Sixty Years After Its Discovery, a Hut in Scotland Has Been Linked to St. Columba

Smithsonian ^

[ameribbean expat]

In 1957, the British archaeologist Charles Thomas developed an unprovable hunch. He had excavated a wooden hut on the Scottish island of Iona, and came to believe that it had been used by Saint Columba, the sixth-century missionary who established a monastery on the island. But scientific dating techniques were crude in Thomas’ day, leaving him with little recourse to support his theory. So, as the Telegraph reports, he packed up the samples from the excavation and stored them in his garage, where they sat for decades.

Fast forward sixty years, and researchers now believe they have evidence to validate Thomas’ claims. A team of experts at the University of Glasgow, with support from Historic Environment Scotland, have performed radiocarbon dating on the samples from the 1957 excavation. They found that pieces of hazel charcoal from the site date to about 1,500 years ago—a time when Columba was fervently spreading the gospel of Christianity in Scotland and far beyond.

[fidelis]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Interesting. As a former archaeologist I like stories such as these.

However, at 4:30 AM I’m more interested to know if anyone has found proof that Jabba The Hut really existed.

My other favorite “Hut” is “Pizza Hut”.

Excuse me while I go search the refrigerator for “charred mammal flesh” and cheese with sauce.

[Paal Gulli]

Saint Columba wrote about having an encounter with the Loch Ness Monster.


I'm just sayin'......