British Archaeology

A bio-archaeologist with the University of Reading, in the U.K., has found an ancient dog's red-painted penis bone along with a trove of other bones, in an ancient Roman era quarry shaft. In her paper published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Ellen Green describes where the bone was found, its condition, and possible reasons for it being painted red.

In her paper, Green notes that in 2015, a group of archaeologists digging at a site called Nescot, located near the modern town of Ewell, came upon a 4-meter-deep shaft that had been dug into the rock. Subsequent work revealed that the shaft had been used as a grave of sorts; it held hundreds of human and animal bones. In this new effort, Green focuses her efforts on one particular bone—a canine baculum (penis bone) that had been painted using red ochre.

Green notes that the remains of more than 280 domestic animals had been found in the shaft, 70% of which were dogs. None showed signs of butchering, disease or burning, which suggested they had been pets or working animals that had died and were buried. Just one of the canine baculum had been painted, making it stand out.

Green states that during Roman times, the penis, or depictions of it, were used in many contexts, many of which involved hoping for good luck. She suspects that the bone from the shaft likely played a role in a ritual of some sort, either before being tossed into the quarry shaft, or during its internment. She notes that other objects found in the shaft support the idea that the bone could have played a role in a larger ritual—perhaps one related to fertility.

A "significant" collection of silver coins dating back to the 11th century have been discovered at the site of the new Sizewell C nuclear power station taking shape on the Suffolk coast.

An archaeologist involved in a pre-construction dig saw the sliver of a coin edge peeping out and started shaking as he realised the importance of his discovery.

It was a "perfect archaeological time capsule" said Andrew Pegg of Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA) which was tasked with carrying out the dig.

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The discovery of the 321 mint-condition silver coins feature on BBC2’s Digging for Britain today (Tuesday, January 7) at 8pm and on BBC iplayer.

Historians think that the hoard - wrapped in a lead and cloth bundle about the size of a pasty - was probably a savings pot for a local figure worried about political instability following the coronation of Edward the Confessor in 1042.

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Experts think that it would have belonged to someone of middling status and of local influence as it was worth about the value of a small herd of cows.

Ken Hill, near the village of Snettisham in north-west Norfolk, is a special place. This promontory overlooking the Wash is a conspicuous feature in an otherwise flat and marshy coastal landscape, commanding views across the North Sea. It sits close to the Crown’s estates at Sandringham, and over the last few hundred years the land has been used for grazing, arable farming, and shooting. Some 2,000 years ago, however, the slopes of this hill saw the deposition of some of the most ornate ancient metalwork found in Britain: a series of gold hoards that lay largely undisturbed as the world moved on around them, until a chance discovery in the mid-20th century.

On a cold November day in 1948, a young tractor driver, Raymond Williamson, was working on the slopes of Ken Hill when his plough struck something hard. After climbing down to investigate, he retrieved what looked like the remains of an old brass bedstead, threw it to the side of the field, got back on his tractor, and continued with his task. The following day, though, he found more old metal, this time a ‘lot of twisted wire’. Again, no one thought much of the finds, and Williamson probably forgot all about them until a local company owner became interested, and they eventually came to the attention of Roy Rainbird Clarke, the Curator of Archaeology at Norwich Castle Museum. Clarke rushed to investigate – fighting transport delays and road closures because of a freezing fog that had descended over much of eastern Britain – and soon realised that Williamson’s discarded find was no bedstead. The ‘brass bed fittings’ were actually more than 2,000 years old, and they were made not of brass, but gold. In fact, they were neck- rings that would have been worn by people during the later Iron Age – unknown to him at the time, Raymond Williamson had stumbled on one of the most important archaeological sites in Britain.

Despite its significance, Williamson’s find was just one of a series made at Snettisham over the next 70 years. The first came just two years later in 1950, when another ploughman, Tom Rout, unearthed a beautiful golden torc (now known as the ‘Great Torc’) with intricately decorated terminals. Legend has it that George VI was staying at the nearby Sandringham estate at the time, and the artefact was taken by the landowner to be admired by the king.

