Archaeolink Prehistory Park
Archaeolink is a multi award winning living history park and visitor attraction, with a central focus on education, participation and fun.
Travel 10,000 years in one day from the Mesolithic to a Roman Marching Camp, with indoor and outdoor exhibitions, featuring hands on activities, workshops and guided tours everyday, Archaeolink is a dynamic historical experience for all the family.
Situated in the beautiful countryside of Aberdeenshire in the shadow of the dramatic Bennachie mountain range, the park occupies a central location in the diverse archaeological landscape of North East Scotland.
Our Roundhouse Coffee Shop seats up to 70 people, providing good wholesome traditional Scottish Cuisine including lunches, afternoon teas and high teas. Relax in our Coffee lounge around our woodburning fire with the daily newspapers while you sample our selection of homebaking.
Or on a sunny day sit outside on our terrace and soak up the atmosphere of Archaeolink. The Roundhouse Coffee Shop can cater for Birthday Parties, BBQ’s, Corporate Events, Anniversaries and Weddings.
Our Gift shop contains a varied selection of themed crafts and gifts as well as a wide selection of general interest and educational books.
Mesolithic Age – 8500 BC to 4000 BC
When the last Ice Age ended around 10,000 BC, the flora and fauna began to slowly re-colonize the North of Scotland. The first people to move back into the region were nomadic Hunter-Gatherers. Archaeologists refer to their time as the Mesolithic or “Middle Stone Age.”
Moving in relatively small extended family groups, the people of the Mesolithic Age made use of the waterways in the NE of Scotland as much as possible. It is along the banks of these waterways that most of the archaeological evidence of their existence is found. Using tools made from flint, bone, wood, antler and other organic materials, these people hunted deer, wild boar, game fowl and perhaps even bear. They gathered fruits, nuts, wild cereal crops and fungi from the dense woodland covering the landscape. Far from the grunting caveman stereotype, these people made complex tools, domesticated dogs from the wild wolves, took fish and shellfish from the waterways and managed to thrive despite harsh living conditions.
Within the park, you can visit a reconstructed Hunter-Gatherer encampment with a reconstructed wood and hide “bender” hut, based on sites excavated along the River Dee. There is also a reconstructed dug out canoe, a “shell midden,” leather drying and meat smoking racks and native trees.
Daily activities feature demonstrations of flint knapping, tool making with antler and bone, archery, leather working, cooking and basketry.
Neolithic Age from 4000 BC to 2200 BC
The way of life of the Hunter Gatherer of the Mesolithic carried on virtually unchanged until around 4000 BC, when the first evidence of farming appears in the archaeological record. This technological advance signalled the beginning of the Neolithic or “New Stone Age.”
The Neolithic farmers seem to have existed alongside the Hunter-Gatherer natives for some time before the more settled, farming lifestyle rendered the nomadic Hunter – Gatherer life obsolete. The Neolithic farmers began to build permanent settlements and, by using fire and more advanced stone tools like polished stone axes, began the deforestation of large sections of land for the planting of crops. The modern agricultural landscape of the NE of Scotland has its origins in the actions of these earliest of farmers.
The people of the Neolithic were also the builders of the stone circles, the henges and burial Cairns that pepper the landscape of Scotland. The exact nature or purpose of these monuments will forever remain a mystery. However, they represent the earliest example of the people of Scotland saying “We Are Here.”
On site, you can visit reconstructed examples of a Recumbent Stone Circle, a Class One Henge and the reconstructed posthole foundation of a Neolithic Timber Hall, based on the Balbridie site near Banchory in Aberdeenshire.
Bronze Age from 2200 BC until 750BC
Sometime around 2200 BC society in Prehistoric Scotland was dramatically altered when the first metal workers immigrated here from what is now Holland. The communal Cairn and barrow burials of the Neolithic were supplanted by individual cremation or inhumation burials in stone lined chambers or cists, often complete with expensive grave goods, as the ancients tried to “take it with them.”
