News  |  Posted January 21, 2026

Make Your Mark Launches Report on Heritage Volunteering in Scotland

Make Your Mark has launched a new research report on heritage volunteering in Scotland, commissioned by Our Past, Our Future and created in partnership with Make Your Mark and Volunteer Scotland. The findings highlight the vital contributions that volunteers make, but also underline that more needs to be done to support volunteers and organisations. Key findings include: The wide-ranging benefits …

News  |  Posted January 15, 2026

Society Invites Fellows and Friends to Burns Night Event

To celebrate the official launch of our £1.5 million fundraising campaign to raise the capital required to purchase a B-listed building, creating a national Heritage Hub for Scotland and a permanent home for the Society, we are holding a very special online evening on Sunday 25 January at 8pm GMT. Register for the event We are delighted to welcome Sally Magnusson, award-winning BBC …

News  |  Posted December 11, 2025

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2025 Award Winners

The Society supports high-quality research and publication relating to Scotland’s past by making several awards at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) each November. At the 2025 AGM, the President announced the winners of the R B K Stevenson Award, the Murray Prize for History and the Dorothy Marshall Medal. R B K Stevenson Award Formerly a Keeper of the National …

News  |  Posted November 6, 2025

Society Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Print ‘Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland’

An opportunity to be part of history. Help us print a nationally important book that will transform our understanding of the Picts. The Society needs your help to print a monograph which will have a major impact on the study of Pictish kingship and society: Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland: The development of a landscape of Pictish royal power …

News  |  Posted November 5, 2025

Work With Us: Fundraising Officer

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is seeking a Fundraising Officer to join at a pivotal moment in our history as we launch an ambitious multi-million-pound fundraising campaign to purchase and redevelop a listed building beside the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, with the aim of creating a national centre for heritage research, learning, and engagement. Role: Fundraising Officer …

News  |  Posted September 17, 2025

New Society Book Reveals Forgotten Medieval Kingdom and Nameless Royal Castle on Islay

Our new book reveals the results of major archaeological project at Finlaggan, on Islay off the west coast of Scotland, the site of a medieval kingdom’s centre of power and a previously unknown royal castle. After nearly 30 years of analysis, The Archaeology of Finlaggan, Islay provides a comprehensive account and interpretation of the major archaeological research undertaken at the …

News  |  Posted September 3, 2025

New Impact Report Presents Recent Society Achievements

For 245 years the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has supported the research, enjoyment and protection of Scotland’s past. Today, we are Scotland’s oldest heritage charity and learned Society with over 2,600 Fellows (members) globally. Our charitable work is not just for academics or experts. From grassroots initiatives to national programmes, we engage communities at every level through archaeological and …

News  |  Posted August 20, 2025

Society Funds Excavation of Scotland’s First Skatepark and More With Latest Grants

The archaeological fieldwork will help to preserve the legacy of Scotland’s first skatepark, with opportunities for the public to get involved.   As part of a broader program of research into the site, the £1,102 grant from the Society will enable experts at the University of Glasgow working with volunteers and students to undertake excavation and survey work at the …

News  |  Posted August 4, 2025

Invitation to Annual Fellows Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

This October sees the return of an annual dinner meeting in the USA for both Fellows and friends who are interested in the Society, organised by longtime Fellow, Hope Vere Anderson. The dinner meeting has been timed to occur during the Stone Mountain Highland Games (17 – 19 October) in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Date: Saturday 18 October 2025 Arrival …

News  |  Posted July 30, 2025

Guest Blog – The Gunning Victoria Jubilee Gift: Brazilian Slavery and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Content warning: This article contains an illustration depicting slavery and an etching depicting human remains In a letter dated 15 June 1887, Dr Robert Halliday Gunning (1818-1900), a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, promised the Society a donation of money. Gunning’s £1,000 gift (worth approximately £649,000 in present-day money, relative to wages) was one of several that …