There were only infrequent finds through the 1960s and 1970s, and it was thought there were no more treasures to be found at the site, but in August 1990 a metal-detectorist named Cecil ‘Charles’ Hodder once again struck gold. This time, it wasn’t the finely wrought torc that Hodder had perhaps been hoping for when he gained permission to detect at the site; rather, he recovered more than 500 fragmentary objects in alloys of gold, silver, and bronze, a group that we now know had originally been buried in an upturned bronze helmet (of which, more below). Hodder reported his discovery to the Norfolk Archaeological Unit and, soon after, in December that year, a second archaeologist and his team returned to investigate. Dr Ian Stead, then Deputy Keeper of the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities at the British Museum, began a large-scale excavation that lasted for three successive seasons between 1990 and 1992, uncovering several more hoards, as well as evidence about the longer history of the site.

Subsequent excavations and surveys in the 2000s and 2010s have added to this picture, and, in all, more than 1,200 metal artefacts have been found from this single field – which perhaps inevitably became known as the ‘gold field’, owing to the material from which many of the objects had been made.

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Let’s start with the most impressive objects from Snettisham, the finds that make the site so exceptional: the torcs. These are metal neck-rings, sometimes with decorated terminals at the front. Similar objects were worn across much of Europe, but the number found at Snettisham is unprecedented. There are more than 60 complete or near-complete torcs from the site, with hundreds more represented by fragments. This compares to 85 or so examples known from the whole of the rest of Britain. Taking all 14 hoards together, it is the largest assemblage of ancient gold jewellery from anywhere in Europe.

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Further reading:
Julia Farley and Jody Joy (eds) (2024) The Snettisham Hoards (British Museum Research Publication 225; British Museum Press, ISBN 978 0861592258, £40).

Dozens of sites linked to the Viking great army as it ravaged Anglo-Saxon England more than 1,000 years ago have been discovered. Leading experts from York University have traced the archaeological footprint of the Scandinavian invaders, identifying previously unknown sites and routes.

The study, conducted by Dawn M Hadley, professor of medieval archaeology, and fellow archaeology professor Julian D Richards, found that the significance of many of the ingots, gaming pieces and other artefacts unearthed by metal detectorists over the years had been overlooked until now. They also discovered about 50 new sites that they believe were visited by the Viking great army.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the collection of annals in Old English, recorded that the “great heathen army” arrived in 865. Over 15 years, battles were fought in the kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, kings were overthrown, monasteries were looted and society was transformed as Viking leaders adopted Anglo-­Saxon styles of kingship, converted to Christianity and engaged in political diplomacy.

Richards and Hadley have identified Viking sites and routes by comparing artefacts unearthed across the country with those discovered at two of their main camps, Torksey in Lincolnshire and Aldwark in North Yorkshire.

Richards said that gaming pieces thought to have been first manufactured at Torksey, for example, were identified on main routes or transhipment points more than 100 miles away. These were pieces from a strategic board game similar to chess.

The artefacts studied include dress fittings, such as strap ends, and exchanged bullion – notably silver, gold, and copper-alloy ingots, weights and Islamic dirhams – among objects acquired by the Vikings from as far afield as Ireland and the Islamic world.

One site in Yorkshire has been identified through various metal detector finds, including a cross-shaped mount whose matching other half was, remarkably, unearthed miles away in Lincolnshire. The discoveries show how members of the Viking army cut up pieces of loot and each took their share, according to Hadley.

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The academics will include their findings in their forthcoming book, Life in the Viking Great Army: Raiders, Traders, and Settlers, to be published by Oxford University Press in January. It will feature discoveries such as a fragment of scrap lead from Aldwark depicting Fenrir, the monstrous wolf of Norse mythology, and fittings from harnesses and sword belts.

