DUNKELD, SCOTLAND—The BBC reports that a team of archaeologists and volunteers in central Scotland has excavated the site of a hilltop fort thought to have been inhabited by Pictish elites between the seventh and ninth centuries A.D. The researchers uncovered pottery imported from Europe, Anglo-Saxon glass beads, and pieces of Roman glass that had been recycled into gaming pieces, in addition to spindle whorls for spinning thread, crucibles and molds for working metal, and whetstones for sharpening cutting tools. “There must have been a lot of iron and other metal working going on here making the site an important center for production—not just the home of a small group of people making items for their own use,” explained Cathy MacIver of AOC Archaeology. For more on the Picts, go to "Game of Stones."
