News | Posted April 7, 2026
Our new book brings together 10 years of archaeological research which has transformed our understanding of the Picts. Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland: The development of a landscape of Pictish royal power from the Roman to the early medieval period by Professor Gordon Noble FSAScot presents the results of three major excavations in the Upper Strathbogie Valley, Aberdeenshire: the …
News | Posted March 25, 2026
The results of the new research project may help establish that a medieval manuscript once dubbed ‘the most precious object of the western world’ could have been created in Easter Ross. Announced today, the £2,779 grant from the Society will enable Master Craftsman Thomas Keyes to conduct an experimental archaeology project later this year. Keyes hopes to gain a better understanding of the vellum workshop which was excavated at the monastic site of Portmahomack in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It remains the only example of an early-medieval vellum-working site in Northern Europe and is considered to …
News | Posted January 21, 2026
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
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
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
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 September 17, 2025
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 June 6, 2025
In May we hosted Archaeological Research in Progress 2025, the national conference presenting recent and ongoing archaeological projects across Scotland. Organised in alternate years by the Society and Archaeology Scotland, this year’s programme featured talks on the Ness of Brodgar, a Bronze Age hoard from the Highlands, Perth’s lost priory and more. Catch up with all the talks, and over 300 other recordings, …
News | Posted April 22, 2025
‘For when one sees a story illustrated whether of Troy or of something else, he sees the actions of the worthy men that lived in those times, just as though they were present.‘ Richard de Fournival, Le Bestiare d’amours.
News | Posted April 1, 2025
The Archaeological Research in Progress (ARP) conference is a one-day hybrid event showcasing new research findings and best practice in archaeology covering all periods from across Scotland. Since it began in 2005, the annual conference has been organised in alternate years by Archaeology Scotland and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. This year, ARP will be coordinated by the Society …