Many of the previously unseen finds will be unveiled at the Yorkshire Museum’s new Vikings display, which opens in July.

Archaeologists have discovered a high status Roman villa in the Chalke Valley, located in Wiltshire, England.

The site was initially identified by detectorists, who reported finding Roman artefacts to the Portable Antiquities Scheme at Salisbury Museum.

This led to excavations over a two-week period which are part of a community project managed by Teffont Archaeology and supported by Cardiff University.

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According to a recent press statement, the project uncovered a villa complex over 35 metres in length, serving as the centre of a large agricultural estate during the late Roman period.

Alongside the main structure, the archaeologists found a bathhouse, a multi-story barn, and a concrete-floored building that might have served as an outdoor pool.

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Within the main villa building, excavations also revealed high status furnishings, such as high-quality mosaics with intricate geometric designs, and painted wall plaster and columns.

According to the archaeologists, these finds highlight the wealth and influence of the villa’s inhabitant, in an area thought to be scarce of major Roman development. The archaeological team will now work on analysing the finds from the site, and next year will give a range of talks locally about the results.

In 1911, an extraordinary archaeological discovery was made in the small coastal town of Clacton-on-Sea (Essex, England). Samuel Hazzledine Warren, an amateur prehistorian who had been searching for simple stone tools in a Paleolithic sediment, discovered what he initially thought was a piece of animal antler.

But he soon realized it was a fragmented wooden spear tip, and he presented it to the Geological Society of London. For a long time, scholars doubted its authenticity, believing early hominids lacked the skills necessary to make a spear and relied on scavenging to obtain food. Warren’s discovery was even considered by some to be a snow probe used to find frozen carcasses.

However, the discovery of a circular hole in a horse scapula excavated in Boxgrove changed these views, as it was thought to have been made by a spear tip and is 100,000 years older than the Clacton spear.

The spear consists of a sharpened tip made from a yew branch. It was found broken into two main pieces, but when reconstructed, it was identified as a finely crafted wooden spear dating back over 400,000 years. This makes it the oldest known worked wooden tool.

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The Clacton spear sparked a wave of research on ancient wooden artifacts across Europe. But it wasn’t until 1994 that another example as ancient of wooden tool-making was discovered at a major site in Germany called Schöningen. There, a treasure trove of wooden spears was found dating back 300,000-400,000 years, along with various animal bones from the slaughter of horses and other large game animals.

In gardens a few metres from Leicester Cathedral, archaeologists have made a disturbing discovery. Their excavations have revealed a narrow vertical shaft filled with the remains of 123 men, women and children.

It is one of the largest pit burials ever excavated in the UK, with subsequent research suggesting the bodies were dumped there more than 800 years ago, early in the 12th century.

However, the reasons for putting the corpses in this tiny, ancient shaft remain a mystery.

“Their bones show no signs of violence – which leaves us with two alternative reasons for these deaths: starvation or pestilence,” said Mathew Morris, project officer at Leicester University’s archaeological services. “At the moment, the latter is our main working hypothesis.”

The excavations by Morris and his colleagues suggest the bodies were put into the shaft in three deposits, in rapid succession. “It looks as if successive cartloads of bodies were brought to the shaft and then dropped into it, one load on top of another in a very short space of time,” he said. “In terms of numbers, the people put in there probably represented about 5% of the town’s population.”

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The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles repeatedly mention great pestilences and fevers, severe mortality, and miserable deaths from hunger and famine in England from the mid-10th century through to the mid-12th century, said Morris. “This mass burial fits within this timeframe and provides physical proof of what was then occurring across the nation.”

A rare and pristine example of gladiator memorabilia found in the River Tyne is to go on display, shining light on a 2,000-year-old culture of celebrity and sex appeal.

English Heritage said the copper alloy figurine would have been a decorative handle on a folding knife. Found near Corbridge, Northumberland, it provides proof that the superstar status of gladiators extended to the far edges of the Roman empire.

