Tag: Engagement
Archaeology, Gaelic and the Glencoe Landscape: A workshop with An Lochran
We had a lovely night at the An Lochran centre in Partick, Glasgow, exploring the results from our recent excavations in Glencoe and how Gaelic – through placenames, storytelling and song – can contribute to our understandings of these landscapes and help us tell new stories! The session began with an introduction to Glencoe’s archaeology…
The house of many hearths: Fireside stories from Glencoe
During our 2024 and 2025 seasons excavating at the township of Achnacon we uncovered a large turf-walled house. Within the structure three hearths were identified, one within a stone setting flush with the floor surface and close to the Northern gable wall, another in the structure’s centre within a pit sealed with a cauldron fragment…
Digging for Britain!
You can check out some of the findings from our 2024 and 2025 seasons at Achnacon on Digging for Britain now via BBC IPlayer. Their team joined us this summer to explore our exciting findings which shed new light on life before and after the Glencoe Massacre of 1692. Tori from Digging for Britain, does…
Big Archie and the Stranger: Fireside stories from Glencoe
A story by Prof Michael Given The great thing about having a fire in the middle of the room is that you can sit round it. Everyone gets a share of the warmth, and no one is closer than anyone else. The wattled panels cover the turf walls on all sides, the couples stand proud…
The Chief’s coin pot: Fireside stories from Glencoe
A story by Dr Edward Stewart Alisdair Mac Alisdair Ruadh (‘Alexander son of red-haired Alexander‘) Chief of the MacIain MacDonalds of Glencoe. The chief, an old man now, sits by the fire on a chair carved of hewn oak staves, carved when the chief was but his fathers heir, and polished with age and wear.…
Crafting the Past
Among our finds from the Summerhouse of MacIain were an assemblage of spindle whorls. These are hoop shapes, in this case cast in lead, which were used to spin fibres into thread. These would be used to create textiles from wool as well as other fiberous materials including bog cotton and tree basts. Two of…
Fragment Found: Book Launch
I was thrilled to be able to attend the launch of the Fragments Found book and installation at the Make It Glasgow Bothy, beside the clay pits. This volume brings together a collection of contributions on the theme of found pottery fragments, including pieces by artists, archaeologists and mudlarks. In the volume there are reflections…
Glencoe Field School 2025
We will be back in the field in the summer of 2025 for another season of excavations, surveys and creative practices. Between the 24th June and 8th July we will be back at the settlement of Achnacon, excavating features associated with the pre-clearance township. This season we will have even more opportunities for you to…
Scotlands Archaeology Strategy
Our project featured in this years Scotlands Archaeology Strategy magazine ‘Celebrating archaeology in Scotland 2024’ – accessible here. We were mentioned in both the ‘Innovation and Skills’ aim report, and article by Dr Edward Stewart and Lizzie Robertson on our 2023 and 2024 field schools pedagogy, and in the report on this summers ‘Scotland Digs’…
Gaming in the Glen
Among the assemblages recovered from the Summerhouse of MacIain in 2023, two small fragments of a slate board give us tantilising clues into how the MacDonald chiefs and their guests spent their evenings. These slate fragments scratched with a checked pattern tell us that those entertained by the chief in Gleann Leac-na-Muidhe would have played…