SCOTLAND’S LARGEST PICTISH FORT ‘RECONSTRUCTED’
New reconstructions created as part of a University of Aberdeen project have revealed how Scotland’s largest known Pictish fort may have looked over 1,000 years ago, when it was part of a ‘densely populated’ community
Three-dimensional images of Burghead in Moray have been created based on archaeological excavations by the University of Aberdeen. Funded by Historic Environment Scotland as part of a wider video project to enable the public to learn more about Scotland’s Pictish past, the images showcase the enormous defensive ramparts, which are thought once to have been eight metres thick and six metres high, as well as dwellings within the fort.
It has long been known that Burghead was home to a Pictish settlement but it was thought that the 19th-century development of the modern town had eroded most traces of this important period of its history.
The landward ramparts were levelled and part of the seaward defences was destroyed in order to build the modern harbour. More than 30 Pictish carved stones were discovered during this destruction of the fort but just six carved bulls have survived, along with a number of fragments of early Christian sculpture. When University of Aberdeen archaeologists first began excavations there in 2015, they expected little to have survived such extensive building work close by.
A new picture emerges…
But over the last five years, a very different picture has emerged and the digs, led by the university’s Professor Gordon Noble, and funded by Historic Environment Scotland and the Leverhulme Trust, have yielded some of the most significant Pictish items and building remains ever uncovered. It is this work which has enabled such a detailed reconstruction of how the site may have looked.
Professor Noble said: ‘The scale of houses and buildings we have discovered evidence of show that this was a densely populated and important Pictish site.
‘We have found many objects which have helped us to learn more about the everyday lives of Burghead’s inhabitants between the 6th and 10th centuries AD. From metalworking to weaponry and even hair and dress pins, with each new dig we are finding out more about our ancestors who lived here.
‘The foundations of the huge ramparts have survived far better than anyone anticipated, despite their wilful destruction over the centuries and the midden layers, which is effectively where the Picts threw their rubbish, have provided startling insights into the lives of the Picts to the archaeologists.
‘It is wonderful to see the work of our excavations spanning more than five years brought together in these stunning reconstructions which offer an amazing insight into how Burghead may have looked.’
The reconstructions were coordinated by Dr Alice Watterson of the University of Dundee, with additional filming and editing work by Kieran Duncan, and aerial drone filming by Dr Kieran Baxter, members of Dundee’s 3DVisLab research group.
Additional funding from Historic Environment Scotland is supporting additional excavations at the site over the coming months, which it is hoped will further understanding of how those who lived at the site connected to the wider world.