“It is amazing, it’s absolutely pristine,” said Frances McIntosh, English Heritage’s collections curator for Hadrian’s Wall. It is rare to find any example of gladiator memorabilia in Britain but “to find such a well-preserved and interesting piece is remarkable”.

“This beautifully made knife handle is a testament to how pervasive this celebrity culture was, reaching all the way to Hadrian’s Wall at the very edge of the Roman empire.”

McIntosh said successful gladiators became celebrities and had sex appeal. “There are lots of rumours that you see of high society women falling in love with gladiators,” she said. “Often a slur on somebody was that they had been fathered by a gladiator, that they were the son of a gladiator because their mother was … you know.”

Two neolithic stone circles have been discovered on Dartmoor, adding credibility to the theory that a “sacred arc” of monuments was built in the heart of the wild Devon uplands.

One of the circles appears to have similar features to Stonehenge, while the second sits slightly outside the sweep of the arc and could have served as a gateway used by pilgrims travelling to the area.

The discovery of the two rings is a result of a lifetime of work by Alan Endacott, a Devon archaeologist and stained glass artist who in 2007 unearthed the presence of the highest stone circle in southern England, Sittaford on Dartmoor

It was the first stone circle to be discovered on the moor for more than a century and reinforced the sacred arc theory. Rather than resting on his laurels, Endacott has kept on searching for more circles and been rewarded with two further finds.

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Endacott believes a sacred arc was intended to ring the high ground in the centre of the moor. “Dartmoor would have been very different then, there would have been a lot more forest cover. So possibly they were markers in the landscape, they recognised the higher ground and wanted to kind of enclose it for some reason.”

An enigmatic stone and turf structure on Bodmin Moor that was previously thought to be a medieval animal pen has been found to be 4,000 years older – and unique in Europe.

The rectangular monument was built not in the early medieval period to corral livestock, as recorded by Historic England, but rather in the middle Neolithic, between 5,000 and 5,500 years ago, archaeologists have discovered.

Nothing like it is known in Britain or farther afield, according to experts, meaning that the original purpose of the monument known as King Arthur’s Hall is a mystery.

“There isn’t another one of these anywhere,” said the lead archaeologist, James Gossip. “There is nothing built at that time or subsequently in prehistory that is a rectangular earth and stone bank with a setting of stone orthostats around the interior. There is no other parallel.”

The so-called “hall”, which sits on the western side of Bodmin Moor near Helstone in Cornwall, consists of a banked enclosure measuring 49 metres by 21 metres, lined on the inside with 56 standing stones up to 1.8 metres tall.

'In amongst the shattered peat was a perfectly preserved human foot – brown and complete with toenails.

Wilmslow in 1984 was a medium-sized, old-fashioned town with its fair share of furrier and celebrities, plus a couple of pharmaceutical companies to keep it rooted in the 20th century – not the kind of place where anyone would have guessed the UK’s most significant archaeological discovery of the century would be made.

It was there, in the rickety offices of the Wilmslow World on Water Lane one hot August day I received the call that would lead to the town being assured a place in the annals of ancient history, through the discovery of the UK’s first bog body to be removed intact from the peat.

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Andy Mould and Eddie Slack had been watching the peat coming down a huge conveyor belt when one of them had spotted a lump of peat: 'like a rugby-ball,' they told me. One picked it up to lob at the other, who dropped it. In amongst the shattered peat was a perfectly preserved human foot – brown and complete with toenails.

According to the peat diggers, the foot had been cut – as if by a blade. I wondered if there was a body out there missing a foot.

I was soon riding out, on a miniature train with temporary rails, onto the centre of the Moss to find out.

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On the way back to the sheds, I told the peat workers to stop the diggers for 24 hours, while I brought ‘an expert’ to look at the peat facer we’d just visited. With the arrogance of youth, I told them I would square it with their employers.

