The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
High hopes that hoard can find its way home
There is hope treasures from Carnoustie’s ancient past will find their way back to Angus in the not-too distant future.
In 2016, the first signs of a bronze age settlement near the Angus town emerged during early work on community football pitches.
It eventually led to the excavation of the internationally significant Carnoustie hoard.
It produced exciting evidence of how people lived as far back as the Neolithic period.
A huge trove of stunning pieces included a golddecorated spearhead and leaf-shaped sword.
Tests undertaken by Guard Archaeology, which led the dig, revealed the Angus settlement to be one of the most significant in Britain.
The archaeologists delivered a blog on the project over more than three years.
The discoveries continued, with Pictish items of more recent history emerging from the Balmachie soil.
Recording of the vast trove is continuing before its future is decided.
But National Museums Scotland (NMS) and Angus Council both remain keen to see the artefacts on display.
National Museums Scotland director Dr Chris Breward says he hopes the hoard will be fully reported later this year.
Discussions can then hopefully begin with the Treasure Trove Unit about the prospect of some Carnoustie gems coming home.
The TTU is the first port of call for new discoveries and decides whether objects should be claimed or not.
It can then ask accredited Scottish museums to apply for pieces.
Dr Breward told north east MSP Maurice Golden that collating the Carnoustie find is still to be completed.
“TTU understands work is progressing towards completion, with the consequent expectation the hoard assemblage will be reported within the coming year,” he said in a letter to the Scottish Conservative.
Once that happens, NMS hopes to hold talks with the council’s Angus Alive culture trust about its views on the hoard.
“We remain interested in bidding for allocation to the national collection,” said Dr Breward.
He said Angus Alive hoped it might be able to put some pieces on show at Arbroath’s Signal Tower museum which is better equipped to display such rarities.
NMS is also excited about the recent discovery of a Pictish stone at Aberlemno, between Forfar and Brechin in February.
It was uncovered in an area rich in Pictish heritage, close to the site of the 685 AD Battle of Nechtansmere.
King Brude led the Picts’ defeat of King Egfrith’s forces to halt the northern Anglo-Saxon advance.
A £30,000 fundraising campaign to restore the stone and secure its future has been launched.