{"id":{"repo_id":"bradford","oai_identifier":"oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19847"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/bradford/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19847","repository":{"repo_id":"bradford","name":"University of Bradford","base_url":"https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Historic settlement on Unst, Shetland. An holistic study of abandoned settlements on Unst, Shetland utilising historical archaeology and prospection approaches","abstract":"A holistic study of abandoned house sites on the island of Unst was conducted to address the extent to which perceptions of historic settlement on Shetland are supportable. These perceptions cast long lived nucleated settlement as the normative traditional form of historic settlement, and dispersed settlements as short-lived exceptions to this norm. Historic settlement, in these perceptions are argued to be static, which is not borne out in archaeological evidence. Issues associated with historic Shetland settlement models were identified to parallel traditional views of Scottish highland rural settlement, which cast the highland society as ahistoric and unchanging. Historical, archaeological and geographic evidence for settlement on Unst were used to assess the geographical distribution of historic settlement on the island. Two detailed case studies integrated archaeological prospection techniques with the historical, archaeological and landscape contexts to form new narratives for the field remains around two abandoned house sites. Assessment of the historical settlement of Unst highlighted a much greater degree of variation between the different evidence strands for the perceptions to truly represent the island’s historical settlement. Similarly, findings from the case studies highlighted a much greater degree of alterations to the field systems and enclosures associated with the settlements than would be anticipated. Alternative narratives with several phases were hypothesised for field remains of each case study.","abstract_html":"A holistic study of abandoned house sites on the island of Unst was conducted to address the extent to which perceptions of historic settlement on Shetland are supportable. These perceptions cast long lived nucleated settlement as the normative traditional form of historic settlement, and dispersed settlements as short-lived exceptions to this norm. Historic settlement, in these perceptions are argued to be static, which is not borne out in archaeological evidence. Issues associated with historic Shetland settlement models were identified to parallel traditional views of Scottish highland rural settlement, which cast the highland society as ahistoric and unchanging. Historical, archaeological and geographic evidence for settlement on Unst were used to assess the geographical distribution of historic settlement on the island. Two detailed case studies integrated archaeological prospection techniques with the historical, archaeological and landscape contexts to form new narratives for the field remains around two abandoned house sites. Assessment of the historical settlement of Unst highlighted a much greater degree of variation between the different evidence strands for the perceptions to truly represent the island’s historical settlement. Similarly, findings from the case studies highlighted a much greater degree of alterations to the field systems and enclosures associated with the settlements than would be anticipated. Alternative narratives with several phases were hypothesised for field remains of each case study.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Legg, Robert M."],"institution":"University of Bradford","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Bond, Julie","Gaffney, Christopher F.","Heron, Carl P."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018","date_published":"2018","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:15:34Z","subjects":["Shetland","Archaeology","Late Norse","Settlement","Scottification","Geophysics","Phosphorus","Documents","Placenames","Unst, Shetland"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["\"Creative
The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10454/19847","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Bond, Julie","Gaffney, Christopher F.","Heron, Carl P."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Legg, Robert M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2024-03-14T12:41:29Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-03-14T12:41:29Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2018"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences. Faculty of Life Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Bradford"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Shetland","Archaeology","Late Norse","Settlement","Scottification","Geophysics","Phosphorus","Documents","Placenames","Unst, Shetland"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["\"Creative
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