Naturally had no idea who I would summon, but I’d been on a dig during my university vacation (for social rather than academic interest) and had heard the term ‘County Archaeologist’ bandied about. Without the internet to assist, it took a few phone calls to locate a certain Richard (Rick) Turner, in his first week in the job.

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When Rick rang again, two days later (Friday, August 3), I could tell from his voice that this academic was excited. He told me he’d walked as directed up to the peat face, had simply stuck in his trowel and a bone had fallen out, which he immediately identified as human. He was convinced the foot belonged to a body buried there, he’d reported his discovery to the police in Wilmslow, and had been given the weekend to assemble a team of archaeologists to remove the body intact from Lindow Moss.

Then Rick said these unforgettable words: “I’m not going on the record with this, but I think this is a very important find, and will prove to be ancient.' He was guessing at 2,000 years ancient.

A hoard of Bronze Age artefacts unearthed by a metal detectorist in the Borders has been saved for the nation by National Museums Scotland.

It has acquired the Peebles Hoard, which had lain undisturbed for 3,000 years before it was discovered in 2020.

Efforts have now started to secure funding for continued research and conservation of the collection, which includes more than 500 pieces.

National Museums Scotland (NMS) said the man who found it had received a five-figure sum.

Senior curator Dr Matthew Knight said it shed new light on Bronze Age communities in Scotland.

The hoard has been described as one of the most significant ever found in the country.

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NMS said it represented a "complex set of material, some of which has no archaeological parallel anywhere in western Europe".

"This includes many unique artefacts, the use of which is yet to be discovered and could transform our understanding of life in Bronze Age Scotland," it added.

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The hoard was found in 2020 by metal-detectorist Mariusz Stepien, who alerted the Treasure Trove Unit.

That allowed experts to coordinate a complex retrieval process which involved removing the hoard from the ground in a single block which was then CT scanned.

Archaeologists have unearthed an exceptionally rare wooden spade dating back approximately 3,500 years.

Experts from Wessex Archaeology discovered the treasure during a project aimed at creating coastal habitats in Poole Harbour, Dorset.

The find is considered one of the oldest and most complete wooden tools found in the UK, with preliminary analysis confirming its Bronze Age origins.

Experts believe the waterlogged conditions of the excavation site contributed to the spade’s preservation, providing insights into how ancient communities interacted with the environment.

The spade’s preservation is unusual, as organic materials like wood typically do not survive for millennia.

Only one other Bronze Age wooden tool, the Brynlow Shovel, found in an ancient mine in Cheshire, has been discovered in the UK, the team said.

The graves of more than 4,500 people have been discovered in the grounds of a historic building on the edge of Bristol, which archaeologists say reflects a ‘dark chapter’ in the city’s history.

The remains were unearthed over five years in a dig at the site of the former Blackberry Hill Hospital in Stapleton in Bristol, and revealed in a report released this week by the archaeologists.

Cotswold Archaeology were commissioned by developers Vistry, who are developing the site for housing, to investigate the historic site, which has had many roles in the city’s history.

And now, having completed the first part of the archeological excavation, and analysed the findings, Cotswold Archaeology have now reported back to Vistry what they found - and the results are stunning.

The site was first developed in the late 1700s, when Stapleton Prison was built there. Over the next few decades, it housed prisoners of war from Britain’s conflicts with France, Spain, Holland and the US, but as Bristol grew and the conflicts ended, a new need was more pressing - as a hospital. Its location on the edge of the city meant it was converted into a hospital during the 1832 cholera outbreak, but within five years had been converted again into the Stapleton Workhouse.

From then until the early 20th century, the workhouse was where the poor, destitute, sick and anyone who couldn’t look after themselves were sent, and very often they died there, and were buried in unmarked graves - which have now been discovered, more than 100 years later.

“One of the most striking elements of the excavation is the discovery of more than 4,500 graves,” said Rosanna Price, Cotswold Archaeology’s engagement manager. “These primarily date from the workhouse period, from 1837 to the late 19th century. Some burials may even date back to the site’s earlier function as a prisoner-of-war camp.

