A “remarkable” find
A volunteer named John Ralph has unearthed a priceless treasure during a dig in Moray, northern Scotland: an ancient Pictish ring. It was located on the site of a fort in the small town of Burghead.
This territory is said to have been an important seat of power within the Pictish kingdom between 500 and 1000 AD. But the construction of the town in 1800 complicates the search for traces of Pictish life because the fort has been badly damaged.
The volunteer told our BBC colleague that he felt like a “striker who scores a goal” thanks to his discovery.
A long-term job
During the two weeks of digging, the 68-year-old pensioner had the impression he had discovered something shiny on several occasions. However, experts did not believe it. Then one day he came across the Pictish ring while clearing the soil from a building.
So he presented his find to Gordon Noble, the professor of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen who has led the excavation for the past three years. His eyes lit up and he immediately thought what he was seeing was “incredible”.
“We were able to see that it was something very interesting, because despite more than 1,000 years in the ground, we could see the reflections of a possible layer of garnet.”Noble told the British media.
The Picts, a little-known people
The Picts were tribes living in the east and north of what is now Scotland. These tribes left very little evidence of their presence other than images of themselves carved on stones.
Later Romans and Scots still wrote about the Picts. This people, who used to paint their bodies with dye, had to defend their territory several times to prevent the Romans from invading.
The ring, one of a small number of Pictish rings discovered so far, has been handed over to the National Museum of Scotland’s post-excavation department for analysis. The aim now is to discover who wore it and what it might have been used for.
