Dig finds lead to call for town to have own museum

THE remarkable haul of ancient artefacts uncovered during an archaeological dig in Carnoustie has led to a councillor calling for the town to get its own museum.

A gold-decorated bronze spearhead wrapped in fur which was found at Balmachie has been heralded as a discovery of international significance.

The site, which will soon be turned into two full-size football pitches, also contained a bronze sword and a leather and wooden sword sheath as well.

The 18 weeks of work by a team of archaeologists found evidence of both Bronze Age and Neolithic settlements going back as far as 4000 BC.

Although discovered on land which is owned by Angus Council, the treasures are now property of the Crown.

The treasure trove process means that Angus will have to apply for the items to be returned to the area.

Carnoustie councillor Brian Boyd said that ideally he would like to see them on permanent display in a new museum in the town.

He said: “We must ensure that we get all these artefacts back into Angus.

“Naturally I’ll be pushing for them to be displayed as close to the site as possible and therefore somewhere in Carnoustie.

“Carnoustie is the only burgh in Angus that doesn’t have a museum. We could do something really special with this.

“We could hopefully bring in the heritage of golf and the history of this site in one museum. We could display the artefacts and models and maps of the site”

The Guard Archaeology team employed by Angus Council discovered around 1,000 archaeological features at the site.

Among them were the remains of up to 12 sub-circular houses that probably date to the Bronze Age (2,200-800 BC) along with the remains of two rectilinear halls that likely date to the Neolithic period (4000-2,200 BC).

Councillor Brian Boyd.