Inverurie conference explores the north-east's cultural landscapes
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A cornucopia of conference speakers resulted in a fascinating glimpse of the diverse landscapes in the north-east at the Garioch Heritage Centre in Inverurie at the weekend.
The two-day event was hosted by the Bennachie Landscapes Project in association with Aberdeen University and the Bailies of Bennachie
Bailie of ceremonies archaeologist Colin Shepherd registered the gathering and handed over to Bruce Mann who gave an introduction to the conference.
First speaker was geologist Andrew Wainwright who explained theories about a suggested glacial lake covering eastern Grampian.
Sandra Davison followed with the topic When The Ice Goes, The River Flows describing evidence of Mesolithic settlements.
Sandra first graduated from the then RGIT in librarianship.
She later took a masters degree in cultural neritage specialising in the archaeology of the north.
During coffee break Penny Dransart found plenty of common ground with Alex Forbes of Druminnor Castle, stronghold of the Lords of Forbes.
Penny is currently working on what will become a massive tome about research findings at the Bishop's Palace at Fetternear which has been yielding rich findings for years.
Her talk was on the palace and its landscape place in the medieval diocese of Aberdeen.
Also on a holy theme Alex Forbes described The Banchor of Kildrummy as a forgotten religious landscape.
He has traced his family back to the early ADs and the progenitor, one Ochoncar, a great Irish prince.
Ochoncar IIIs greatest claim to fame was that he slew a bear in revenge after it had eaten his nine maiden daughters.
Ochancar IV built Druminnor around 800AD.
His research has revealed there were actually two St Machars, the Pict and an Irish monk.
The first became Bishop to the Picts and the monk was companion to St Columba.
Charlotta Hillerdal from Uppsala in Sweden dispelled some ancient myths.
The Vikings never came over pillaging and conquering the north-east, although they did successfully invade many east coast parts.
