THE secrets of a Bronze Age hoard buried over 3000 years ago in a village in the Highlands have been revealed.
An investigation by Guard Archeology previously revealed rare organic plant remains intertwined with nine bronze bracelets and necklaces buried around 1000 BC.
The hoard was uncovered during excavations ahead of the development of new build properties by Pat Munro Homes in the Black Isle.
And now, archaeologists have said the find allowed them to discover an “enormous amount” about the people who buried the hoard at the end of the Bronze Age.
“The excavation and post-excavation analyses of finds recovered from Rosemarkie revealed exceptional archaeology,” post-excavation supervisor Rachel Buckley said. She explained that the team had undertaken a “careful minute analysis of every strand of evidence”.
One find, a penannular ornament adorned with 37 rings, is the most complete and complicated example of its type ever found in Scotland.
Workshops which would have been able to craft the piece were few and far between in Bronze Age Scotland, and their purpose still remains unclear.
Archaeologists said that the ornament was too small to fit over an average human head and showed no signs of being distorted to be worn around the neck.
And, X-ray imaging of a cup-ended ornament revealed it was cast as an entire object with “no visible seals or joins”.
There are a few comparable finds to this, most of which were Irish and made of cold. However, its colossal parallel is a bronze version found in the Poolewe Hoard in the West Highlands, but the Rosemarkie find is much sturdier and thicker.
The bracelets found were also unusual as no two were alike, with archaeologists suggested they may have been contributed by different individuals or households.
While some show signs of distortion, which suggests they had been repeatedly worn, one stood out as the heaviest known penannular bar bracelet found in Scotland.
This, Guard Archaeology, argued, shows that the local community had access to a large supply of bronze, allowing them an “ostentatious display of wealth and status”.
An isotope and metallurgical analysis discovered that the metals came from England and Wales, and closely match bronze items found in the Carnoustie Hoard. They say this gives a clear signal on where Bronze Age Smiths in Scotland were sourcing their metals.
“What makes the Rosemarkie hoard so significant is not just the metalwork,” said Buckley. “It’s the organic remains found clinging to it. Bracken stems and fronds were used as packing when the artefacts were buried.
“ Tree bast, the inner bark of a tree, was concentrated around the ornaments, following the curves of each.
“It also formed a large clump at the base of the pit, entangled with the lowest artefacts.
“Despite being buried for thousands of years, this mass was strong enough to hold the artefacts in place and would not release its quarry easily.
“But when they were eventually teased apart, this mass was revealed to be something very rare indeed: a simple overhand knot that had been tied around the cup-ended ornament when the tree bast was still in pristine condition, binding it to three of the bracelets.”
Samples taken date the Rosemarkie hoard at 894-794 BC, at the very end of the Bronze Age.
Buckley added that like Carnoustie and Peebles hoards, the Rosemarkie finds were “carefully packed” so they could be retrieved at a later date.
“The mystery then is not so much why this hoard was buried,” Buckley explained. “But why the time never came for the Rosemarkie Bronze Age community to retrieve their valuable belongings.”
Pat Munro Homes funded the archeological work as part of its planning conditions set out by Highland Council.
Hamish Little, senior manager at the firm, said they were “delighted” by the finds at their site in Greenside Rosemarkie led to “significant advancement” of understanding the history of the area.
“Whilst we felt Greenside was a desirable place for people to live, it is amazing to learn that we were merely returning it to a previous use from centuries ago,” he added.
Experts said that the area was likely first inhabited around 3300 to 3000 BC, in the form of a small farmstead.
During the Bronze Age, around seven roundhouses were inhabited, leading to a “long lived” settlement lasting more than six centuries.
“Detailed examination of the radiocarbon dates suggests that the different roundhouses were not all occupied at the same time but represent a small community, perhaps a family lineage, building successive roundhouses, occupying different spaces in different periods across the site,” Iraia Arabaolaza, who managed the project, explained.
It was towards the end of this settlement that the Rosemarkie hoard was buried.
