THEY were feared for their looting, pillaging and burning of coastal areas of Scotland, but in the case of one building they razed to the ground, the Vikings have done modern scientists a huge favour.
Burghead near Lossiemouth in Moray was the largest known fort of the Picts, the mysterious ‘lost’ people who occupied much of what is now north and east mainland Scotland for many centuries before they merged with the Scottish Gaels from the west to form a single Scottish entity by the tenth century AD. It was in that century that Burghead was set on fire, most probably by Viking raiders, apparently ending the Pictish occupation of that part of Moray.
Now archaeologists from Aberdeen University have discovered that the fire has preserved material from the site that would normally have rotted away hundreds of years ago, offering them a unique insight into its history.
The Aberdeen team led by Dr Gordon Noble, the University’s head of archaeology, returned to Burghead in April to continue excavations at the fort.
The University stated: “Although Burghead’s significance as a seat of Pictish power is well known, little archaeological work has been undertaken there as it was believed all significant evidence of its earlier life was destroyed when the building of the modern town commenced in 1805.
“The Aberdeen team began excavations in 2015 and their efforts have already yielded significant finds including a Pictish longhouse and Anglo Saxon coins of Alfred the Great.
“This time they were granted scheduled monument consent to dig in the lower citadel for the first time and at the seaward ramparts of the upper citadel.”
In the lower citadel the team’s excavations uncovered a huge timber-laced wall which would have stood more than six metres high and in the upper citadel they found remarkably preserved timbers.
The complexity of the fort defences was documented in the 19th century work of archaeologist Hugh Young, but Noble said his team had expected little trace to remain.
Instead, they found the defensive structure preserved in amazing detail, and were also able to examine areas where the Picts disposed of their rubbish.
Noble said: “We are fortunate to have the descriptions of the site written by Hugh Young in 1893. He describes a lattice work of oak timbers which would have acted as an enormous defensive barrier and must have been a hugely complex feat of engineering in the early medieval period.
“In the years that have passed since he made his observations, the Burghead Fort has unfortunately been subject to significant coastal erosion and the harsh North Sea environment. But when we started digging, we discovered that while the destruction of the fort in the 10th century may not have been good news for the Picts, the fact that so much of it was set alight is a real bonus for archaeologists.
We’ve discovered that the complex layer of oak planks set in the wall was burned in situ and that the resulting charring has preserved it in amazing detail when ordinarily it would have rotten away to nothing by now.”
Carbon dating should now provide new insights into the period when the fort was built.
Noble added: “The Picts were a huge influence on northern Scotland but because they left no written records, archaeology is essential in providing answers in regard to their lives, influence and culture.
What’s exciting is the level of preservation here. We’ve found animal bone which rarely survives in mainland Scotland because of the acidic soil. We’re already getting really nice information about what people ate within the fort and we hope to extract a level of information we’ve not had for Pictish sites before. We’re starting to build a picture of Pictish resources being put into this site on a scale we have never found evidence for before.”
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