Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Thrumster dig uncovers broch era village
By David G Scott- d.scott@nosn.co.uk
Published: 14:43, 10 September 2019 | Updated: 15:24, 10 September 2019
LONG before the John O'Groats Trail or North Coast 500 route existed there was another path within the county that has just been uncovered after lying centuries under the turf.
It may be very small but the well-laid-out stone path, or passageway, exists within structures that are over 2000 years old and lies on moorland at Swartigill on the Thrumster Estate. The structures being uncovered seem to date from the same era as the Iron Age brochs for which the county is famous and suggest that a village of some complexity existed there for a number of centuries.
The flagstone surface appears like a pathway around the inner structures.
A team from the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (Orca) worked along with the Yarrows Heritage Trust (YHT) to help uncover one of the most "significant finds in the county since the Victorian era", according to estate owner Islay MacLeod.
Previous seasons of excavation at the site have uncovered a complex of ancient structures which are providing an important window into Iron Age society away from the monumental architecture of the brochs.
More:
https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/thrumster-dig-uncovers-prehistoric-village-182783/