THEY are the traces left behind by the people of the past which are helping the story of Scotland emerge from the mists of time, piece by piece.
Each year archaeologists' investigations and excavations uncover more and more detail about times gone by, expanding our understanding of the country's national narrative.
And as 2019 draws to a close, archaeology hub Dig It! have revealed their top five finds from fieldwork across the country.
Dr Jeff Sanders, Project Manager at Dig It!, said: “Archaeology is all about discovering stories – and new chapters are added to Scotland’s story every year.
READ MORE: Glasgow teenager helps uncover gravestones from Middle Ages in archaeology dig at Govan church
"These are just some of the amazing finds that have been unearthed in 2019, with other exciting discoveries ranging from a 2,500-year-old seal tooth pendant in Orkney to Pictish hillforts in Aberdeenshire. We’re already looking forward to adding more pages in 2020.”
The top five includes a Pictish skeleton found this year
The uncovering of Scotland's first railway track came as a surprise to archaeologists from the 1722 Waggonway Heritage Group, who had been searching for the site for years.
Made to move two-tonne carriages filled with coal downhill between Cockenzie and Tranent in East Lothian, the track pre-dated steam trains by decades and has ties to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715.
It was found one metre below ground alongside a cobbled horse track for the ponies which pulled the empty waggons up to the coal pits.
A team of archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute, aided by local residents and students, were toasting their success in the summer after finding the remains of a Viking drinking hall at Skaill Farmstead on the island of Rousay in Orkney.
The 13-metre long building, which probably dates from the 10th to 12th centuries AD. The name Skaill, which is a Norse word for "hall", also suggests that the site was high-status and the home of a powerful chieftain.
READ MORE: Pict who was brutally killed 'may have been royalty'
It wasn't just experts who were at the cutting edge of archaeology in Scotland this year. In March, 14-year-old schoolboy Mark McGettigan rediscovered one of of several long-lost medieval gravestones Glasgow.
In the 19th century, 46 of these carved stones were found in the Govan Old Parish Church graveyard west of Glasgow city centre, a unique legacy of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde.
A number of the stones were taken into the church for safe keeping - a collection which is now referred to as the ‘Govan Stones’- but the others were thought lost or destroyed when a nearby building was accidentally demolished.
Mark McGettigan
Following the young boy’s discovery, three more stones were revealed. Further excavations are in the planning stages to recover any additional medieval gravestones which may have survived.
Another stone carving of a more venerable vintage also made Dig It!'s top five finds - with the discovery of a sculpted Pictish stone in the Dingwall area of the Scottish Highlands.
The rare find, described by experts as being of “national importance”, is decorated with several mythical creatures which experts described as being “unlike anything unlike anything found on any other Pictish stone.”
It is one of only about 50 complete or near complete Pictish cross-slabs known in the world, and the first to be discovered on the Scottish mainland for many years.
READ MORE: 'Once in a lifetime' Pictish stone found in Highlands
And another Pictish discovery came in the form of 1,400 year old skeleton on the Black Isle, found by the Tarradale Through Time project on the last day of the excavation of a large Pictish cemetery.
Although a number Pictish cemeteries have been discovered in northern Scotland, bodies very rarely survive due to the acidity of the soil.
Amy Eastwood, Head of Grants at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “The fantastic archaeological discoveries made this year are key examples of how the historic environment helps our understanding of our past, and we’re pleased to support and promote this invaluable work."
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