The people of Bronze Age Scotland were to experience a dark turn in fortunes when they were confronted with a radical climate change. Possibly made worse by a series of cataclysmic volcanic eruptions in Iceland around 1159 BC, the climate of Scotland became much colder, wetter and turbulent. As the Bronze Age drew to a close, fortified hill forts began to appear on prominent points in the landscape, possibly a sign that the people were forced to defend themselves and their livelihood from their neighbours on a regular basis. The common thread throughout all of these changes was the mystical skill of the metal worker. The increase of tribal warfare and strife drove the advances in the metal worker’s craft, as better weapons were needed and more status items were desired to display one’s power and influence in troubled times.
On site is a reconstructed wattle and daub Metal Smith’s Workshop. Activities include demonstrations of bronze and pewter casting, mould and crucible making, charcoal production and jewellery making.
Iron Age from 750 BC to 500 AD
Emerging from the climatic catastrophe of the late Bronze Age, the people of Iron Age Scotland adapted to a harsh and often violent way of life. Construction and refortification of hill forts continued, and the Warrior personae became the role model and hero for the people of the Iron Age. Iron, far superior and more plentiful than bronze, became the metal of choice for the Iron Age warrior, who lived his (or perhaps her) life by the spear and the sword.
Living in distinct tribal communities, the people of Iron Age Scotland were influenced by the Celtic culture emerging in continental Europe, but were not, strictly speaking, Celts themselves. However, their culture and lifestyle so closely resembled that of the true “Celts” that they are often regarded as simply “Celtic.” The tribes of the North East of Scotland were loosely knit, rarely coming together for a common goal, until they were confronted with the might of the invading Roman Army.
Though they often suffered defeat at the hands of the Romans, the “Celtic” tribes of Northern Scotland were never subjugated by the Roman Empire. They maintained their independence and their descendants went on to form the Pictish nations first described by the Romans in the 3 rd century AD.
On site is a reconstructed example of an Iron Age roundhouse and farmstead based on an excavation near the Aberdeenshire village of Monymusk. Activities include woodworking demonstrations, pottery, cooking, spinning, weaving and dying of cloth. The farm is a working farm with livestock and crops being grown and managed throughout the year.
Romans – 1 st Century AD Marching Camp
As the 1 st Century AD drew to a close, much of Iron Age England and Wales had been brought under the yoke of Roman rule. Around 78 or 79 AD, the governor of “Romanized” lower Britain, Julius Agricola, turned his attention to the lands beyond Tyne and Soloway. Through a series of determined campaigns, Agricola pushed steadily northward, supported by a Roman fleet that shadowed his movements just off the Eastern coast. The local tribes were not without their share of small victories, in one case catching the Ninth Legion by surprise and coming close to slaughtering them. However, the Romans persisted until the conflict came to a head in 83AD.
The deciding battle, dubbed “Mons Graupius” by the Romans (and from which the Grampian mountains derive their name), Agricola faced some 30,000 warriors under the leadership of a prominent warrior called Calgacus – “The Swordsman.” Agricola’s 20 th Legion, together with a weakened 9 th Legion and perhaps the 2 nd Legion Adiutrix met the local warriors in battle on the slopes of a hill…the exact location of which has never been determined. Some sources favour the Aberdeenshire range, Bennachie, as the site of the battle. Archaeolink is situated at the foot of Bennachie, possibly in a location that bore witness to the massacre that was to ensue. According to the Roman historian, Tacitus, who was travelling with Agricola and was, in fact, his son-in-law, the Romans handed the local warriors a humiliating defeat. However, the Roman victory was not to be complete. Due to uprisings elsewhere in the Empire and political conflicts back in Rome, Agricola was forced to abandon his Northern campaigns.
On site is a reconstruction of a segment of a Roman Army Marching Camp of the Agicolan period. The protective ditch and embankment surrounding the camp is based on the marching camp remains at Logie Durno. The tents and equipment on display are based on depictions from Trajan’s Column in Rome. Activities include demonstrations of military life, marching drills, javelin (pilum) practice and combat displays.
