Dig It!

@digitscotland.bsky.social

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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/

Photo of children playing with tools and toys
Digital rendering of geophysical data showing anomalies in a field
Photo of a stone fragment showing a carved warrior figure, with a shield, in profile
Photo of four objects, a penannular brooch, a glove, a bowl and a belt strap with a notched alphabet written on them
Photo of a group of people in high vis jackets digging turf on the side of a windy hill
Digital image of geophysical data showing below ground features of a multi-period settlement
Photo of a person in a black t-shirt and cap wheeling a large metal frame housing surveying technology over a field with a standing stone in the background
Photo of people digging in a field with mountains in the background
Photo of four people kneeling on the ground of an excavation trench and using trowels to dig
Photo of a carved stone depicting a lion's head and a human
Photo of a bronze spearhead
Decorated broken pot with textiles attached
A group of people standing in front of a park sign
Photo of a digital cartoon showing a selkie (seal person) holding a seal tooth pendant and photo of a hand holding out a seal tooth pendant
Aerial photo of an archaeological excavation revealing the stone remains of a circular prehistoric tower and associated buildings
Broken brown medieval vase
Black and white aerial view of a castle garden. The parchmarks can be seen as sharply straight and thick lighter marks that project from below the current buildings with a road running through them. To the east (on the right of the photograph) are the paths of the formal garden of the same date. To the west (on the left of the photograph) are the very faint remains of a bowling green.
Photo of two people in waterproof clothing digging in a shallow archaeological trench
Photo of people digging in a shallow archaeological trench
Photo of a rock slab in grass covered with etched cup and ring marks
Photo of a man in a green shirt wearing purple plastic gloves and moving a labelled cardboard box out of a shelf in a store room
Photo of a 17th-century silver coin showing a soldier
Aerial view of an archaeological excavation of a prehistoric passage grave site
Photo of a yellow digger excavating a shallow trench by an existing house, revealing the foundations of a prehistoric ring ditch
Photo of a grey glass bead decorated with a yellow spiral
Photo of a group of people excavating a Highland landscape with mountains in the background
Photo of a small fishing boat moored at a jetty on the edge of an island with visible remnants of industrial lime production
Old church with a kirkyard in front of it
Person taking a photograph of a stone
Photo of a city skyline showing a medieval castle on a hill
Photo of an upland landscape with a mound of stones in the foreground and snowy hills in the distance
Photo of a ruined stone tower house or castle standing on a cliff top on an island
Digital image showing the results of a geophysical survey on a field, which revealed a medieval moated enclosure
Printed artwork featuring various artefacts
Aerial view of a large monument on a hill
Photo of a rock stack on the edge of an island, with the slight remains of a stone fortification on top
A stone with a carving on it that is barely visible
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.
Photo of a loch with mountains in the background and seaweed on the rocky shore in the foreground
Sailing boat carved onto a piece of stone
Three people in high-vis jackets at an excavated site
Digital illustration of a person kneeling down in a trench and picking up a tiny green bead with a trowel and their fingers
Four stone tools
Illustration of a person in prehistoric clothing using rocks
Photo of two sheep with brown wool walking on a sandy beach amongst seaweed
Aerial photo of an archaeological dig showing open shallow trenches and a round tent
Gold ring which contains a purple amethyst-like stone inset and features an engraved floral decoration on the shoulders of the hoop
Reconstruction image of a hillfort
Photo of a geophysical scan of a field showing the square remains of a building
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
A dramatic, rugged royal park, a ~650-acre wild landscape featuring volcanic hills, cliffs, lochs, and ancient history, dominated by the extinct volcano.
Photo of a churchyard with a sculpture of a woman outside the wall
Photo of a grey, stone-built castle on a hill seen through the trees
Photo of an arrowhead encased in a silver setting
Volunteers undertaking GPS survey and context descriptions to understand, locate and record the archaeological layers
Aerial view of Gletness 2025 trenches and coastal section