Kenneth Brophy
Biographic Data
| ID | 367074 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kenneth Brophy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kenneth |
| FAMILY NAME | Brophy |
| SIGNATURE | BROPHY K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2315-7110 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Bronze Age béton brut: The display and interpretation of Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian, Scotland
This article reviews the history of the display and interpretation of the monument at Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian during the second half of the 20th century, and places it in the context of the over-reliance on and unrealistic expectations of concrete in the consolidation of historic sites in that period. It also reviews the development of the on-site interpretation and describes the ‘exploded diagram’ approach taken on the site in the late 19…
Colin Richards and Vicki Cummings, Stone Circles: A Field Guide
Rob Collins, Jane Harrison, Ian Kille, Kathryn Murphy and Kerry Shaw, Community Archaeology on Hadrian’s Wall 2019–2022
Perth Museum
Archaeology in Scotland after the Second World War: The Glasgow Archaeological Society and John M Davidson
The organisation and co-ordination of local and national archaeological societies in the United Kingdom has been a matter of discussion since the late 19 th Century. These efforts resulted in an initially purely English and Welsh grouping – the Congress of Archaeological Societies – formed in July 1889. Glasgow Archaeological Society was the first, and perhaps the only, Scottish Society to join in 1922. In the middle of the Second World War discu…
Kilmartin Museum
Mike Parker Pearson, Jacqui Mulville, Helen Smith and Peter Marshall, Cladh Hallan: Roundhouses and the Dead in the Hebridean Bronze Age and Iron Age. Part 1: Stratigraphy, Spatial Organisation and Ch…
Don’t Look Up: Skyscapes and Atlantic Rock Art in Scotland
A brief consideration of the study of the relationship between Atlantic rock art in Scotland the the sun, moon, stars and the sky
The potent urban prehistory of an ancient megalith: The Kempock Stone, Gourock, Scotland
This paper focuses on the modern biography of a prehistoric stone of uncertain provenance, the megalith known as the Kempock Stone or Granny Kempock that has stood in the Clydeside town of Gourock for at least several hundred years. Rather than fous on a specific prehistoric period of creation and installation, or speculate upon its original function, this account explores the numerous stories that have accumulated around the stone over the past …
Euan W. Mackie, Professor Challenger and his Lost Neolithic World: The Compelling Story of Alexander Thom and British Archaeoastronomy
Euan W. MacKie, Professor Challenger and his Lost Neolithic World: The Compelling Story of Alexander Thom and British Archaeoastronomy
Euan W. MacKie, Professor Challenger and his Lost Neolithic World: The Compelling Story of Alexander Thom and British Archaeoastronomy Oxford: Archaeopress, 2020. Paperback 158 pp., 81 figures ISBN 9781784918330. £30.00
Teaching Skyscapes: Keeping our Feet on the Ground
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Possible Neolithic ard marks and field boundaries at Wellhill and Cranberry, Perth and Kinross, and an evaluation of current physical evidence for Neolithic farming in Scotland
Although the Neolithic period is defined by farming, physical evidence for processes associated with farming are rare, with agricultural practices usually indicated by environmental and biomolecular proxies for domesticates such as pollen evidence, ceramic residues and lipids, animal bones, plant remains and stable isotope studies. This paper will, we hope, invigorate discussion on the recognition, interpretation and significance of physical trac…
The Mann the myth: An introduction
An introduction to the special supplement edition of the Scottish Archaeological Journal dedicated to papers about Scottish antiquarian and archaeologist Ludovic Mclellan Mann. This brief introduction explains the context for this publication - a conference in 2019 - and outlines the Mann's legacy
The Ludovic technique: The painting of the Cochno Stone, West Dunbartonshire
The painting of the Cochno Stone rock-art panel, West Dunbartonshire, in 1937 by Ludovic McLellan Mann is one of the most eccentric acts in the history of archaeology in Scotland. Despite publishing widely and being a compulsive user of newspapers to publicise and report on his activities, Mann left very few direct clues to explain what the grid and symbols he painted onto the Cochno Stone meant. This paper describes the different elements of Man…
A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: Nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos
This article examines the interpretation and public presentation of a particular view of the supposedly ‘national’ role of monuments in a geographically restricted part of southern England – what we have termed the British late Neolithic mythos: that monuments in the Stonehenge area had a ‘national’, ‘unifying’ role for ‘Britain’ at a time when ‘Britain’ had a ‘unified culture’ and was isolated from continental Europe, and that as part of that pr…
