Archaeologists have discovered the 900-year-old skeleton of a murder victim during a dig while investigating an historic kirk.
The remains are of a young man dating from the 12th or 13th centuries, at the site of Kirk Ness, a church and cemetery in North Berwick, East Lothian.
He was fatally stabbed four times in the back, twice in the left shoulder and twice in the ribs.
The archaeologists said he was aged over 20, of slightly better build than average, and had wear to the shoulder, which suggests he might have been an archer.
The dig was organised by the Scottish Seabird Centre, which is now on the site, and Historic Scotland. It also revealed structural remains including stone tools, lead objects, ceramic material and bones of butchered seals, fish and seabirds, which suggest a community lived at the site.
The centre's chief executive, Tom Brock, said: "Being at the centre of a 900-year-old murder mystery is very exciting for the Scottish Seabird Centre.
"As an independent visitor attraction, conservation and education charity, we are dedicated to inspiring people to enjoy, protect and learn about their local environment, and this dig has allowed us great insight into how life was lived in the North Berwick area almost 1000 years ago.
"The site of the centre is a historic site of national importance and visitors can find out more about this rich history from information displayed within and around the Seabird Centre."
Archaeologists uncovered various graves at the site during the dig, which was prompted by the expansion of the centre.
By assessing the size, shape and relative positions of the injuries to the bones of the murdered man, they surmised that the dagger-like weapon used to stab him had a symmetrical lozenge-shaped section with very sharp edges and was probably at least 2.75 inches long. Archaeologists said daggers with a lozenge-sectioned blade were a specialist military weapon and that this, combined with the accuracy of the stab wounds, implied a degree of professionalism in the killing and arguably a degree of calculation.
The bones may be re-interred in the cemetery.
The dig was carried out by Edinburgh-based Addyman Archaeology, with work undertaken between 2000 and 2006 followed by scientific analysis.
The findings of the Kirk Ness project have been documented in a new book, The Medieval Kirk, Cemetery and Hospice at Kirk Ness, North Berwick.
Rod McCullagh, senior archaeology manager at Historic Scotland, said: "These archaeological discoveries mark a significant advance in our understanding of the early history of North Berwick."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article