Talk:Souterrain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Moved parenthetical criticisms to this talk page

I'm no expert. These criticisms seem to merit consideration, but they do not belong in the article in it's current format. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lanser84 (talk • contribs) 15:38, 18 October 2006 (UTC).

Souterrain is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated with the Atlantic Iron Age. Regional names include earth houses, fogous and Pictish houses and they appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul during the late Iron age. **(No the earliest souterrains are dated to the later Bronze Age are in the Northern Isles of Scotland)**

The name comes from the French language, where it means "underground passageway". **(No it literally simply means "underground")**

Souterrains are underground galleries and in their early stages were always associated with a settlement **(No- not proven for every example).** The galleries were dug out and then lined with stone slabs before being reburied. They do not appear to have been used for burial or ritual purposes **(Wrong again - several of the excavated Orcadian examples contained human remains in a variety of arrangements)** and it has been suggested that they were food stores or hiding places during times of strife, although some of them would have had very obvious entrances. They may be connected with the same people who built brochs **(No not always- as mentioned above- the Northern Isles examples predate the Middle Iron Age Broch period).**

[edit] Observations

Extracting the anonymous insertions for a closer look:
  • (No the earliest souterrains are dated to the later Bronze Age are [sic] in the Northern Isles of Scotland)
→No citation. However, this may be one item worth looking into further.
  • (No it literally simply means "underground")
→Casell's French Dictionary: Souterrain, masculine noun, underground vault or cavern.
  • (No- not proven for every example)
→No citation, no dates.
  • (Wrong again - several of the excavated Orcadian examples contained human remains ... )
→No citation, no dates.
  • (No not always- as mentioned above- the Northern Isles examples predate the Middle Iron Age Broch period)
→Idle carping, "may be" did not mean "always" in any case.
All in all, not very helpful. (A comparison of contribs suggests that 194.35.219.100, who added the parenthetical criticisms to the article 10:36, 22 September 2006 (UTC), may be the same as Freescotlandparty.) Athænara ✉ 05:43, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other languages

I added that in other languages the word is sometimes used for 'basement'. This is the case in Dutch, but I believe also in other languages. Also, in French it may mean 'underground passageway', but that is not the literal translation. It stems from 'sous terrain', which means 'under ground'. DirkvdM 14:05, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/o/u/Talk%7ESouterrain_4cb0.html"