An archaeological dig of a quarry in Lincolnshire has uncovered evidence of settlements and agriculture spanning 6,000 years.

Excavations of the West Deeping quarry revealed a Roman settlement as well as Neolithic and Bronze Age finds.

The oldest artefacts included pottery used for cooking and eating.

A free exhibition of some of the finds will be on display in West Deeping village hall on Saturday, from 13:00 to 17:00 BST.

Hannah Barrett, a project officer with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said: "This site isn't just Neolithic, Bronze Age or Roman, we have all of the periods right through to Saxon in the 6th Century.

"All of these periods are represented and every single one has a good story to tell," she said.

"I think that's what's so fascinating about."

She added evidence dating back to the later Neolithic period included "the largest assemblage" of pottery ever found in East Anglia or the East Midlands.

The archaeologists unearthed structural features and materials dating to the Roman era and the early Medieval period during an excavation at a site near the Holt Roman tile and pottery works in Wrexham, North East Wales.

They also found the structure of an early Medieval longhouse — a long, narrow, building for communal dwelling.

“We were very hopeful of finding evidence of Roman life due to previous discoveries and geophysical surveys in the area, not to mention the presence of the legionary tileworks a few fields away, but did not expect our excavations to uncover what is believed to be an early Medieval longhouse,” said Dr. Caroline Pudney, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Chester.

“The discovery of a Roman settlement is extremely important in building a bigger picture of Roman Wrexham and although early Medieval longhouses have been found in other parts of Wales, to unearth evidence of such a building in North East Wales is extremely rare.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20367335

Evidence of highly organised urban settlement found during survey work for solar farm near Great Staughton

The well-preserved remains of a Roman town discovered during survey work for a solar farm in Cambridgeshire have been given heritage protection status as a scheduled monument.

The buried archaeological features of the settlement near Great Staughton extend across 31 hectares (77 acres) and include ditches, pits, post holes, and gravel surfaces that represent roads or yard areas.

The remains show the extensive streets and buildings of a highly organised Roman settlement of an urban character, Historic England said.

Recovered artefacts include pottery, animal bone, glass, copper alloy objects, iron objects, coins and shells. Evidence also suggests there may have been pottery kilns and blacksmith forges.

When the author Thomas Hardy was writing Tess of the D’Urbervilles in 1891, he chose to set the novel’s dramatic conclusion at Stonehenge, where Tess sleeps on one of the stones the night before she is arrested for murder.

What the author did not know, as he wrote in the study of his home, Max Gate in Dorchester, was that he was sitting right in the heart of a large henge-like enclosure that was even older than the famous monument on Salisbury Plain.

Though invisible at ground level after millennia of ploughing, the enclosure still survives under Hardy’s garden. It has now been given protection by the government as a scheduled monument, recognising its status as a nationally important site...

Archaeologists have uncovered "significant" Anglo-Saxon finds across Holderness as cables are laid for the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.

The discoveries include remnants of an Anglo-Saxon long hall structure between Beeford and Skipsea, as well as artefacts from a site in Ulrome.

The findings indicate Anglo-Saxons probably lived and farmed in this landscape over multiple phases between the 5th and 11th centuries.

Community engagement manager for Dogger Bank Wind Farm, Rachel Lawrence, said: "Safeguarding historical evidence has been a critical part of our preparation work on Dogger Bank Wind Farm."

She added: "We’re delighted we’re now able to share these exciting findings with the people who live in the towns and villages where this work was undertaken."

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The early medieval discoveries were unearthed by archaeologists working on a 30km corridor that houses the underground cables transmitting energy from Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea to the wind farm’s two onshore stations near Beverley.

Archaeologists described the finds as a "regionally-significant discovery".

