Since 2006, UHI Archaeology Institute has been carrying out archaeological excavations at The Cairns on South Ronaldsay, Orkney. Part of a wider archaeological research project investigating the later prehistory of the landscape around Windwick, their work now focusses of the substantial Iron Age broch and its surrounding settlement.
In 2018, work at the broch uncovered an astonishing Iron Age survival: a wooden bowl, preserved in waterlogged conditions within a two-metre-deep, rock-cut, subterranean structure, complete with a flight of stone stairs.
As a part of a wider conservation programme, the fragments of the bowl were recorded in 3D, allowing the scientists to see the shape of the vessel, even before the conservation works were complete.
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