‘The finest set of cup and ring marks in existence’: The story of the Cochno Stone, West Dunbartonshire
The Cochno Stone is one of the most extensive and highly decorated prehistoric rock-art outcrops in Britain. It is located on the northern urban fringe of West Dunbartonshire beside Faifley, Clydebank, in a park in the foothills of the Kilpatrick Hills. First re-discovered by antiquarians toward the end of the nineteenth century, this outcrop subsequently became the focus of the attentions of Ludovic McLellan Mann in the 1930s, who decorated the …
Countering the Brexit hypothesis through solidarity, advocacy and activism
A response to the three respondents to my Brexit Hypothesis article in the same volume of Antiquity (vol 92 issue 366)
The Brexit hypothesis and prehistory
Archaeologists have more opportunities than ever to disseminate their research widely-and the public more opportunities to engage and respond. This has led to the increasing mobilisation of archaeological data and interpretations within the discourses of nationalism and identity politics. This debate piece introduces the Brexit hypothesis, the proposition that any archaeological discovery in Europe can-and probably will-be exploited to argue in s…
Build N Burn: Using Fire as a Tool to Evoke, Educate and Entertain
The visceral nature of fire was exploited in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Britain by the burning down of timber buildings and monuments, as well as the cremation of the dead. These big fires would have created memories, perhaps even ‘flashbulb memories’, and this powerful mnemonic aspect of fire was likely of significance to the social and religious lives of individuals, families and communities. This article introduces the Build N Bur…
Cremation Practices and the Creation of Monument Complexes: The Neolithic Cremation Cemetery at Forteviot, Strathearn, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, and its comparanda
Around the beginning of the 3rd millennium cal bc a cremation cemetery was established at Forteviot, central Scotland. This place went on to become one of the largest monument complexes identified in Mainland Scotland, with the construction of a palisaded enclosure, timber structures, and a series of henge monuments and other enclosures. The cemetery was established between 3080 and 2900 cal bc , probably in the 30th century cal bc , which is con…
The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland
Archaeologists show us how the Neolithic human lived in mainland Scotland GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN: 9780748685738','ISBN: 9780748685721','ISBN: 9780748685745']); What was life like in Scotland between 4000 and 2000BC? Where were people living? How did they treat their dead? Why did they spend so much time building extravagant ritual monuments? What was special about the relationship people had with trees and holes in the ground? What c…
Neolithic of Mainland Scotland
Wood and Fire: Scotland’s Timber Cursus Monuments
This paper offers the first comprehensive overview of Scotland’s early Neolithic timber cursus monuments. This small group of sites has, in recent years, been viewed as a significant element of the early Neolithic repertoire in northern Britain, and forerunner to the later earthwork cursus monuments found across the British Isles; but as yet their treatment has been at a largely superficial level. The article draws together the evidence from exca…
From hard to soft: Theory and Neolithic studies in Scotland
The Scottish Theoretical Archaeology Group (STAG) conference organisers expressed some doubts about how far theory has changed, and impacted, archaeological establishment and academia in Scotland. In this paper, I will argue that Scotland is certainly not isolated in a theoretical sense, although in the past, Scottish archaeology could be accused of being theoretically conservative, or at least dependent on ideas and models developed elsewhere. A…
The Brexit hypothesis and prehistory
Archaeologists have more opportunities than ever to disseminate their research widely-and the public more opportunities to engage and respond. This has led to the increasing mobilisation of archaeological data and interpretations within the discourses of nationalism and identity politics. This debate piece introduces the Brexit hypothesis, the proposition that any archaeological discovery in Europe can-and probably will-be exploited to argue in s…
A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: Nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos
This article examines the interpretation and public presentation of a particular view of the supposedly ‘national’ role of monuments in a geographically restricted part of southern England – what we have termed the British late Neolithic mythos: that monuments in the Stonehenge area had a ‘national’, ‘unifying’ role for ‘Britain’ at a time when ‘Britain’ had a ‘unified culture’ and was isolated from continental Europe, and that as part of that pr…
