Trusty's Hill Pictish carving. Image: Galloway Picts Project
A recent Heritage Lottery funded archaeological excavation has discovered a
hitherto forgotten early medieval royal stronghold in Scotland.
Pictish symbols
Trusty’s Hill, near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, is
best known for the Pictish Symbols carved into a natural rock outcrop at
the fort’s entrance. However, in recent years, many historians have
begun to doubt whether these carvings were genuine, some even suggesting
that the carvings are forgeries. The Galloway Picts Excavation, led by
the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society
and funded in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund, sought to find out why
there are Pictish Carvings here, so far from the Pictish heartlands in
the north-east of Scotland, and if the carvings are indeed genuine.
Under the direction of two members of the Society, over 60 local volunteers, assisted by professional archaeologists from GUARD Archaeology Ltd,
spent two weeks discovering new archaeological evidence that
establishes a clear archaeological context for the Pictish Symbols at
this vitrified fort.
