Dozens of skeletal remains sent for tests after being discovered by archaeologists at Aberdeen Art Gallery
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Fifty-two skeletons from a medieval friary have been sent for tests alongside other artefacts after being found beneath the exhibition space at Aberdeen Art Gallery
© Cameron ArchaeologyDozens more have since been found as part of the gallery’s £30 million redevelopment, including around 40 disarticulated skeletons under the back premises, buried in three wooden coffins and left in a brick-built chamber known as a charnel house. “Significant” quantities of coffin wood, fixtures, fittings, furniture and textile, stone and animal bones and shells have also surfaced.
Christine Rew, the manager of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, suggests the bodies could have been lifted and moved into the chamber during a previous development of the gallery, possibly during the 19th century. Fifty-two skeletons were found within the gallery itself, which is a fairly emphatic reflection of the importance of the friary at the medieval heart of Aberdeen.
“One of the conditions was to have an archaeological watching brief as the renovation works took place,” says Rew. “It is known that the friary included a graveyard. A bone had been found just beyond the art gallery when pre-development site investigations took place in 2012 and 2013. Earlier construction work in the 19th and 20th centuries in the area also found burials.”
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Aberdeen wants to reinter a body found during electric cabling work last year at the corner of the gallery building, outside the gateway to Robert Gordon College’s quadrangle. “It is expected that he will also wish to arrange a similar burial for the bodies found here,” says Rew.
“We believe that this find contributes considerably to the knowledge we have of the medieval centre of the city, and we will look to use this in telling more of the story of the site when we reopen the art gallery, and will also use it in other ways. We will also apply to have the material finds returned to the city once they have been analysed. There is a government process to determine where finds are located.”
The bones and artefacts have been taken to excavators AOC Archaeology’s store. “They are being cleaned and sorted first, and then appropriate tests, including DNA, will be undertaken to determine the approximate date of the finds,” says Rew, who describes the six-week delay to construction work as “not critical”, although timelines are being reviewed ahead of the planned opening date of late 2017.
“The redevelopment is building on foundations laid by our forefathers when this city's art gallery was conceived more than 130 years ago,” says Marie Boulton, the deputy leader of Aberdeen City Council. "This amazing discovery provides the people of Aberdeen with a direct link to their historical, even ancestral past.”
The public are being invited to donate to the project. “The fact that people are being given the opportunity to invest directly in Aberdeen's progression towards becoming a cultural capital makes this project all the more special,” says Boulton. “It gives them a personal stake in one of the greatest regional galleries in the world."
Martin Cook, who managed the archaeological investigations, says there was “clear intercutting” of the graves. “Each individual grave appears to contain a single inhumation.
“Further disarticulated remains including fragments of skull have been recovered from the deposits associated with the formal burials. In addition to the skeletal remains a large artefact assemblage has been recovered associated with both the charnel and the formal burials.”
The development project, Inspiring Art and Music, will restore the gallery’s complex of buildings, creating a new rooftop gallery, concert hall and dedicated learning spaces.
- £5 donations can be made by texting AAGMW1 to 70970. Visit inspiringartandmusic.tumblr.com for updates on the development.
Medieval Aberdeen
- In medieval times the focus of Aberdeen was around its large natural harbour and the main streets of Broad Street, Gallowgate and Castle Street. The town was a centre for trade; pottery was imported by sea from England, Northern France, the Low Countries and Rhineland.
- Silk from Italy and even a piece of elephant ivory were excavated in Queen Street, showing how far Aberdeen’s trade links spread. At first the civic life of Aberdeen was by the harbour but during the early 14th Century this moved to the area of Castlegate, partly because of flooding on the waterfront.
- Religious life was important, fulfilling not only people’s spiritual needs but also providing education and social services. The site of St Machar’s Cathedral had been a focus for Christian activity since 6th century, and there were numerous churches and religious orders in the town.
- A Dominican Friary was established between 1222 and 1249 on what was the edge of Aberdeen and is now Schoolhill, where the art gallery stands within its grounds.
- Most of the people would have lived in houses made of wattle-and-daub hatched with heather, rushes or straw. Some of the larger buildings would have been roofed with pottery tiles but only a few would have been built of stone.
- Many people would have worked in the industries and shops in the town. The discovery of a bone skate in Queen Street shows that people ice-skated in medieval times.
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Three places to discover Scottish archaeology in
Cairnpapple Hill, Linlithgow
One of the most important prehistoric monuments on the mainland of Scotland, Cairnpapple was used as a burial and ceremonial site from about 3000 to 1400 BC. Good views of east central Scotland may be had from the hill.
Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire
Each tower of this magnificent Scottish Baronial fortress is traditionally associated with one of the castle’s five successive families – Preston, Meldrum, Seton, Gordon and Forbes-Leith. You can see their influences today among the medieval stones and the lavish Edwardian interiors.
Stirling Castle
Without doubt one of the grandest of all Scottish castles, both in its situation on a commanding rock outcrop and in its architecture. The Great Hall and the Gatehouse of James IV, the marvellous Palace of James V, the Chapel Royal of James VI and the artillery fortifications of the 16th to 18th centuries are all of outstanding interest.
