Dunyvaig Castle 2018 – Week 1

Students from Reading and Highlands Universities joined visitors and locals alike, creating a community for the breaking of ground at Dunyvaig. Tens of people turned out to help de-turf two trenches laid out inside the castle walls. The day was a huge success and marked the beginning of the first season of Dunyvaig’s Archaeology Field School.

Since the 12th August, the students have persisted through four seasons of weather a day, amidst stunning backdrops of Hebridian beauty. My own trench gives evidence for multiphased reparation and demolition of the castle, whilst a third and fourth trench has been opened outside the keep walls. The removal of upper levelling deposits has started to reveal ruined structures with clear phases of destruction, in all four trenches. Meanwhile, the geophysics team are scanning the unexposed areas in search of unknown anomalies…..