Photo of a small fishing boat moored at a jetty on the edge of an island with visible remnants of industrial lime production
At its peak in the late 19th century, Sailean on Lios Mòr (Lismore) was one of the last major lime works to operate from a Scottish island 🔥
The site is now a quiet spot, but "it isn’t hard to stand among the ruins and imagine this industrial hub" in action: www.digitscotland.com/top-archaeol...
Old church with a kirkyard in front of it
Established on the grounds of an ancient church in the Highlands, surveys at the Tarbat Discovery Centre kirkyard have revealed a medieval cross slab, two Claymore slabs and a Green Man 🪦
Find out more at this Highland Family History Society event on 23 April: www.digitscotland.com/events/the-t...
Person taking a photograph of a stone
In 2023, a previously undocumented incised inscription was discovered on the Stone of Destiny, an ancient symbol of Scottish monarchy, using photogrammetry (a digital imaging method) 👑
What else has this technique uncovered in Scotland? Find out on our website: www.digitscotland.com/what-is-phot...
Photo of a city skyline showing a medieval castle on a hill
Over 3,000 years of human history has been found at Edinburgh Castle, including Iron Age huts, a medieval smithy used by English forces and a previously unknown 17th-century cemetery 🪦
Ready to dig deeper? Archaeologist Peter Yeoman FSAScot tells us more: www.digitscotland.com/archaeology-...
Photo of an upland landscape with a mound of stones in the foreground and snowy hills in the distance
In 2025, the discovery of a tiny flint flake near Crieff sparked a community investigation into the prehistoric peoples of Perth & Kinross 🌳
On 18 May, join the archaeologist who found it to discover the stories of those who once called this place home: www.digitscotland.com/events/archa...
Illustration of a hillfort with overlaid text that says 'New Book'
NEW BOOK: 'Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland'
We are thrilled to announce the release of our book by Professor Gordon Noble FSAScot, a nationally important monograph that brings together 10 years of research which has transformed our understanding of the Picts: www.socantscot.org/uncategorize...
Photo of a ruined stone tower house or castle standing on a cliff top on an island
Built in 1582 and burned 65 years later, Gylen Castle on Cearara (Kerrera) seems to have had a relatively short life, but is there more to its history? 🏰
In 2002, archaeological surveys revealed below-ground structures which may pre-date this picturesque ruin: www.digitscotland.com/top-archaeol...
Digital image showing the results of a geophysical survey on a field, which revealed a medieval moated enclosure
A medieval moated enclosure which is at least 500 years old has recently been identified by geophysical survey in the Scottish Borders and experts need your help to excavate the interior 🔍
Register for the free dig starting on 11 May—no experience required: www.digitscotland.com/events/excav...
Bronze Age shield found in peat bog returned to Scotland for first time in over 230 years
Bronze Age shield found in peat bog returned to Scotland for first time in over 230 years
The shield is one of six to feature in an exhibition on Bronze Age Scotland this summer.
Printed artwork featuring various artefacts
Around 1,900 years ago, Trimontium in the Borders was Scotland's largest Roman fort and settlement ⚔️
"Reflect on the traces of those who once walked these lands, whose stories linger quietly beneath the surface" at @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social's new exhibition: www.digitscotland.com/events/lands...
Photo of a person in a grey hoodie using a pumice stone to smooth an animal hide stretched out on a wooden rack
FUNDING NEWS: Society Funds Experimental Archaeology Connected to the Book of Kells and More with Latest Grants
The project could bring us closer to knowing whether the Book of Kells was created at a Highland monastery over 1,200 years ago: www.socantscot.org/news/society...
Aerial view of a large monument on a hill
You may have already spotted or visited the Wallace Monument on Abbey Craig, but did you know that the site was also home to a hillfort which dates to around AD 900 (1,100 years ago)? 🌄
Dig into Stirling's archaeological sites with @stirlingdigger.bsky.social: www.digitscotland.com/top-five-arc...
3D models of historic sites made using photogrammetry, like this one of 2,200-year-old Dun Carloway broch on Leòdhais (Lewis), are changing the way archaeologists investigate Scotland's past 💻
Find out more about this technique and how you can get involved: www.digitscotland.com/what-is-phot...
Photo of a rock stack on the edge of an island, with the slight remains of a stone fortification on top
Coroghan Castle on Canna is best known as the prison where the wife of a jealous clan chief was allegedly sent to prevent others from wooing her 💔
Legends aside, archaeological survey has helped to uncover and record the material remains of the island's past: www.digitscotland.com/top-archaeol...
A stone with a carving on it that is barely visible
Black and white version of the same image with a carving that is more visible
Black and white version of the same image with a carving of a hooded human outlined in red
Thought to have been carved with ogham (an Early Medieval alphabet) over 1,000 years ago, photogrammetry revealed something new on this stone decades after it was excavated in Orkney: a hooded human figure 📷
What is photogrammetry? Dr Megan Kasten explains: www.digitscotland.com/what-is-phot...