Big Enclosures: The Later Neolithic Palisaded Enclosures of Scotland in their Northwestern European Context
Palisaded enclosures were huge enclosed spaces with timber boundaries found across Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia in the Neolithic. Five such sites have been identified in Scotland dating to the later Neolithic, four of which have been excavated to varying degrees. These sites form the main focus of this paper, which draws in particular on interim results from the authors' excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross, during 2007–2009. The pali…
From Big Houses to Cult Houses: Early Neolithic Timber Halls in Scotland
This paper addresses a small group of Neolithic monuments recorded as cropmarks in eastern lowland Scotland that have been termed timber halls, the best known example being the large rectangular building, Balbridie. Three such sites have now been excavated, and all have been shown to date to the early centuries of the Neolithic and to have been largely similar structures; further possible examples in the cropmark record will be assessed, through …
Cremation Practices and the Creation of Monument Complexes: The Neolithic Cremation Cemetery at Forteviot, Strathearn, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, and its comparanda
Around the beginning of the 3rd millennium cal bc a cremation cemetery was established at Forteviot, central Scotland. This place went on to become one of the largest monument complexes identified in Mainland Scotland, with the construction of a palisaded enclosure, timber structures, and a series of henge monuments and other enclosures. The cemetery was established between 3080 and 2900 cal bc , probably in the 30th century cal bc , which is con…
Ritual and remembrance at a prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland: Excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross
Aerial photography and excavations have brought to notice a major prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland comparable to Stonehenge, although largely built in earth and timber. Beginning, like Stonehenge, as a cremation cemetery, it launched its monumentality by means of an immense circle of tree trunks, and developed it with smaller circles of posts and an earth bank (henge). A change of political mood in the Early Bronze Age is marked…
Wood and Fire: Scotland’s Timber Cursus Monuments
This paper offers the first comprehensive overview of Scotland’s early Neolithic timber cursus monuments. This small group of sites has, in recent years, been viewed as a significant element of the early Neolithic repertoire in northern Britain, and forerunner to the later earthwork cursus monuments found across the British Isles; but as yet their treatment has been at a largely superficial level. The article draws together the evidence from exca…
Build N Burn: Using Fire as a Tool to Evoke, Educate and Entertain
The visceral nature of fire was exploited in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Britain by the burning down of timber buildings and monuments, as well as the cremation of the dead. These big fires would have created memories, perhaps even ‘flashbulb memories’, and this powerful mnemonic aspect of fire was likely of significance to the social and religious lives of individuals, families and communities. This article introduces the Build N Bur…
Archaeology without -isms
This paper examines the division that has grown up in contemporary archaeology between practical and theoretical branches of the discipline. It argues that the two sides of this schism are archaeological versions of objectivism and subjectivism, and that they really represent a single dualism. To break out of this, what is needed is an approach to thinking and doing archaeology that recognizes the embodied nature of archaeological engagements wit…
Claish, Stirling: An Early Neolithic structure in its context
The excavation of a long timber-built structure of the early Neolithic near Callander (formerly Perthshire, now Stirling Council area) is described. The remains appear to be those of a structure measuring a maximum of c 24m by 8.5m with roughly straight sides and curved terminals, both of which have entrance gaps. About 1m in from both terminals is an arc of five posts; the interior is divided into between five and seven sections by these arcs an…
The potent urban prehistory of an ancient megalith: The Kempock Stone, Gourock, Scotland
This paper focuses on the modern biography of a prehistoric stone of uncertain provenance, the megalith known as the Kempock Stone or Granny Kempock that has stood in the Clydeside town of Gourock for at least several hundred years. Rather than fous on a specific prehistoric period of creation and installation, or speculate upon its original function, this account explores the numerous stories that have accumulated around the stone over the past …
