GUARD Archaeology have recently completed post-excavation analyses of a Bronze Age hoard recovered from a contemporary settlement at Rosemarkie, Highland. The results will be published later this year. The excavation of over 2.12 hectares, completed in 2021, revealed six roundhouses (one with a timber palisade), 14 pit groups, three possible grain‐drying kilns, at least one possible pottery‐firing pit, evidence for prehistoric forest/vegetation clearance, a Bronze Age cist and cremation, and the Bronze Age hoard. The hoard was found within a group of pits which were part of the settlement. Excavated in laboratory conditions, the hoard has provided an opportunity to analyse the hoard in its undisturbed context making the its artefacts an assemblage of ‘national and international’ significance. The presence of organic materials along with the metal artefacts is exceptional. The assemblage provides an opportunity to analysis their typology and manufacturing as well as possible trading links and connections to Bronze Age Europe.

Rachel Buckley is a Post Excavation Project Supervisor at GUARD Archaeology Ltd. She first joined GUARD Archaeology in 2018 and has since then amassed experience in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork. In recent years, she has dealt most extensively with the post excavation processes including soil sample and artefact processing and archiving.