A 1,000-year-old ring has been found under a town – by a descendant of a family who lived there.
The kite-shaped Pictish ring with a garnet or red glass center had laid undiscovered at the Burghead fort in Moray, Scotland.
The area was thought to have been ”archaeologically vandalized’ in the 1800s when a town was built on top of it.
Its historical value was assumed to have been lost when Burghead was constructed – covering over much of the fort and dismantling the stone that remained for buthe ilding.
But now the historic ring has been uncovered in a dig led by the University of Aberdeen – and found by a volunteer whose ancestors moved to the town.
John Ralph’s ancestors were among the families encouraged to relocate to the new town to support the fishing industry.
He is a former engineer and graduate of the University of Aberdeen who has enjoyed a 50-year association with his alma mater.
When he retired, John signed up as a volunteer for the Burghead digs after seeing a social media post by the University’s Professor of Archaeology, Gordon Noble.
Professor Noble has led excavation work funded by Historic Environment Scotland over the last three years. This work has shed new light on the site’s importance and enabled the development of 3-D reconstructions of how it might once have looked.
John, who describes himself as an ‘enthusiastic amateur,’ had many moments over the two-week excavation—his third dig at the site—when he thought he had discovered something, only for the experts to tell him he had a knack for finding ‘shiny pebbles.’
So, when he found something interesting on the last day of the final dig, he didn’t hold out much hope.
It was only when he showed it to a fellow volunteer, and his eyes lit up that he realized he might ‘have something.”
Professor Noble says that what he was presented with was ‘truly remarkable’. “John was digging and then came over and said ‘look what I’ve found’. What he handed over was incredible,” he added.
“Even before the conservation work we could see it was something really exciting as despite more than a thousand years in the ground we could see glints of the possible garnet setting.
“There are very few Pictish rings which have ever been discovered and those we do know about usually come from hoards which were placed in the ground deliberately for safekeeping in some way.
“We certainly weren’t expecting to find something like this lying around the floor of what was once a house but that had appeared of low significance so, in typical fashion, we had left work on it until the final day of the dig.”
The ring is currently with the National Museum of Scotland’s Post-excavation Service for analysis and John, who grew up in Burghead, is delighted to have added his own piece to the puzzle in understanding the region’s Pictish past.
“It is a real thrill to dig up an artifact in the knowledge that you are probably the first person to see it for 1,000-1,500 years,” he said.
“It becomes a real guessing game of who owned it, what they used it for, and how it was lost.”
“My ancestors were part of the movement of people encouraged into the new town to support the fishing industry – the reason that much of what remained of the fort was destroyed.
“It is good to think that I’ve given something back with this little piece of the puzzle of the past.
”I like to think of archaeology as a dot-to-dot picture, and I am delighted to have been able to make my own little mark.
“Before I retired, I attended a session where one of the activities involved us thinking about what we get out of work – the new challenges, meeting people, working in a team, a sense of satisfaction.
“All of these things that we perhaps take for granted. They encouraged us to think about replicating that when we retire.
“For me, volunteering with the excavations has done that. It can be quite challenging at times. I like to call it ‘extreme gardening’! But it is a wonderful combination of physical and thought-provoking work.
“It has been a real joy to work with Professor Noble and the other archaeologists and I have learned such a lot. It is wonderful to have interaction with students and to work alongside young people with different ways of looking at the world.”
Professor Noble and his team will use the ring and other evidence uncovered on the dig to begin answering those questions.
Professor Noble added: “We will now look at the ring, evidence of buildings, and other artifacts to consider whether the ring was crafted on the site and who such an essential piece of jewelry might have been made for.
“We have some other evidence of metalworking, and the number of buildings we have uncovered is quite striking.
“This further indicator of the high-status production of metalwork adds to the growing evidence that Burghead was a really significant seat of power in the Pictish period.”
Susan O’Connor, Head of Grants at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “Given Scotland’s remarkably rich history, it shouldn’t be surprising that we are still uncovering important pieces of Scotland’s past, even where we least expect it.
“We are proud to have funded and supported the excavation work conducted by the University of Aberdeen and are delighted that volunteer John Ralph played such a pivotal role in bringing it to light – literally!
“Whilst the materials used themselves are not particularly valuable in today’s monetary sense, this find is hugely significant for what it tells us about Pictish lives and society.
“We’re excited to find out more once our colleagues in the National Museum have finished their investigations.”
The public will be able to learn more about this find and the ongoing work at Burghead on an open day at the fort on Sunday, September 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. During the day, they can talk to archaeologists, view Pictish stone carvings, see a weapons display, and see traditional leather working skills.
Produced in association with SWNS Talker
