Plant pot tag among 'amazing archaeological finds'

Pieces of a plant pot tag uncovered at the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival site have been listed among Scotland's top five archaeological discoveries of this year.

The festival on the south of the River Clyde was part of an effort to re-imagine Glasgow after the loss of heavy industry in the city.

University of Glasgow archaeologists said the tag, which was for a red campion flower, was the first piece of physical evidence excavated at the 120-acre site.

Scottish archaeology hub Dig It! also has a Pictish spearbutt found in Fife, an Orkney shipwreck, a Hebridean prehistoric site and a Celtic bangle from the Highlands among its "most amazing" discoveries of 2024.

Garden festivals were held across the UK in the 1980s and 1990s to try and stimulate investment and development in former industrial areas.

Glasgow's event was held on an area of dockland and featured green space, a theme park and adventure playground.

It was officially opened by Prince Charles and Princess Diana and over its five months drew more than four million visitors.

The project After the Garden Festival has been gathering memorabilia, photos and memories of the event.

The tag was confirmed as an artefact by a photograph taken of the festival site during its construction in 1987.

University of Glasgow's Dr Kenny Brophy said: "Contemporary archaeology is at the forefront of efforts from archaeologists to become more socially engaged and relevant.

"But it can also be used to excite, enthuse and inspire, as has been happening in Glasgow where there's a huge amount of nostalgia for the festival."

The oldest find on the list is a prehistoric site revealed by coastal erosion at Nisabost on Harris in the Western Isles.

Stone tools made from quartz and flint were discovered in a thin layer of charcoal and peat.

They are similar to tools previously found on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age sites in the isles.

Joanna Hambly, of coastal heritage group The Scape Trust, said: "I love finds like this because they reveal the secrets that coastal erosion uncovers - a glimpse into a prehistoric world hidden in plain sight."

Early in 2024, experts confirmed the discovery of a rare bangle fragment decorated with hand-carved Celtic art motifs.

The piece of jewellery was made from sedimentary rock called shale and found by AOC Archaeology Group in 2020 at Dalchork, a Bronze Age site in Sutherland in the Highlands.

National Museums Scotland's Dr Fraser Hunter has reconstructed the design, which includes crescent motifs, scroll designs and curved lines.

AOC Archaeology Group's Dawn McLaren said: "Not only is the find unique in Scotland and extremely rare in Britain, but the fact that it was crafted with exceptional care and a high level of skill and used frequently enough to leave scuff marks and polish gives us an insight into the people who created and carried it thousands of years ago."

The bronze spearbutt was once fitted to the end of a spear to give the weapon extra strength.

It was discovered during excavations organised by Falkland Stewardship Trust and University of Aberdeen at the site of East Lomond hillfort near Falkland in Fife.

Experts identified the artefact as a spearbutt partly from depictions on Pictish carved stones, including the one at Collessie near East Lomond.

They suggest the spearbutt could have been used in close combat.

University of Aberdeen's Prof Gordon Noble said: "The find helps illuminate aspects of the warrior culture of the late Roman Iron Age in lowland Scotland, and to find an actual example of the spearbutts shown on the warrior carvings is very exciting.

"Only a handful of these objects have been found in Scotland and the rest of Britain and Ireland."

Orkney's shipwreck was discovered in February.

Winter storms exposed a large section of a wooden ship on a beach in Sanday.

Archaeologists from Orkney Islands Council, Wessex Archaeology and consultancy Dendrochronicle along with experts from Historic Environment Scotland examined the find.

Construction techniques suggest it dates to the 17th Century, and possibly built in England or Netherlands.

Dig It! said if this date was correct, it would be one of only nine identified wrecks of this time period from Scottish waters.

It has been transferred to a large water tank funded by the National Heritage Memorial Fund alongside Sanday's Heritage Centre to stabilise and desalinate the timbers.

It will remain in the tank while further analysis, dating and research takes place.