studying this fragment.

Libby and Margaret are meeting with Rachel at Perth Museum on Friday, to pursue this research on the Inchyra Stone ogham.

This technology is now widely available with free software downloads and is used and employed by both professional and amateur groups – Dugie and I are talking of trying it out on such sites as the rock art in Glenlochay and perhaps an over ambitious assault on the Auld Wives Lifts on Craigmaddy Moor.  Ian Marshall

More photographs can be seen in the Gallery section.