SOUTH RONALDSAY, SCOTLAND—A 2,000-year-old wooden bowl has been found in a chamber accessed with a series of stone-cut steps beneath Cairns Broch, a round tower at an Iron-Age village site on South Ronaldsay, one of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, according to a report in The Independent. Researchers led by Martin Carruthers of the University of the Highlands and Islands think the bowl may have been placed there before the broch was sealed and abandoned. “In appearance, the bowl is similar in shape to certain of the pottery vessels of the period,” Carruthers said. The bowl’s round base suggests it may have been passed from person to person, similar to the way a traditional alcoholic drink is passed in a wooden vessel at weddings in Orkney today. The excavation of the chamber also uncovered what could be woven plant fibers, and two other wooden objects that look like pegs or stakes.
