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Image Credit: Scottish Water
Early Medieval Cemetery and Iron Age Houses Found During Sewer Works in the Scottish Highlands
Archaeological investigations carried out during sewer upgrade works in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered a 6th-century burial ground alongside two Iron Age roundhouses, revealing a long sequence of human activity in the area.
The discoveries were made near Windhill, close to Muir of Ord, during construction work led by Scottish Water. Excavations exposed the remains of roundhouses believed to be up to 3,000 years old, as well as metalworking features and fragments of human bone from a burial monument.
Among the finds were stone tools associated with everyday activities, including rotary quern fragments used for grinding grain, a quern rubber, and a hammerstone. Decorated clay daub from the roundhouse walls was also recovered, with some pieces bearing rare chevron-style designs. Notably, no pottery was found, supporting wider archaeological interpretations that wooden vessels were commonly used in this region during the Iron Age.
The remains of two well-preserved smelting furnaces were identified beside a large flat-topped boulder. These are thought to have belonged to temporary external structures rather than the roundhouses themselves, due to the heat and fumes generated during metalworking.
In addition, three circular burial mounds, or barrows, each around 10 metres in diameter, were revealed within the construction trench. The bone fragments from the burial monument are currently undergoing radiocarbon dating, with further isotope and DNA analysis expected to shed light on the people who lived and were buried there.
Together, the finds provide valuable evidence for settlement, industrial activity, and funerary practices around the Beauly Firth, reinforcing the area’s importance in the early history of the Scottish Highlands.
Published on: 02-02-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie
Source: BBC