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A hillfort in Aberdeenshire is one of the largest ancient settlements ever discovered in Scotland, researchers have said. University of Aberdeen archaeologists say 4,000 people may have lived in more than 800 huts perched high on the Tap O' Noth near Rhynie. Many had thought it dated from the Bronze or Iron Age. The team said carbon dating suggested it was likely to be Pictish, dating back as far as the third century AD. They believe at its height it may have rivalled the largest known post-Roman settlements in Europe. Archaeologists from the university have conducted extensive fieldwork in the...

According to historians, the Viking Age began on June 8, A.D. 793, at an island monastery off the coast of northern England. A contemporary chronicle recorded the moment with a brief entry: "The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter." ...In the centuries that followed, the Vikings' vessels carried them deep into Russia and as far south as Constantinople, Sicily, and possibly even North Africa. They organized flotillas capable of carrying warriors across vast distances, and terrorized the English, Irish, and French coasts with lightning-fast raids. Exploratory voyages to the west took them...

Under sunny, seventy-degree skies, 18-year-old Mary Anne Smith MacLeod, the future mother of President Donald J. Trump, stepped off the steamship Transylvania onto Ellis Island and into a future that would exceed her wildest dreams. It was 90 years ago, Sunday, May 11, 1930 – Mother’s Day – that Mary MacLeod completed a 9-day journey across the Atlantic Ocean from the small Hebridean Island of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. With $50 in her pocket, she would settle with family in the New York City borough of Queens. For 6 years, Mary worked as a nanny before meeting...

Is this the stronghold of freedom fighter William Wallace? It’s pretty overgrown now, but a combination of drone flight and 3D tech appears to have found “Wallace’s House” in southern Scotland. From this fort, the legendary thorn in England’s side planned an attack on nearby Lochmaben Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. The Scotsman reports how Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) – in association with Skyscape Survey – launched an aerial exploration of the site. Drone footage was taken over a “massive earthen rampart and the promontory where the waters of the Black Linn (River) and the Tor Linn meet.” From...

Macbeth was a king of the Scots whose rule was marked by efficient government and the promotion of Christianity, but who is best known as the murderer and usurper in William Shakespeare's tragedy. Shakespeare's Macbeth bears little resemblance to the real 11th century Scottish king. Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005. His father was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II. A 'mormaer' was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of Scotland, but in Latin documents the word...

The Scottish government was forced to drop plans to axe jury trials today as its coronavirus bill jumped its first parliamentary hurdle. The SNP administration confirmed it had dropped the measure after an outcry from opposition parties and senior lawyers following the publication of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill on Tuesday. The bill originally proposed trials going ahead without juries to “ensure that criminal justice systems can continue to operate during the coronavirus restrictions”. But the move was branded “draconian” by the Scottish Criminal Bar Association and The Law Society of Scotland insisted there was not “sufficient justification” for ending the...

Archaeologists are now in a race against time to fully excavate and preserve the site at Newark on Orkney mainland which is being protected in the short term by sandbags. The site is particularly vulnerable to the impact of south easterly winds with the ground, which is formed of soft boulder clay, now prone to landslides as it holds on to high volumes of rainwater... In 2016 a Carved Pictish Type 2 stone was exposed and excavated by ORCA Archaeology. It is believed that the cemetery could hold invaluable information about the little-understood transition between the Pictish era and the...

Recent excavations at Lewiston by AOC Archaeology revealed over 35 Neolithic pits arranged in six broad clusters. These contained broken Carinated Bowls, flint and quartz flakes, coarse stone tools, and finer flint tools, mixed in with burnt cereals and hazelnut shells. Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates obtained from hazelnuts and wood charcoal demonstrates that activity associated with the pits was short-lived, spanning less than 40 years between 3661 cal BC and 3532 cal BC -- a period within the transition between the early and middle Neolithic... The site -- which lies close to the western shore of Loch Ness --...

Boris Johnson has revived plans to build a £20 billion bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland — with engineers looking to copy the link between Sweden and Denmark which featured in a hit “Scandi noir” crime drama. The Prime Minister, who is keen to sanction a series of grand infrastructure projects as a legacy of his rule, is about to receive the results of a feasibility study into the construction of a combined bridge and tunnel connection at the narrowest, 20-mile gap between Northern Ireland and the British mainland. One version of the plan would be modeled on the Öresund...

UNEXPLAINED sightings of something mysterious lurking in Loch Ness were at the highest level this century during 2019. A total of 18 sightings were recorded on the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register – the highest since 1983. They ranged from eyewitness accounts by visitors to the area to unusual objects spotted by people on the other side of the world scouring images on a live webcam of the loch. The entries also include a sighting by seriously-ill Zachary White, aged five, who travelled from his home in Berkshire to the loch and spotted the monster after being given a...