The obverse face features a large shafted Christian cross with hollow angles which spans the full width of the face and the majority of its length. The front of the stone is the most weathered face as, having been laid face-down, this portion of the stone was subjected to many years of cyclical wetting and drying. However, panels of decorative interlace and entangled zoomorphic creatures are still visible around the cross. Above the cross lies a narrow upper section which depicts the confronting heads of two fanged beasts. The Conan beasts have anatomically specific teeth – they have molars, canines and incisors – and feature dangling interlace from their mouths, perhaps representing their tongues or snakes. The reverse face depicts a range of different real and mythical creatures. In the upper left corner, approximately one fifth of the surface has been deliberately chipped away and re-inscribed with the names Hugh McAulay and Alexander McAulay, together with the date January 2 1796. This Pre-Reformation inscription obscures what may once have been a full-width serpent and Z-rod Pictish symbol, the floriated terminals of which are still visible as is the double disc and Z-shaped symbol below. To the side sits a small S-shaped figure matching the hippocampus (symbol no.159) in ECMS. The remaining space is occupied by rows of paired beasts: a kneeling figure with an animal head that often appears on Pictish cross-slabs, and is often termed the ‘formidable man’, faces a now headless centaur with two axes and a small cauldron-like object stands between them. Below, a pair of quadrupeds also face each other and two oxen with large U-shaped horns face rightwards. Interlace appears on both the narrow east and west faces of the stone. On the west face, the interlace terminates just beyond the half way point to give way to an angular key pattern.
Discovered in 2019, this 1,200-year-old Pictish cross-slab featuring real and mythical creatures was reused as a gravestone in the Highlands in the 18th century 🪦
Dig into the story with the North of Scotland Archaeological Society in Inverness on 19 March: www.digitscotland.com/events/not-a...
Photo of a loch with mountains in the background and seaweed on the rocky shore in the foreground
Seaweed grows wild and is abundant across Scotland, so it’s no surprise that it's been used here for millennia 🌊
Today, research into historic seaweed harvesting reminds us how these types of food sources can help us build a more sustainable future: www.digitscotland.com/the-archaeol...
Sailing boat carved onto a piece of stone
When you see a carved stone or a recent piece of graffiti, what do you think? Do you see the marking, the message or the meaning behind them? 🤔
Journey to the past with some of Scotland's oldest markings at this exhibition in the Highlands from 20 March: www.digitscotland.com/events/marki...
Three people in high-vis jackets at an excavated site
In 2005, a Bronze Age monument used to heat water over 2,800 years ago was exposed by a storm on a beach in Orkney 🌊
Over following winters, the site was damaged by subsequent storms before the local community helped re-excavate, move and reconstruct it: www.digitscotland.com/how-to-help-...
This article has been adapted from a chapter in Carved in Stone: A Storyteller’s Guide to the Picts.
The book's creation was led by Brian Tyrrell of @stoutstoat.co.uk and @archaeoplays.bsky.social's Dr Heather Christie FSAScot in partnership with Dig It!: www.stoutstoat.co.uk/products/car...
Digital illustration of a person kneeling down in a trench and picking up a tiny green bead with a trowel and their fingers
When uncovering traces of people from the past, evidence comes in all sizes, can be found everywhere and might not look like what we expect 🤔
Confused? Don't be! Learn more about how archaeologists uncover these stories and how you can get involved: www.digitscotland.com/what-is-arch...
Four stone tools
These stone tools found on An t-Eilean Sgitheanach (Isle of Skye) were used by pioneering humans over 11,000 years ago ⚒️
On 12 March, discover how growing evidence is showing that early humans of this period ventured much further north than previously believed: www.digitscotland.com/events/at-th...
Illustration of a person in prehistoric clothing using rocks
Over 10,000 years ago, Ice Age glaciers melted to create the Highland landscape we know today and a handful of adventurers travelled north 🧭
Trace their story through to the arrival of Picts and early Christians at this exhibition at Inveravon Church in Moray: www.digitscotland.com/events/first...
"Thousands of archaeological sites are now threatened by coastal impacts of climate change", which means that important evidence is being "washed away by storms and high tides before we can learn from it" 🌊
But archaeologists have a plan to offset this loss: www.digitscotland.com/how-drones-a...
Photo of two sheep with brown wool walking on a sandy beach amongst seaweed
North Ronaldsay's sheep are renowned for their unusual diet of seaweed—but their eating habits aren't a new phenomenon 🐏
By analysing over 100 Neolithic sheep teeth, archaeologists have shown that sheep in Orkney were grazing on seaweed over 4,500 years ago: www.digitscotland.com/the-archaeol...
Aerial photo of an archaeological dig showing open shallow trenches and a round tent
In 2024, volunteers helped excavate at least two roundhouses at the site of an ancient settlement near Moffat which was once part of a busy Iron Age landscape ⛏️
Think you can help uncover more? Register for the Adie's Brae dig in April, no experience required: www.digitscotland.com/events/adies...
Gold ring which contains a purple amethyst-like stone inset and features an engraved floral decoration on the shoulders of the hoop
In 2019, this gold medieval ring was found on the top of a molehill within the grounds of Dundonald Castle in South Ayrshire 💍
Thought to have been an "elite object" around 500 years ago, it may have been brought to the surface by the mole’s digging activities: www.digitscotland.com/top-six-arch...
Reconstruction image of a hillfort
First mentioned in Roman sources over 1,700 years ago as a collective name for troublesome, barbaric peoples, the Picts went on to become the dominant kingdom in northern Britain 💪
On 12 February, explore their southern kingdoms at this online event: www.digitscotland.com/events/east-...
When investigators broke through a pavement at Edinburgh Castle in 1912, they were amazed to discover the lost tower of King David II 🏰
Built in 1367 by Robert the Bruce's son, it still bore the dramatic scars from its final days under English bombardment: www.digitscotland.com/archaeology-...
Photo of a geophysical scan of a field showing the square remains of a building
Think archaeology is just digging? Think again! Geophysical survey can offer important clues about what lies beneath the soil without breaking ground 🌱
Join this free workshop on 5 February to investigate the context of recent medieval finds in the Borders: www.digitscotland.com/events/geoph...