GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—Three sculpted gravestones that archaeologists had presumed were lost have been recovered during a community dig at Govan Old Parish Church in Glasgow, BBC News reports. Mark McGettigan, a 14-year-old volunteer on the excavation, hit upon a solid surface that turned out to be one of 46 gravestones known as the Govan Stones, which date to the tenth or eleventh century. The stones were originally discovered in the nineteenth century, and until 1973, 15 stones from the collection, including the three newly recovered ones, had been displayed against a churchyard wall. They were believed to have been destroyed in the demolition of an adjacent shipyard. Stephen Driscoll, professor of historical archaeology at the University of Glasgow, said that the stones’ recovery bolsters the case for Govan’s significance as an early medieval religious center. Govan Heritage Trust archaeologists will continue the excavation with the aim of finding and conserving the remaining lost stones. To read more about medieval Scotland, go to “Thorfinn the Mighty's Thing.”