Project manager for AOC Archaeology, Rebecca Jarosz- Blackburn, said the most "surprising and rewarding discovery" was the Anglo-Saxon long hall and associated field systems recorded near Beeford, which she said "represents some of the most extensive evidence from the period in the Holderness region".

"The plot has thickened on the mystery of the altar stone of Stonehenge, weeks after geologists sensationally revealed that the huge neolithic rock had been transported hundreds of miles to Wiltshire from the very north of Scotland.

That discovery, described as “jaw-dropping” by one of the scientists involved, established definitively that the six-tonne megalith had not been brought from Wales, as had long been believed, but came from sandstone deposits in an area encompassing the isles of Orkney and Shetland and a coastal strip on the north-east Scottish mainland.

Many experts assumed that the most likely place of origin was Orkney, based on the islands’ rich neolithic culture and tradition of monument building.

But a separate academic study has now found that Orkney is not, in fact, the source of the altar stone, meaning the tantalising hunt for its place of origin goes on..."

A "remarkable" Pictish ring thought to be at least 1,000 years old has been discovered by a volunteer on a dig in Moray.

The find was made by John Ralph at the site of a fort in Burghead.

It is thought the settlement was a significant seat of power within the Pictish kingdom between AD500 and AD1000.

Delighted Mr Ralph - who described himself as an "enthusiastic volunteer" - was on a dig being led by the University of Aberdeen. He felt like a "striker scoring a goal" with the find.

The village of Drumelzier in the Borders has long been associated with Merlin.

According to Vita Merlini Sylvestris (the Life of Merlin of the Forest) — a medieval manuscript held by the British Library — Merlin was reportedly imprisoned there and buried on the banks of the Tweed in the 7th century.

In 2022, a team of volunteers drawn from across Scotland and led by GUARD Archaeology set out to investigate the archaeological roots of this local legend.

Now, the results of the work have been published with experts revealing that there may indeed be some truth to the reports of Merlin's death in Scotland.

A geophysics survey revealed that there is an archaeological feature resembling a grave near to the reputed location of Merlin’s Grave at Drumelzier.

An excavation of Tinnis Fort, which overlooks Merlin’s Grave, also found that this prominent hillfort was occupied around the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD, precisely when the story was set.

Archaeologists said the fort has the hallmarks of a lordly stronghold of the time.

"The Drumelzier legend contains pre-Christian customs, ancient Cumbric names and was associated with local sites where archaeology now shows could credibly have given rise to the story," said GUARD Archaeology CEO Ronan Toolis, who led the project.

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"Unlike the classic depiction of Merlin as the wise and respected adviser to King Arthur, the Drumelzier legend paints a much darker picture.

"That of a rather pitiful fellow prone to uttering nonsensical riddles and bewildering prophecies, and kept prisoner by an obscure petty tyrant of a forgotten kingdom, before dying a gruesome death, the victim of royal intrigue."

Archive

It is a star object of the Galloway Hoard, the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland, buried in AD900 and unearthed in a field in Scotland. Now a lidded silver vessel has been identified as being of west Asian origin, transported halfway around the world more than 1,000 years ago.

When it emerged from the ground a decade ago, the vessel was still wrapped in its ancient textiles, whose survival is extremely rare. Its surface could be seen only through X-ray scans. Since then, the textiles have been partially removed and preserved and the vessel has had laser cleaning to remove green corrosion over much of its silver surface. It has also undergone scientific analysis.

Details of a “remarkable” design that includes crowns, fire altars and creatures including leopards and tigers can be seen for the first time.

The imagery is linked to the iconography of Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Sasanian empire, the last Persian empire before the early Muslim conquests from AD632. Scientific analysis shows that the silver from which it was made came from a mine in modern-day Iran.

The hoard was discovered in 2014 by a metal-detecting enthusiast on what is now Church of Scotland land at Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire. Described as one of the century’s most important UK archaeological finds, it contained more than 5kg of silver, gold and other materials, with objects ranging from a Christian pectoral cross to brooches.