Students from Gordonstoun, a boarding school in Scotland, have made a significant discovery on the island of Swona in the Orkney Islands. During a school trip as part of the Swona Service Project, the students uncovered the remains of what is believed to be a 1,000-year-old Viking-era church. The project, which is an annual service project for the school, involves archaeological and restoration work on the remote island.
The students, along with their housemaster and project organizer Daniel McLean, had surveyed the site the previous year and found several characteristics consistent with early medieval church architecture. McLean said that the structure had long been known locally as a "kirk," or church, but its origins remained uncertain. The excavation uncovered altar foundations and a step, lending new weight to a local legend that the ruins were once a church.
The church is believed to date to the 10th or 11th century, based on similarities to other Viking-era churches in the region. The students' discovery has been hailed as significant, with McLean saying that the structure's size, length, width ratio, and east-west orientation all fit with early medieval church architecture.
The students' experience on the island was not just about the discovery, but also about restoring the old house where they stayed. The team worked to replace the wooden living room floor, which had rotted away due to drainage problems, and pumped fresh water from a 1,000-year-old well.
The school plans to return to Swona next year for further investigations of the archaeological sites, and the team hopes to use GPS data and digital images collected at the site to create a 3D model of the church. Archaeologists hope that further analysis will help determine the church's age and provide clues about the communities that once lived there, as well as how Christianity spread.
NTC Report coverage is based on reporting from the original publisher.
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