@digitscotland.bsky.social
Discover Scotland’s stories with ground-breaking archaeology news and events that are open to everyone | A @socantscot.bsky.social project | #HESsupported | #ScotArchStrat | Visit https://www.digitscotland.com/
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...
Black and white image of two people in clothing from the mid-1900s standing amongst circular features with circular fencing around and in front of them and a sign in the ground that reads: Sun Altar
In 1933, prehistoric circular features were discovered in West Dunbartonshire and later described as a “druidic temple” ☀️
But a reassessment eventually revealed that they were more likely associated with burial mounds created over 3,500 years ago: www.digitscotland.com/top-five-arc...
A dramatic, rugged royal park, a ~650-acre wild landscape featuring volcanic hills, cliffs, lochs, and ancient history, dominated by the extinct volcano.
Edinburgh's Holyrood Park has been shaped by over 8,000 years of human use, with traces of Iron Age forts and Bronze Age agricultural terraces still visible on the slopes 🌄
On 25 January, dig into the archaeology of the site with Historic Environment Scotland: www.digitscotland.com/events/parka...
Photo of a churchyard with a sculpture of a woman outside the wall
A Highland graveyard survey has revealed a “new” medieval cross as well as inscriptions from the early 1600s to the early 1800s 🪦
On 16 January, hear about the lives of Tarbat families recorded on these stones and discover some of the most striking examples: www.digitscotland.com/events/the-t...
Photo of a grey, stone-built castle on a hill seen through the trees
In the 1980s, excavations at Edinburgh Castle uncovered evidence connected to pivotal moments in Scottish history 🏰
This included a smithy used during Edward III of England's invasion in AD 1335 and a 17th-century cemetery linked to the first Jacobite Rising: www.digitscotland.com/archaeology-...
Photo of an arrowhead encased in a silver setting
In April, the Treasure Trove Unit confirmed the discovery of an amulet with a history that spans millennia 🐴
Created around 300 years ago from an arrowhead made thousands of years earlier, the charm was believed to save horses from injuries caused by fairies: www.digitscotland.com/five-of-scot...
Volunteers undertaking GPS survey and context descriptions to understand, locate and record the archaeological layers
A piece of 12th-century white gritty ware pottery from Scotland
Triumphant volunteers having just completed the arduous task of digging out a slot across the medieval ditch
Drone photo of the site showing the five evaluation trenches
Horndean in the Borders has long been suspected to be the location of a lost village occupied around 800 years ago, known from historical documents and maps, but not proven - until now! 🗺️
Earlier this year, volunteers helped rediscover the medieval settlement: www.digitscotland.com/five-of-scot...
This summer, investigations unearthed evidence that a hillfort in Dumfries & Galloway may have been besieged by an invading Roman force 1,900 years ago ⚔️
Experts say the new data from Burnswark Hill "challenges long-held assumptions about Scotland’s past": www.digitscotland.com/five-of-scot...
You can find the second of our 'Fireside stories from Glencoe' series here: glencoeandrannochenvirons.wordpress.com/2025/12/18/t...
This post explores the story of the Glencoe Hoard (discovered in 2023) and is based on research by @hunterianglasgow.bsky.social Dr Jesper Ericsson.
You can find the first of our 'fireside stories from Glencoe' series over the festive break here: glencoeandrannochenvirons.wordpress.com/2025/12/18/b...
This story by Prof Michael Given @uofgartshums.bsky.social explores a local *character* of Glencoe Big Archie!
@nts-archaeology.bsky.social
Aerial view of Gletness 2025 trenches and coastal section
Volunteers posing on a pebble beach in front of a house
An open trench showing the Bronze Age structures - the photographic scale is on the roof of the subterranean corbelled structure, surrounded by a paved area
Earlier this year, volunteers helped uncover rare Bronze Age structures in Shetland, including a complex burnt mound (a by-product of boiling water) 🍻
The purpose of this 2,500-year-old technique remains a mystery, with theories ranging from brewing to saunas: www.digitscotland.com/five-of-scot...
The above-water remains of an artificial island (known as a crannog) and its causeway
Students beginning to record the sections of an excavation trench at the top of a hill
An amulet from the early modern period made of a prehistoric flint arrowhead in a silver setting
Traces of Neolithic feasting, possible evidence of a Roman siege, and an amulet once thought to be imbued with supernatural power are just some of Scotland's top archaeological discoveries from 2025 🤩
Dig into our list of finds spanning 6,000 years of history: www.digitscotland.com/five-of-scot...
Thoroughly deserved! We loved hearing about what you uncovered at Gletness and what this could help us learn about the Bronze Age 👏
17.12.2025 08:58 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
bronze mount decorated with a wolf
In 1963, a Viking-Age grave containing a bronze mount decorated with a wolf was discovered on a Westness farm in Orkney 🐺
It's one of many traces of this predator—which roamed Scotland for millennia after the last ice age—that have been found by archaeologists: www.digitscotland.com/the-archaeol...
Photo of a group of people standing near the remains of a prehistoric water dwelling in an estuary with a road bridge in the background
Despite being visible to hundreds of people daily crossing the Erskine Bridge, this prehistoric water dwelling is relatively unknown 🌊
But Erskine crannog in West Dunbartonshire has offered us many clues about how people lived on water over 2,000 years ago: www.digitscotland.com/top-five-arc...
Aerial photo of a beach with ‘shadow trees’ (pupils from the local school standing on tree stumps to represent the forest)
In 2018, @coastarch.bsky.social raced against the tide to investigate a submerged prehistoric forest on a beach in Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Outer Hebrides) 🌳
It's one of the many sites in Scotland that are under threat from erosion and rising sea levels: www.digitscotland.com/how-to-help-...
Illustration of a Pictish hillfort
Who would you meet travelling from one place to the next in 7th-century Pictland? What could you eat at a feast? And what would the bard be singing about? 🤔
Dig into early medieval Scotland with 'Carved in Stone', one of the ideas in our archaeology gift guide: www.digitscotland.com/scottish-arc...
Photo of a field system in front of a hill, with the square crop marks of a past ancient fort in the field
It's thought that many Roman soldiers must have passed away while stationed at Trimontium fort in the Borders 1,900 years ago - so why have no grave sites been found? 🪦
On 11 December, hear theories on the location of the missing mausolea at this hybrid event: www.digitscotland.com/events/till-...