"Donald Trump is gonna rock the planet!" - Dan Pena. FREE FULL EPISODE: https://londonrealacademy.com/episode... Daniel Pena is a Hispanic-American businessman, entrepreneur, mentor, and business coach, born in Jacksonville, Florida. Today, he resides at his historic Guthrie Castle in Scotland and in Asia-Pacific. Peña is prominent for his seven-day Castle Seminar on Quantum Leap Advantage (QLA) Methodology. He is the author of a popular book Your First Hundred Million, which has been translated in Romanian.

The blood libel is one of the most hateful and destructive lies launched against the Jewish people over the centuries. While it takes on many different forms, it boils down to the false accusation that the Jews would kidnap and kill a non-Jewish child (or adult), using the victim’s blood for some ritual purpose. In the last week, it has raised its ugly head once again. According to the ADL, “The ‘blood libel’ refers to a centuries-old false allegation that Jews murder Christians – especially Christian children – to use their blood for ritual purposes, such as an ingredient in...

A massive lightning strike which hit the Isle of Lewis more than 3,000 years ago may have inspired ancient civilisations to build stone circles, academics believe. Scientists studying a prehistoric stone circle on the Outer Hebrides island discovered evidence of a lightning strike on a nearby site where a circle had been hidden beneath a peat bog. Just one stone remained standing at the site, known as Site XI or Airigh na Beinne Bige, which overlooks the main stone circle, Tursachan Chalanais, at Calanais on the Isle of Lewis. But it is believed that the single stone was once part...

Deacon Nick Donnelly has reported that the Hermits of Westray received notification of their excommunication on Christmas Day. The three Scottish hermits were reportedly excommunicated for a post on their website entitled “The Declaration.” In the post, the hermits declare: Never in history has there been such a Pope, who by his actions, words and teaching, has thrown the whole Church into confusion. There have been bad and immoral Popes like John XII, and Alexander VI, there have been mad Popes, like Urban VI, there have been severe and unbalanced reforming Popes like Paul IV, and there have been pleasure...

The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, has been toppled in her own seat, throwing her future at the head of the party into serious doubt after a dismal showing at the polls generally. Swinson, who started the campaign claiming she could be the next prime minister, lost in her East Dunbartonshire constituency to the SNP, a result that capped a disastrous night for her party. Though Lib Dem numbers in the Commons swelled before the election to 21, aided by MPs crossing the floor, the Ipsos Mori exit poll predicted the party winning 13 seats – only one more than...

The skeletal remains are thought to date from the 15th Century, when Clan Ross and Clan Mackay fought out a terrifying rivalry in the area that arguably peaked with the Battle of Tarbat in the 1480s, Then, Clan Ross cornered a raiding party of Clan Mackay with many killed in the encounter. Survivors of the attack sought sanctuary in the church, but the Rosses set fire to it, killing all those hiding inside... She said the men and skulls were buried in the most prominent part of the church, in the mouth of the crypt directly under the nave. Dr...

A painstaking clean-up operation on a haul of Viking-age treasures found buried on church land in Scotland is unlocking new secrets about their origins... Tiny traces of linen, silk, wood and leather have been analysed during two years of detective work on the hoard has helped develop theories that some objects are several centuries older than previously thought. The careful wrapping of more than 100 gold, silver and jewelled treasures is set to shed new light on how long it was accumulated for before being buried in Galloway nearly 1,000 years ago... He said: "We have a better understanding now...

The Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian-based terrorist group, a former Iranian intelligence officer has admitted. Abolghassem Mesbahi, a defector to Germany, said Pan Am flight 103 was downed in 1988 in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian commercial jet six months earlier, in which 290 people died. He claims the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was Iran’s Supreme Leader, ordered the bombing “to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus”. …

By 937 A.D. 35 years after the initial settlement, Wirral may have been the site of a huge battle between the Anglo Saxons coming from the South and Midlands and a combined army of Viking raiders coming from Dublin and their Scottish allies coming mainly from Strathclyde. No-one is quite sure where this battle took place, although the majority of experts favour Wirral. The main reason is that the contemporary record of the Battle -- the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the battle having taking place (around Brunanburh) -- which happens to be the old name for Bromborough... The Chronicle also...

Whilst on a walk close to Dingwall, I came across a site that struck me as being slightly mysterious, atmospheric and with an air of neglect about it. I was immediately fascinated, and started to try and find out more about it. I established that it was an early religious site, privately owned, and asked the landowner if I could have permission to survey it. This granted, and because of the difficult access, I began to form a plan of just how to carry this out. A specific parking place for one car was established and the survey began.