Neolithic Arrows galore!
A week in Biggar Archaeology – and what a week
It all began when Tam was asked by a lady in Peebles if he wanted to collect four boxes of flints she had in her possession, they were arrow heads...
Over the road at Howburn
Five square metre pits were dug on the opposite side of the road from the Howburn Palaeolithic site to check if the site spread in that direction
No Palaeolithic flint was found but several sherds of Early Neolithic pottery, a...
Coring the valley floor – Elsrickle
Some of us became mud larks last Saturday at Elsrickle when with colleagues from Stirling University we cored down into the valley floor beside the village.
The work is part of the study into the recently discovered site on Howburn...
Sediment core labratory analysis 1
Labratory analysis of the sediments from the Priest's Well Basin, Elsrickle
by Richard Tipping, 2 March 2010
A lot of work since November 2009 has shown that the floor of the valley below the Howburn archaeological site contains the sediments of...
Celebrating 14,000 years of Scottish history
The Biggar Archaeology Group held a celebration party at the Moat Park Heritage Centre on Monday evening, as a thank you to all of the people who helped on their recent excavation at Howburn Farm.
The party was hosted by...
Scotland’s first people exhibition
We have completed an exhibition in the Moat Park Heritage Centre in Biggar. This exhibition showcases the finds and the story of the earliest people of Scotland - the Reindeer Hunters from 14,000 years ago.
The story is being told...
Howburn Excavation Final Update for Fieldwork
Goodbye Howburn, the end of a great project.
The dig is over and what a result we have achieved.
Proof positive is now available for Scotland’s earliest known community in the Hamburgian period of the Late Upper Palaeolithic; this is in...
Howburn Excavation Update Monday 20 July 2009
What a weekend! (our last, but one)...
Tang points, scrapers, cores and lots more coming out the ground so fast we could hardly keep up with them. However, even though we know there are lots more of these fantastic finds,...
Howburn Excavation Update Monday 13 July 2009
We are down to our final few weeks and…
The progress being made is fantastic, work at the original Trench is now complete with the final tally of probably five tanged points being found there, along with a large number...
Howburn Excavation Update 28 June 2009
The dig is proving to be a great success; with a further three tanged points being recovered.
First was by Mike Thornley last weekend, and his wife Sue found a nice end scraper in the same metre grid. Then Laura...
Howburn Excavation Update 7 June 2009
First 100 metres completed
We have now completed 125 square metres beside the road, and have completed the first full 100metre block. The general picture is a scatter of flint and chert, the flint probably mostly being Upper Palaeolithic and...
Howburn Excavation Update 17 May 2009
Weekend number three – several Paleo tools found
The Houston family, struck flint on their first ever dig. But of course this is not just any old flint, it is the oldest in Scotland.
A very nice end scraper and several...
Howburn Excavation Update 2 May 2009
A great turnout for the Howburn Excavation
Our first day at the Howburn excavation and we had a great response to our plea for volunteers. Both young and not so young turned up to dig.
The finds for the day included:
...
Earliest site in Scotland discovered
Unexpected and unique Upper Paleolithic finds recently discovered at Howburn Farm identifies this site as being the earliest in Scotland.
These finds have now been notified in The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 28: 41 – 49.
The find is...
Another early neolithic site discovered
Following on from fieldwalking in 2007, a repeat visit in 2008 to a field at Carwood Farm near Biggar produced more lithic finds. Additionally, this time, pottery and carbonised hazel nut shell was found.
Before the crop was sown a...
Biggar Archaeology win Pitt Rivers Award 2008
British Archaeology Awards 2008
We are pleased to have received the Pitt Rivers Award for the second time as outright winners and to have also taken a second place in 2006. Our first Pitt Rivers Award was in 1996 for...
Radiocarbon Dates in 2008
Radiocarbon dates have now been received for a number of projects.
Fruid Reservoir
The Fruid Reservoir dates are 3100±35BP and 3150±35BP. This first of these was obtained from coppiced seven year old hazel used in the construction of the walls of...
Latest News
Survey of Kirkurd Churchyard
In the spring of 2023 the members of the Biggar Archaeology Group with the support of Peeblesshire Archaeological Society and Scottish Borders Council surveyed...