A Neolithic building at Claish Farm, near Callander, Stirling Council, Scotland, UK
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The Caves of Mid-Argyll: An Archaeology of Human Use. By C hristopher T olan -S mith
A Neolithic building at Claish Farm, near Callander, Stirling Council, Scotland, UK
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Periodical Review 2000–2003
Audrey S. Henshall and J. N. Graham Ritchie The Chambered Cairns of the Central Highlands
Claish, Stirling: An Early Neolithic structure in its context
The excavation of a long timber-built structure of the early Neolithic near Callander (formerly Perthshire, now Stirling Council area) is described. The remains appear to be those of a structure measuring a maximum of c 24m by 8.5m with roughly straight sides and curved terminals, both of which have entrance gaps. About 1m in from both terminals is an arc of five posts; the interior is divided into between five and seven sections by these arcs an…
Richard Bradley The moon and the bonfire. An investigation of three stone circles in north-east Scotland
Half Life. NVA and National Theatre of Scotland, Kilmartin Glen, Argyll
For two weeks in September 2007, the valley of Kilmartin became a pilgrimage site again. Half Life was an ambitious landscape event played out across the canvas of the familiar Kilmartin Glen, an event that intermingled ideas about the prehistoric past with our engagements with it in the contemporary world - a challenging combination. Half Life is the latest in a series of ambitious large-scale public artworks by the environmental arts organisati…
Archaeology without -isms
This paper examines the division that has grown up in contemporary archaeology between practical and theoretical branches of the discipline. It argues that the two sides of this schism are archaeological versions of objectivism and subjectivism, and that they really represent a single dualism. To break out of this, what is needed is an approach to thinking and doing archaeology that recognizes the embodied nature of archaeological engagements wit…
Rethinking Scotland's Neolithic: Combining circumstance with context
In 1985 a review of Scottish Neolithic studies from an outside perspective written by Ian Kinnes was published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Kinnes's paper offered a discussion of the state of knowledge of Scotland's Neolithic at that time, reviewing forty years of excavation results. He was also critical of, as he saw it, the parochial and derivative nature of Neolithic studies in Scotland. In this paper, written …
From Big Houses to Cult Houses: Early Neolithic Timber Halls in Scotland
This paper addresses a small group of Neolithic monuments recorded as cropmarks in eastern lowland Scotland that have been termed timber halls, the best known example being the large rectangular building, Balbridie. Three such sites have now been excavated, and all have been shown to date to the early centuries of the Neolithic and to have been largely similar structures; further possible examples in the cropmark record will be assessed, through …
From hard to soft: Theory and Neolithic studies in Scotland
The Scottish Theoretical Archaeology Group (STAG) conference organisers expressed some doubts about how far theory has changed, and impacted, archaeological establishment and academia in Scotland. In this paper, I will argue that Scotland is certainly not isolated in a theoretical sense, although in the past, Scottish archaeology could be accused of being theoretically conservative, or at least dependent on ideas and models developed elsewhere. A…
Big Enclosures: The Later Neolithic Palisaded Enclosures of Scotland in their Northwestern European Context
Palisaded enclosures were huge enclosed spaces with timber boundaries found across Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia in the Neolithic. Five such sites have been identified in Scotland dating to the later Neolithic, four of which have been excavated to varying degrees. These sites form the main focus of this paper, which draws in particular on interim results from the authors' excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross, during 2007–2009. The pali…
Ritual and remembrance at a prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland: Excavations at Forteviot, Perth and Kinross
Aerial photography and excavations have brought to notice a major prehistoric ceremonial complex in central Scotland comparable to Stonehenge, although largely built in earth and timber. Beginning, like Stonehenge, as a cremation cemetery, it launched its monumentality by means of an immense circle of tree trunks, and developed it with smaller circles of posts and an earth bank (henge). A change of political mood in the Early Bronze Age is marked…
Wood and Fire: Scotland’s Timber Cursus Monuments
