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Cecily Spall - "Clashing clans: understanding the archaeology of Tarbatness, Ross-shire, 1350-1550, through the Tarbat Medieval Burials Project"

Tue, 6 Oct 2020 from 17:15 to 18:15
by Ben Jennings
Zoom Session
Clashing clans: understanding the archaeology of Tarbatness, Ross-shire, 1350-1550, through the Tarbat Medieval Burials Project

Cecily Spall
FAS Heritage

The presentation provides an overview of the Tarbat Medieval Burials Project which aims to study a group of special burials of the 14th to 15th century excavated in the nave of St Colman’s Church, Portmahomack (Tarbat), Ross-shire. These burials display remarkable divergence from medieval norms including skulls as grave accessories, reopening and reuse of graves, clothed burial as well as evidence for interpersonal conflict. Five ‘special’ burials of men have been targeted for scientific analyses including stable isotope analysis (Sr, O, S, C and N), aDNA and AMS radiocarbon dating and Bayesian analysis to better understand past lifeways.