The Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme (SWAP) formed at the WARP conference in Dublin in 1998, with the aim of better understanding the rich archaeological resource contained within Scotland’s lochs, rivers, bogs and mires.
It is now ten years since a new research agenda was drafted for wetland archaeological studies in Scotland. In this time, there have been dramatic steps forward in our understanding of lake-settlements and their place in the settlement record of the Iron Age. Wetland archaeologists have long argued for an integrated, landscape-oriented approach to understanding the archaeology of wetlands, and this principle has been at the heart of research efforts by the SWAP programme in Galloway since 2007, particularly through the excavations of wetland and terrestrial settlements around Cults Loch, Castle Kennedy. Coupled with breakthroughs in prehistoric dendrochronology, multi-disciplinary research programmes and the (re)discovery of new and spectacular settlements, wetland studies in Scotland stand on the brink of a new era.
This paper will consider the progress made in the last decade, detailing the crannog excavations carried out in Galloway, reviewing the advances in our understanding and the implications for our models of later prehistoric society in Southern Scotland, before highlighting promising avenues for future research.