{"id":783105,"date":"2026-02-23T06:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/783105\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:32:13","slug":"early-medieval-burial-ground-discovered-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/783105\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Medieval Burial Ground Discovered in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists working alongside a sewer upgrade project in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered a burial ground thought to date to the 6th century AD, along with two Iron Age roundhouses that may be up to 3,000 years old.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The discoveries were made at Windhill, a hamlet near Inverness, during the excavation of a 90-metre stretch of trench as part of a new sewer installed by Scottish Water<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Deep post holes reveal the location of the remains of an Iron Age roundhouse. Photo by Scottish Water, Steven Birch and Andy Hickie<\/p>\n

The excavation revealed the remains of three round barrows, each around 10 metres in diameter. Shallow ditches formed rings around central burial pits, indicating a small burial complex clustered within the limits of the construction trench.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excavations carried out at Windhill have revealed a complex suite of archaeological features within a relatively small area,\u201d says Steven Birch, who led the dig for West Coast Archaeological Services<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0\u201cFull analysis of the samples, finds and other materials will provide additional information relating to a snapshot into the early history of the area, adding to a growing core of evidence to suggest that the area around the Beauly Firth provided a suitable locale for settlement, industrial and funerary practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bone fragments recovered from one of the burials are now being radiocarbon dated, with results expected in the coming months. Alongside the burial features, archaeologists identified two Iron Age roundhouses and well-preserved smelting furnaces built against a large flat-topped boulder. \u201cThe evidence for metalworking at the site, which most likely took place during the first few centuries AD will form an important addition to the archaeological record for this area,\u201d Birch added.<\/p>\n

The discoveries were made during essential works intended to reduce the risk of sewer flooding and pipe bursts in the area. According to Scottish Water, the project was completed in July 2025\u2014while analysis of the archaeological finds is still underway.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been incredible to find out what was discovered near our sewer upgrade project,\u201d comments Project Manager Scott Henry. I have worked on many projects across the whole of Scotland and this has to be the most exciting find to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom desktop studies before, we had an idea of what could be found but didn\u2019t know it would such an amazing discovery. We always follow the correct procedures and ensure archaeologists are present when they need to be to ensure discoveries are protected and recorded from our sewer upgrade works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Image: A grave discovered during sewer upgrade works in Windhill, shown mid-excavation. Photo by Scottish Water, Steven Birch and Andy Hickie<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Medievalverse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Archaeologists working alongside a sewer upgrade project in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered a burial ground thought to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,215476,228374,145712,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-783105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scotland","tag-britain","tag-great-britain","tag-medieval-archaeology","tag-medieval-burials","tag-medieval-scotland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116118549161062267","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}