Iron Age hillfort 'mysteriously faded' from use

A visualisation of the hillfort which was built and added to during the Iron Age

Archaeologists say a hilltop settlement near Perth thrived during the Iron Age before mysteriously fading away - possibly because of invading Romans.

Broxy Kennels Fort was first identified in the 1960s on aerial photographs taken along the proposed route of the A9 trunk road.

Guard Archaeology excavated the site in 2022 as part of the Cross Tay Link Road project.

Evidence of ramparts, roundhouses and metalworking, including furnaces for smelting, were uncovered - but archaeologists say it was abandoned and all trace of it above ground lost over the centuries.

The fort was excavated in 2022

Since the excavation was completed, Guard archaeologists have led a team of specialists drawn from across Scotland to analyse the archaeological evidence.

The experts included staff at National Museums Scotland, the universities of Glasgow and Stirling and various independent specialists.

Other discoveries made at Broxy Kennels included evidence of a souterrain, a semi-underground stone-built chamber which could possibly have been used to store grain.

Guard Archaeology said it was not clear why Broxy Kennels Fort was abandoned.

They said it was possibly because the structure of society changed and the people moved away from that kind of settlement - or the looming arrival of the Roman army in the late first century AD drove the people away.

Guard project officer Kenny Green, who directed the excavation, said: "Without these aerial photographs no-one would have known there was a hillfort here as there was no trace of it on the ground.

"Centuries of ploughing had removed any surface trace."

The archaeological work was funded by Perth and Kinross Council and managed by construction firm BAM Nuttall Ltd.

A report on the excavation and follow up analysis is available for on Archaeology Reports Online.

A booklet has also been published and a lecture about Broxy Kennels Fort will be given at the Tayside and Fife Archaeology Conference 2025 in Glenrothes on Saturday.