Category Archives: Archaeological and Historical Section

Launch Event: Historical Map of Perth (PSNS+HTT joint project)

Posted on by

Saturday 11 May 2024 marked the culmination of a two-year joint project with the PSNS & Historic Towns Trust: the production of a Historical Map of Perth including many sites of interest over the last one thousand years.

The Map is now available in bookstores (Waterstones) and can be ordered online (HTT, AmazonUK).

PSNS & HTT Historical Map project Working Group

Speakers at the event were:

John Lewington, former President of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, gave an introduction

Professor Vanessa Harding, Chair of the Historic Towns Trust, on “Mapping our Shared History”

Theresa Hughes, President of PSNS Archaeology & History Section, on “A Fair Map of Perth”

Dr Mike Robinson, Royal Scottish Geographical Society, on “A Sense of Place”

David Bowler, Director of Alder Archaeology Ltd, on “A Thousand Years in Twenty Minutes – an Overview of Perth”

John Moore, Honorary Secretary of the Historic Towns Trust, gave a vote of thanks.

In the process, we heard how the geological and geographical settings influenced Perth’s location, culture and history.

A video of the event can be viewed on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/k9cX2zt46YE

The Map is available in bookstores (Waterstones) and can be ordered online (HTT, AmazonUK).

The Environmental History of the Tay

Featured

Posted on by

On Wednesday 17th January Professor Richard Oram spoke about his recently completed two-year project on the environmental history of the Tay, from the arrival of the first hunter-gatherers until the present day. This was an inspiring overview of the mass of material he is about to transform into a series of books. His gallop through the ages revealed a host of fascinating details, not least that the elites’ monopoly of the hunting forests, however unjust, tended to ensure their preservation. Above all we learned how greatly humans have altered the landscape and the river since earliest times and how seemingly untouched rural spots may be sullied by industrial pollution. 

As a policy advisor, Professor Oram is well placed to ensure the lessons of history inform current decision-making.