East Kirk of St Nicholas Week 4
20 February to 24 February
Judith Stones, Keeper of Archaeology, writes…
There have been so many things happening this week that it's difficult to know where to begin.
A lot of new discoveries were made right at the end of last week and the beginning of this one. They include at least one large stone pillar base from the 15th-century church and several more gravestones, one of which may have had decorative brass inlay and intriguingly has a very faintly drawn human figure on it.
Also this week, Stewart Thain, who is the Assistant Keeper (Research) at Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, visited the site to look at several coins which have turned up during the dig.
All of them are very corroded and therefore difficult to identify, but Stewart thinks that two of them are probably 18th-century Scottish turners, or two penny pieces.
Another very thin copper 'coin' may in fact be a token. Many tokens were issued by local firms between the late 1790s and the early 1800s. They took the place of small change and were also useful as 'pocket' advertisements.
So far about 10 human skeletons have been uncovered. One found this week has been particularly striking. The individual was an elderly man with suspected osteoarthritis, indicated by fusion of bones in the back and left hand.
In the photo below you can see the bones being painstakingly cleaned by Ross Dawson and Johan Yorston.
Ross graduated from Bradford University with a BSc in Archaeological Science and from Edinburgh with an MSc in European Archaeology. Johan is an archaeology student at the University of Aberdeen.
Despite a lot of digging experience, neither had excavated a complete skeleton before - and they found it very rewarding. Ross is particularly gratified to be working on an excavation at a medieval church site - as that is his period of interest. His dissertation at Edinburgh was on Scottish medieval copper alloy cooking pots.
As I think I've mentioned before, after detailed examination and analysis at the University of Glasgow - which will tell us a great deal about the health and welfare of earlier generations of Aberdonians - the human remains will be carefully reburied within the church, as part of the overall re-development project.
Some 110 visitors joined tours on Monday and viewed work in progress from the East Kirk gallery during the afternoon.
We were also able to welcome our first school group this week, a party from Harlaw Academy. In all about 60 pupils from Aberdeen schools came to see the site during the week, the first of over 60 classes which have made bookings to see the site between now and June.
From the Gallery, looking down, the excavation area, with its bright spotlights, looks not unlike a stage set!
