Glass Flowing, Peat Forming, Image Appearing by Flora deBechi

Nestled in a low lying part of the landscape close to the source of the river Wick, the site was different to many Neolithic sites I had previously visited. The land is sodden and raised walkways have been constructed to sit above the peaty ground of the flow country. I read a plaque, when this was built there was no peat and this has formed in the time since the structure was first built.

I look around at the dark soggy ground and imagine the build up of carbon forming in the anaerobic environment. Some bog plants (sphagnum moss) release water which ensure that the environment is kept in a soggy condition. I think of Tollund man preserved in the acidic environment.

Studies show that the treeless blanket bog of Caithness and Sutherland has existed for the last 4000 years. The thickness of the peat being a physical representation of this period of time.

I chat with archaeologists over video media and they ask what I want to know about the site. The site has been re-used and repurposed for the whole time of it’s existence.

Thinking about the fluidity of these monuments which we usually think of as static, is akin to the unusual amorphous solid state of glass which appears static but even in it’s solid form, glass exhibits a molecular structure like a stiff liquid No two pieces of glass are the same due to the random nature of their molecules and specific processes which have let to their forming.

If the centre space dictates the final shape of the cairn, the passageway is dictated by the distance to the centre. I imagine the incidental light shining in. Barely illuminating the walls, focussing in that empty space at the centre.

Image List Spreads 1. Lamp black monoprint Excavation of Camster Cairns 2. Electron microscope photograph of gold molecules in photosensative glass Stone arrangments form excavations 1856

3. Photographs of sections prints, highly enlarged causing distortion and degradation Camster Long Cairn West Chamber, 1968 Historic Scotland Photographic Library

4. Diagram courtesy of the Journal of Chemical Studies Lamp black monoprint 5. Camster Round Cairn, Caithness Historic Scotland Photographic Library Wax investment of concave lens North Lands workshop 6. Diagram courtesy of the Journal of Chemical Studies Lamp black monoprint 7. Camster Round Cairn, Caithness Historic Scotland Photographic Library Lamp black monoprint 8. Arrangment of print details, scientific diagrams and stone details from Camster 9. Copper molecules in glass The earliest recorded polyphonic music in Scotland, 1450, Paisley Abbey Various entrances/exits to the cairns 10. Lamp black monoprint

Flora debechi 2021