This paper offers the first comprehensive overview of Scotland’s early Neolithic timber cursus monuments. This small group of sites has, in recent years, been viewed as a significant element of the early Neolithic repertoire in northern Britain, and forerunner to the later earthwork cursus monuments found across the British Isles; but as yet their treatment has been at a largely superficial level. The article draws together the evidence from exca…
The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland
Archaeologists show us how the Neolithic human lived in mainland Scotland GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN: 9780748685738','ISBN: 9780748685721','ISBN: 9780748685745']); What was life like in Scotland between 4000 and 2000BC? Where were people living? How did they treat their dead? Why did they spend so much time building extravagant ritual monuments? What was special about the relationship people had with trees and holes in the ground? What c…
Neolithic of Mainland Scotland
Build N Burn: Using Fire as a Tool to Evoke, Educate and Entertain
The visceral nature of fire was exploited in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Britain by the burning down of timber buildings and monuments, as well as the cremation of the dead. These big fires would have created memories, perhaps even ‘flashbulb memories’, and this powerful mnemonic aspect of fire was likely of significance to the social and religious lives of individuals, families and communities. This article introduces the Build N Bur…
Cremation Practices and the Creation of Monument Complexes: The Neolithic Cremation Cemetery at Forteviot, Strathearn, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, and its comparanda
Around the beginning of the 3rd millennium cal bc a cremation cemetery was established at Forteviot, central Scotland. This place went on to become one of the largest monument complexes identified in Mainland Scotland, with the construction of a palisaded enclosure, timber structures, and a series of henge monuments and other enclosures. The cemetery was established between 3080 and 2900 cal bc , probably in the 30th century cal bc , which is con…
‘The finest set of cup and ring marks in existence’: The story of the Cochno Stone, West Dunbartonshire
The Cochno Stone is one of the most extensive and highly decorated prehistoric rock-art outcrops in Britain. It is located on the northern urban fringe of West Dunbartonshire beside Faifley, Clydebank, in a park in the foothills of the Kilpatrick Hills. First re-discovered by antiquarians toward the end of the nineteenth century, this outcrop subsequently became the focus of the attentions of Ludovic McLellan Mann in the 1930s, who decorated the …
Countering the Brexit hypothesis through solidarity, advocacy and activism
A response to the three respondents to my Brexit Hypothesis article in the same volume of Antiquity (vol 92 issue 366)
The Brexit hypothesis and prehistory
Archaeologists have more opportunities than ever to disseminate their research widely-and the public more opportunities to engage and respond. This has led to the increasing mobilisation of archaeological data and interpretations within the discourses of nationalism and identity politics. This debate piece introduces the Brexit hypothesis, the proposition that any archaeological discovery in Europe can-and probably will-be exploited to argue in s…
The Mann the myth: An introduction
An introduction to the special supplement edition of the Scottish Archaeological Journal dedicated to papers about Scottish antiquarian and archaeologist Ludovic Mclellan Mann. This brief introduction explains the context for this publication - a conference in 2019 - and outlines the Mann's legacy
The Ludovic technique: The painting of the Cochno Stone, West Dunbartonshire
The painting of the Cochno Stone rock-art panel, West Dunbartonshire, in 1937 by Ludovic McLellan Mann is one of the most eccentric acts in the history of archaeology in Scotland. Despite publishing widely and being a compulsive user of newspapers to publicise and report on his activities, Mann left very few direct clues to explain what the grid and symbols he painted onto the Cochno Stone meant. This paper describes the different elements of Man…
A veritable chauvinism of prehistory’: Nationalist prehistories and the ‘British’ late Neolithic mythos
This article examines the interpretation and public presentation of a particular view of the supposedly ‘national’ role of monuments in a geographically restricted part of southern England – what we have termed the British late Neolithic mythos: that monuments in the Stonehenge area had a ‘national’, ‘unifying’ role for ‘Britain’ at a time when ‘Britain’ had a ‘unified culture’ and was isolated from continental Europe, and that as part of that pr…
Teaching Skyscapes: Keeping our Feet on the Ground
.
Archaeology (30 works) · History (27 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (19 works) · Geography (17 works) · Art (12 works) · Ancient history (10 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (10 works) · Geology (9 works) · History (9 works) · Prehistory (9 works)