Archaeologists in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, have discovered ruins that may have been a Viking drinking hall used by a powerful 12th-century chieftain.
The large hall was uncovered during excavations at Skaill Farm in Westness, Rousay.
Archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands said the hall "probably dates to the 10th to 12th centuries AD".
The name Skaill is a Norse word for "hall", and suggests the site could have been used for drinking and was high-status.
The 13-metre-long building has substantial 1-metre-wide walls that were found 5.5m apart, with internal features such as stone benches.
Pottery and a fragment of a Norse bone comb was also found during the excavation.
Orkney was colonised by incomers from Scandinavia in the early Middle Ages, and its Viking heritage is evident through its place names and architecture.
Researchers said the discovery "provides tantalising evidence for the earliest phases of habitation on this farm and settlement mound, which may well have been inhabited for over 1,000 years".
"It provides another piece to the 5,000-year jigsaw along this archaeology-rich stretch of coast at Westness … the 'Egypt of the north'."
Project co-director Dan Lee said: "The exciting news this season is that we have now found the hall at Skaill, as the place name suggests."
"You never know, but perhaps Earl Sigurd himself sat on one of the stone benches inside the hall and drank a flagon of ale!"
Researchers also aim to find out more on past diets, farming and fishing practices.
