To coincide with the battle’s 275th anniversary, which fell earlier this year, the National Trust of Scotland (NTS) has published a manifesto, which it hopes the Scottish parliament will back, to grant the site UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
In an online campaign, the public voted to name the sculpture ‘Silvanus’, after the Roman god of woodlands.
The Sculptor’s Cave, on Scotland’s north-east coast, is best known for the Pictish carvings that give the site its name. Recent research by Ian Armit and Lindsey Büster, however, has drawn together evidence of enigmatic prehistoric funerary practices that were carried out at this remote spot for hundreds of years. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts reports.
If these post-holes form part of this larger complex, it would mean the entire site extends for 2.5km across the landscape, making in one of the most significant prehistoric ceremonial clusters in Britain, perhaps on a par with those at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, and even on Salisbury Plain.
‘Working on such a high-status site as the Ness of Brodgar, with its beautiful buildings and stunning range of artefacts, it can be all too easy to forget about the people behind this incredible complex.'
The ring may have commemorated James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby and Lord of Man, who was executed by the Parliamentarians in 1651.
So far, the team have uncovered pottery remains, fish bones, stone yards, and wall structures.
A massive incised rock has recently been discovered at the northern end of the Bay of Skaill in Orkney.
Caves can be portals to otherworlds, and Covesea Cave on Scotland’s Moray Firth is no exception. Armit and Büster’s handsomely produced volume transports us back in time to both the late Bronze Age and Roman Iron Age, revealing exciting new…
Since the stone’s removal from the site it has undergone conservation, including the creation of a 3D model in order to bring its carvings into sharper relief.
Classical Caledonia explores the antiquarian rediscovery of Scotland’s Roman remains, and how these have influenced and continue to influence Scottish identity, impacting on our interpretation of Roman Scotland today. Various populist and misleading tropes, such as Hadrian’s Wall forming the…
The imposing aristocratic residence of Keith Marischal, in East Lothian, has changed dramatically in appearance over recent centuries. What can archaeological investigations funded by the Castle Studies Trust, together with detailed historical research, tell us about its original design? Dr Miles Kerr-Peterson reports.
A recent conservation project has breathed new life into an Iron Age broch in northern Scotland. The Ousdale Broch, just south of Berriedale in Caithness, used to be considered one of the best-preserved brochs in the region. At some point…
Surveying Dunfermline Abbey A recent project led by Dr Michael Penman from the University of Stirling in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland has conducted a series of ground-penetrating radar surveys of Dunfermline Abbey, revealing the possible layout of the original…
A recent excavation along Constitution Street in Leith, in advance of an extension to the Edinburgh tram line to Newhaven, has uncovered hundreds of human remains from a late medieval cemetery and, underneath it, a mysterious stand- alone burial. The…
It remained buried for two and a half centuries. Now a hoard believed to have been part of a supply of weapons for Bonnie Prince Charlie has been found in the Highlands of Scotland. A group of amateur archaeologists made…
Ashley and Stephen Cooper take a close and critical look at the hallowed idea of war by personal combat.
Medieval bridge discovered in Scotland Over the last two years, the Ancrum and District Heritage Society (ADHS) have, with the help of Historic Environment Scotland, Dendrochronicle, and Wessex Archaeology, surveyed and researched a medieval wooden bridge that was discovered underwater…
The Reverend Francis (Frank) Kilvert (1840-1879) died as a result of peritonitis at the age of 38, days after returning from his honeymoon in Scotland. Although greatly mourned by his widow, family, and parishioners, he would nevertheless have been an…
For a brief period, from around 1750 to 1820, the west coast and islands of Scotland experienced a boom in demand for kelp, a seaweed-derived substance used in the soap and glass-making industries. Kevin Grant – formerly St Kilda Archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland, now Archaeology Manager at Historic Environment Scotland – has been studying the fragile and elusive remains of this once-thriving industry, as Chris Catling reports.
What can cutting-edge photographic technology add to our understanding of Orkney’s Neolithic chambered tombs? Georgina Ritchie explores the possibilities of photogrammetry, with contributions from Steve Farrar and Hugo Anderson-Whymark.
Since 2009, the Scottish Government has been designating themed years to mark specific aspects of Scotland’s cultural and creative life, as well as the country’s natural beauty. As we look back on 2017, the Year of History, Heritage, and Archaeology, Julianne McGraw explores how Scotland’s World Heritage Sites played their part in the festivities.
For centuries Scotland’s finely crafted silver brooches, neck chains, vessels, and more were made from a supply of Roman hacksilver. Lucia Marchini learns more about the medieval afterlife of this metal at the National Museum of Scotland’s new exhibition.
The extraction of slate from the hills of Snowdonia is not just an industry – it is a way of life bound up with chapel, politics, and the preservation of the Welsh language. Chris Catling explains why the Welsh Royal Commission is supporting efforts to have this industrial landscape designated a World Heritage Site.
The Scottish island of Iona was one of the most influential Christian centres in Early Medieval Europe. But how much of its first monastery, built in the 6th century, has survived to the present day? As 2013, the 1,450th anniversary of its foundation, approached, it was time to find out, as Peter Yeoman explains.
Erosion poses a constant threat to Scotland’s rich coastal heritage. Tom Dawson and Joanna Hambly reveal how knowledge is being saved from the waves.
Always be willing to ask questions, no one ever gets it right first time and no one minds, we all did our first dig once!