Tests date wooden flakes from Iona to time of St Columba

Saint Columba was said to have written in the hut on Iona.

JODY HARRISON

dating has led to a breakthrough that proves the wooden flakes, unearthed in an excavation of a wattle and timber structure, are from the exact period Columba lived on Iona.

The samples have only now come to light after Mr Thomas’ archive was passed to Historic Environment Scotland and was shared with

Iona Abbey stands on the site of Columba’s early monastery.

Fragments were found by Charles Thomas in the 1950s.

Archaeologists say they have uncovered ‘conclusive evidence’ that dates remains found on Iona back to St Columba’s time.