The community dig at Palace Village, Birsay is progressing well and at the end of week one, exciting finds are being unearthed.
A team of archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands and volunteers from the local community have been excavating in Palace Village, Birsay, as part of the Mapping Magnus project. Charlotte Hunter, MSc student on professional placement at the UHI Archaeology Institute, takes up the story…..
“With one week left, the chase is on to find the medieval Bishop’s Palace. Four test pits have been opened along with the main trench in some of the local communities’ gardens in search of the Bishop’s Palace.
Community involvement in the project has been exceptional and has led to the unearthing of the most outstanding find so far….A couple of residents decided to remodel their outdoor paving and so asked the team to open a new trench in the ground exposed under their yard. This led to the discovery of an unknown, potentially medieval, wall structure.
From what can be seen by the style of the construction of this wall it may suggest that it dates to the medieval period. There was a large quantity of shell found both sides of the wall which is a Norse technique. The next challenge for this trench is to establish which is the internal and external side of the wall.
Throughout the rest of the site a couple of the test pits are beginning to come across what could be structural stones which may be part of the Bishop Palaces walls. Further excavation on these areas will be carried out in the final week of the dig.
A few of the finds across the excavation have included a couple of pieces of medieval pottery, one being Norse. Other artefacts have included fragments of animal bone and pottery from the 19th and 20th century.
There is still time for you to come and visit the team at this intriguing excavation, which ends this Friday (6th October). Who knows what will be discovered in the last days of the Mapping Magnus excavation!
The Mapping Magnus project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Orkney Islands Council and the UHI Archaeology Institute as part of Magnus 900, commemorating the 900th anniversary year of the death of St Magnus during 2017.
