The next generation of Eyemouth explorers
The fort at Eyemouth changed the course of history, and not just that of Scotland, it played a significant role in the relationships between Scotland, England and France. Beginning life as an English fortification, it may have been the first Trace Italienne fort in...
The Last of the Embo Zulus
It started with a flood of ShoreUPDATE records submitted by the North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NoSAS). At the end of a bitterly cold ShoreUPDATE survey last February, NoSAS members walking across the muddy sands of Loch Fleet at low tide stumbled upon timbers...
Digital future for Wemyss Caves Pictish Carvings
The Wemyss Caves were at the centre of a digital data capture whirlwind in November. Specialists from the York Archaeological Trust (YAT) joined SCAPE and Save the Wemyss Ancient Caves Society (SWACS) for a week-long technology extravaganza – and there was plenty of...
On the coastal campaign trail in Solway
We've just had a fantastic few days in the company of ten enthusiastic young volunteers from around Europe, exploring the heritage of the Solway Coast. As part of the YES! Project (Young E-Citizens for a Sustainable European Coastline) young people from Italy, Greece,...
Wrapping up at Cromarty
It was with a heavy heart that we packed up the site at Cromarty this weekend; we’ve had two weeks of great archaeology and great company in a beautiful setting, so the SCHARP team were sorry to be leaving. The work on site has revealed some interesting archaeological...
Cromarty erosions update
The coastal team has spent the past week investigating the well-built stone wall and series of ash dumps exposed in one of the eroding sections at Cromarty. We have removed each layer in sequence from the most recent deposits at the top going back in time until we...
Cromarty’s medieval seafront revealed
In our latest ShoreDIG project, the SCHARP team have joined forces with locally-based archaeologists to investigate archaeological remains revealed by storm damage over the winter of 2012/2013. Stone walls and thick layers of ash, shell and other rubbish deposits have...
Deagh àrceolas, deagh chuideachd, is deagh aimsir ann An Leòdhas
“Chan ann tric a tha e mar seo” thubhairt Anndra fhads a bha e a’ stiùireadh a’ bhàta tro uisgeachan àlainn Caolas Phabaigh, air latha breatha samhraidh. Bha sinn air ar slighe a’ Phabaigh Mhòr air taobh siar Leòdhais, le buidheann de luchd-obrach saor-thoileach...
Great archaeology, great weather and great company in Lewis
“It’s NEVER like this” said Andrew leaning forward from the tiller of his boat in shimmering heat on the flat-calm, turquoise sea of the Caolas Phabaigh (Straits of Pabay). We are on our way to the island of Pabaigh Mor on the west coast of Lewis with new volunteers...
Solway: A Wet Weekend’s Walking
This weekend Ellie and Natalia headed down to the Solway Coast to meet some brave volunteers and look at some sites between downpours. On Friday, we met local county archaeologist Andrew Nicholson and coastal ranger Nic Coombey, who took us to a few fantastic sites...
Loch Paible Final Week
Our third and final week Throughout week 3, the moon was getting bigger - which meant that as each day passed, the sea started to creep up on our trenches. At the beginning of the week, the high tide reached the lowest of our trenches; but by the end of the week, all...
Loch Paible Week 2
Digging on a beach certainly isn’t easy! Last week, we battled spring tides, which filled our excavation trenches with water twice a day. However, the pattern of tides changes quickly over a month - and in the second week the reach of the tide was 2 metres lower than...
Orkney: our wettest, windiest and busiest ShoreUPDATE yet
Hello from Orkney, where we’ve spent an amazing couple of weeks exploring eroding coastlines, and encountering world class archaeology in the best company of our SCHARP volunteers and new friends. It’s been the busiest, blowiest and wettest ShoreUPDATE trip yet, and...
Wind, waves and eroding heritage on the Western Isles
The SCHARP team are all out and about on the Western Isles at the moment; Tom, Natalia and a small team of archaeologists are in North Uist, excavating an eroding peat shelf at Loch Paible with local volunteers from Access Archaeology, while Jo and Ellie are in Lewis,...
Exchanging local knowledge in the Forth
Saturday saw the SCHARP team deliver a ShoreUPDATE training day in Falkirk, in the grand surroundings of Callendar House. Notwithstanding the regular gunshots outside the window (just the starting pistol for the races of the Scottish National Cross Country...