Digging deep to reveal the secrets of lothians' past

Published on Saturday 26 September 2009 11:52

THE skeletal remains of a child lie curled up in the foetal position, with the forensic scientists' measuring poles lying alongside.

The grim discovery made by workers at the Lothian Cement Works near Dunbar in 1980 look like a scene from a "cold case" thriller.

The find was to rewrite the history books after archaeologists found the child – who died between 3,600 and 4,000 years ago – had contracted leprosy. The disease was not thought to have reached Britain until 1,500 years later.

Police were called to England's Hill, near Lasswade, in 1954, after the discovery of a body – it turned out to be a Bronze Age burial ground.

Other ancient burial grounds have been unearthed across the Lothians.

Groundsmen discovered a series of stone coffins at Gullane Golf Club while carrying out improvements to the course in 1968, while a similar discovery was made on the edge of the Edinburgh Airport site, in 1977.

The discovery was made beside the mysterious, three-tonne Catstane, which can still be seen close to the runway.

The Old Town has, of course, proved fruitful for archaeologists over the years.

Nevertheless, workers excavating land for the building of an office block on West Port in 1971 were amazed to discover a huge well hewn out of the rock. Still partly filled with water, it measured 10ft wide by 20ft deep.

Four skeletons were found at Edinburgh Castle in 1988 by workmen digging to create an access tunnel for service vehicles near the castle gatehouse.

They are thought to have been buried during a siege in 1573 when it was impossible to get outside the castle walls.

Just to prove its not only the professionals who can make an historic discovery, 11-year-old schoolboy Martin Docherty stumbled upon a 4,000-year-old axe head.

Martin was playing with his pals at Blackford Quarry when he spotted the smooth stone of the axe head in 1964. If he hadn't been reading about the Bronze Age in his encyclopedia just before, he might never have realised the significance of his find.