For centuries, the name Merlin has conjured up magical images and inspired countless tales of spells and the supernatural, Hollywood wizards and Arthurian legend.  

Now tiny fragments teased from hilly ground in the Borders are on a journey back in time, in a magical process of modern sorcery to unravel some of his story which would surely have mystified Merlin himself.  

Barely bigger than the smallest fingernail, it is hoped assorted splinters of vitrified stone, bone, shards of charcoal and other materials retrieved from the ground beneath a 15th-century Borders castle may hold the key to separating slivers of fact from the fable that has swirled around the story of Merlin for centuries.  

The fragments were collected during a series of archaeological digs and are now to be radiocarbon dated in the hope they might turn out to be rooted in the Dark Ages era of the enigmatic druid.  

If confirmed, it would add a thin layer of evidence to a centuries-old mystery, and boost hopes that Merlin’s ties with the Southern Uplands may one day be explored in a major tourist attraction that use the magic of virtual reality and modern storytelling to tell his tale. 

A complex mishmash of oral and written stories handed down over generations, legend has it that the mystical druid Merlin – whose supernatural powers were said to have led to him predicting his own grim death – lived for years in a secluded cave tucked high in the Moffat hills.  

While St Mungo embarked on an effort to turn central Scotland towards Christianity, Merlin risked his life by steadfastly clinging to his Pagan beliefs. 

Having eventually emerged from his cave – wild haired, wild eyed and tormented by battle – he was said to have met his unfortunate end in the area around Tinnis Castle, one of a series of towers that stretch along the Tweed Valley.  

He was said to be buried by the Powsail Burn near the town of Drumelzier on the banks of the Tweed.  

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Oral versions of his story are thought to have existed for centuries before they were written down and eventually shared more widely in the 15th century.  

Meanwhile, Merlin’s story became entwined in mythical tales and – despite being separated by two generations from King Arthur – conflated with Arthurian tales of Excaliber, the Round Table and Avalon.  

  

Dark Ages 

DRUMELZIER’S Hidden Heritage Project, instigated by the Arthur Trail Association and led by Guard Archaeology, launched last year in an ambitious effort to shed some light on life in the area in Merlin’s time. “The Dark Ages are a bit of a blank,” says Robin Crichton of the association and developer of The Merlin Trail, a route that takes in various sites across the Borders said to be linked with the ancient mystic.  

“The Dark Ages doesn’t appear in history books, it’s not in the school curriculum – it’s a 300-year blank page in our history.” 

Professional archaeologists, alongside amateurs and enthusiasts, carried out a series of digs at three key sites last summer and autumn: at Tinnis Castle, built on the site of an ancient hillfort and where Merlin was said to have witnessed scandalous behaviour leading to his death; at a site near Drumelzier claimed to be Merlin’s final resting place; and at Thirlestane Barrows, discovered in 2018 and thought to be the site of Iron Age or medieval graves.  

  

Artefacts found 

THE excavation at Tinnis turned out to be among the most promising, with traces of the medieval courtyard uncovered, and late-medieval artefacts including pottery, lead, iron nails, animal bones and charcoal.  

All are now being analysed using radiocarbon dating. It is hoped the results may reveal precious detail of life at the site during the 15th and 16th centuries.  

However, further digging at the site also u 

Vitrified stone showed the ancient hillfort’s timberlaced drystone rampart had been deliberately burned in a sustained, intense heat – so powerful it melted the stone. 

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Often seen on hillforts across Scotland, such damage is said to be rare in the Scottish Borders. The nucleated layout of the fort, with fortified summit and non-concentric enclosures, has echoes of early medieval fort layouts.  

It is hoped technology to date the fragments will establish whether the site was occupied in Merlin’s time, during the late 6th century AD.  

  

‘Giant jigsaw’ 

WHILE far from a direct link to Merlin, establishing that the site was occupied during his era would be a tiny piece in a giant jigsaw that, admits Mr Crichton, will probably never be fully solved.  

The aim of the project, he stressed, is not to confirm the stories of the enigmatic character but rather to search for archaeological evidence from his era.  

“We’ve not found Merlin’s false teeth or anything,” he said. “But when we have facts, people, places and events, we can then look at the way in which it is all connected.  

“It’s like a detective trying to solve a murder. There’s a lot of myth around Merlin. But if you look at myth, there’s always a germ of truth somewhere. 

“If we can identify that with the archaeologists’ help we can start to put the story together.” 

Merlin is thought to have been born in the 530s AD and named Lailoken – the name was changed to Merlin by writers in Wales some 500 years later.  

Rather than become a warrior, he chose to become a druid – a high-ranking role that gave him control of many elements of life at the time.  

“Although there were clan chiefs, the power was with druids, who ran the equivalent of today’s civil service,” Mr Crichton added. “The clans called themselves “the Men of the North” and Merlin was number two druid in the hierarchy of the time, and very well known.  

“But his world was shattered when the Chief of Strathclyde died and was succeeded by his son, Rydderch.