The Cairns dig diary – day 15
Site director Martin Carruthers reflects on the first three weeks of the 2025 and looks ahead to the remainder.
£10k scholarship to study in Orkney on offer to potential Greek students
The UHI is offering a potential student from Greece a £10,000 scholarship to undertake our MSc Archaeological Practice or MLitt Archaeological Studies postgraduate degrees in Orkney.
Institute student and staff recognised in annual HISA awards
A UHI Archaeology Institute student and three members of staff have been recognised in the annual HISA awards.
The Cairns dig diary – day 14
A highlight of today was a very long-awaited event. – the lifting of the saddle quern and rubber set into the floor of the broch.
ORCA join Time Team in Shetland to investigate possible Viking boat burial
Time Team experts Dr John Gater, Matt Williams and Jackie McKinley have joined forces with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), Shetland Islands Council and Viking Specialist, Dr Colleen Batey to investigate a possible Viking era boat burial, first identified by Shetland’s county archaeologist, Dr Val Turner, in 2023.
Links: Prehistoric red deer and limpets – blog posts from UHI PhD students
Links to blog posts from UHI PhD students Kath Page and Helen Garbett.
The Cairns dig diary – day 13
Today’s update on The Cairns excavation from BA (Hons) student Grace Honeyman.
Australian conference session on graffiti co-convened by institute lecturer
Dr Antonia Thomas had a very early start yesterday when she co-convened a session at the World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia.
The Cairns dig diary – day 12
Back on site after yesterday’s call-off, work continued inside and outside the broch.
Job vacancy – operations manager for our new environmental archaeology facility
We are looking to recruit an operations manager for our planned environmental archaeology facility and laboratories located at UHI Orkney in Kirkwall.
The Cairns dig diary – day 11
Atrocious weather saw work on site cancelled today and a retreat back to the UHI Archaeology Institute in Kirkwall.
The Cairns dig diary – day ten
Fantastic progress on site and some remarkable finds.
The Cairns dig diary – day nine
As work continues across the site, it has been another day of multiple finds, including a beautiful piece of worked antler.
LIFTE research highlighted at ‘Northern Narratives’ conference
The UHI Archaeology Institute’s LIFTE project featured prominently in the recent Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA) Northern Narratives conference.
The Cairns dig diary – day eight
Another day of lovely finds, including a stone bead, our first scallop shell and more potential rotary quern fragments.
The Cairns dig diary – day seven
A day of progress and finds across the site.
The Cairns dig diary – day six
A busy start to week two, with a large group of diggers arriving on site.
Rousay industrial heritage surveys…
ORCA’s surveys at Saviskaill Bay and Saviskaill Farm, in Rousay, carried out as part of the From Peat Spade to Tangle Trade industrial heritage project are now online.