
Sigurd Towrie


Entangled sources – zooarchaeology and the economy of Werden Abbey

‘Stunning result’ in national research assessment sees institute placed 14th in UK archaeology rankings
The UHI Archaeology Institute has been placed 14th in the UK archaeology rankings, and second in Scotland, following a nationwide assessment of university-based research.

Pictish symbol stone on display for first time in exhibition focusing on the Newark story
A Pictish symbol stone will be on display at the Orkney Museum for the first time this summer as part of an exhibition exploring the history of Newark, Deerness, Orkney.

This summer’s dig at The Cairns will be open to the public
This summer’s excavation at The Cairns will be open to the public, with a special open day scheduled for Friday, July 1.

LIFTE team gather for research project’s first in-person meeting
den Dig, the LIFTE project team gathered in Orkney for their first in-person meeting since the project began in October 2020.

Cairns excavation takes pride of place at Stromness Museum summer exhibition
Our ongoing excavation at The Cairns is the subject of this year’s summer exhibition at the Stromness Museum.

Funded PhD opportunity – exploring drystone construction in the Northern Isles
Our colleagues at the Institute for Northern Studies UHI have a fully funded PhD studentship available looking at the cultural significance of drystone construction in Shetland and Orkney.

Link: Graffiti hunt finds 600 marks in Orkney’s St Magnus Cathedral
A news story about the St Magnus Cathedral Graffiti Project, which has seen the publication of a leaflet detailing some of the inscriptions found in the 12th century cathedral.

Bone comb fragment unearthed in Lerwick test pit
Monday’s star find of the ongoing Lerwick Garden Dig was a bone comb fragment, found in the Bank Lane area of the town.

Garden dig turning up interesting finds in Lerwick
Our “Lerwick Garden Dig” is off to a great start in Shetland over the weekend with some interesting finds, going back to the 17th century.

Video: ‘A great show-off’ – carving as an expression of self in the runic inscriptions of Maeshowe
Maeshowe’s runes featured in April’s UHI Archaeology Institute online seminar, which saw Dr Karen Langsholt Holmqvist present her research on medieval runic graffiti.

Runner-up spot for UHI seaweed-consumption research poster
At the UK Archaeological Science conference in Aberdeen, Dr Magdalena Blanz and colleagues won the runner-up poster prize for early career researchers.

‘Lerwick Garden Dig’ gets under way in Shetland
A team from the Archaeology Institute UHI are in Shetland today as part of Looking in from the Edge (LIFTE) – an international project examining the Northern Isles’ place in European trade networks of the 15th to 18th centuries.

Runes on the radio – historian investigates ‘The Ancient Algorithm’
Dr Ragnhild Ljosland is one of the guests on a BBC Radio 3 broadcast focusing on runes on Sunday evening.

Talking bruck – free online seminar on the art and archaeology of waste in Orkney
The art and archaeology of rubbish is the subject of a free online seminar by Dr Antonia Thomas next week.

Video: Connections across Britain and Ireland during the age of Stonehenge
Nick Card, of the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute and director of the Ness of Brodgar excavation, was a speaker in a British Museum talk last week on links between Neolithic Orkney and the rest of Britain and Ireland.

Survey images from Neolithic chambered cairn at Westray’s Vere Point
We were out in Westray on Friday as part of the launch of our Tombs of the Isles community project and took the chance to survey a little known Neolithic chambered cairn at Vere Point.