Medieval Scotland: A Future for its Past
Mark A. Hall|Neil Price
The main recommendations of the panel report can be summarised under five key headings. Underpinning all areas is recognition that human narratives remain crucial for ensuring widest access to our shared past. There no wish see political and economic abandoned but need recognised there an expansion more social fully explore potential diverse evidence base. questions asked are here framed in a national context they supported improved a) by development regional research frameworks, b) enhanced study Scotland’s international through time. 1. From North Britain Idea Scotland: Understanding why, where how ‘Scotland’ emerges provides focal point research. Investigating state formation requires work from Medieval future its past ii variety sources, exploring relationships between centres consumption - royal, ecclesiastical urban their hinterlands. Working site-specific analysis, researchers what would become came be, whence sprang inspiration. 2. Lifestyles Living Spaces: Holistic approaches medieval settlement should promoted, combining landscape studies with artefactual, environmental, documentary work. role individual sites within wider local, systems chronological frameworks developed chart changing nature settlement. 3. Mentalities: holistic understanding belief (particularly, not exclusively, early or historic phase) needs broaden contextual reference prehistoric inherited frames reference. Collaborative draw on parallels analogues pursuit defining contrasting local integrated portable material culture, monumentality landscape. 4. Empowerment: Revisiting museum collections renewing newly retrieved artefacts vital broader dynamics writing society. Text seen less as metaphor technological innovation culture which will help it experienced, imaginatively rich reality life. In archaeological terms, relatively neglected cultural sensory perception, memory, learning play promoted enrich behaviours. 5. Parameters: Multi-disciplinary, collaborative, cross-sector encouraged order release sectors archaeology. Creative solutions sought challenges transmitting importance conserving resource current