Forteviot & getting settled.

For the past several years, Glasgow University has been excavating in the Strathearn Valley. Located between the Ochil hills and -- I can't remember the name of the other hills - it lies a little south of Perth. It is a lush and beautiful part of the country. 

In past years, they have been digging in the village of Forteviot, which was a medieval village rebuilt in the 1920s. Though they have yet to find the palace, it is believed to have been a royal centre in the early years of the Scottish kingdom. On the first day they took us to the village and showed us the church - as there are some Pictish stones in the porch. 

After this, we all went to Leadketty, which is a nearby farm. We worked there for a couple of hours, 'cleaning' the soil, then went back for dinner. There were three excavations going on this year:
1. Leadketty: henge monuments and a 'palisaded enclosure' were spotted on aerial photography, so this was the reason for the excavation here.
2. Castle Craig: an Iron-Age broch which had been burned, smashed and buried atop a hill had been excavated last year. They were re-opening the trenches, and digging a few new ones, in order to assess whether or not the site was suitable for a complete excavation and subsequent opening to the public.
3. St Serfs, Dunning: St Serfs is a medieval church in the village of Dunning, and there was a small excavation going on there to try to find traces of an earlier (and hopefully Pictish) church, or church boundaries, or any indication of monastic life. 

Fragments of much larger Pictish carved stones.

This one is a little harder to make out, but is a man on a horse.

In the churchyard - a grave depicting someone trade.

Our accommodation was at a boarding school (Strathallen, if you want to look it up - they have a website). The house we were in was just across the way from the dining hall, where we had breakfast and dinner every day (we took a packed lunch with us when going on site).