Nearly 100 Medieval Skeletons discovered in Aberdeen
Medieval News
Nearly 100 medieval skeletons have been found by archaeologists during renovations to Aberdeen Art Gallery in Scotland. The gallery is undergoing a £30million transformation to create a world class cultural centre celebrating art and music..
Christine Rew, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums Manager, said: "One of the planning conditions of Aberdeen Art Gallery redevelopment was to have an archaeological watching brief as the renovation works took place. This reflected the importance of the site - the Dominican friary of the Black Friars - being within the mediaeval heart of the city.
"It is known that the friary included a graveyard, and that that a bone had been found just beyond the Art Gallery, when pre-development site investigations took place in 2012 and 2013. Earlier construction work in the 19thand 20thcenturies in the area also found burials.
"The archaeologists from AOC Archaeology have been on-site during the demolitions of the back premises, and within the gallery as excavations were being made for the foundations of the new main staircase.
"Under the back premises, around 40 disarticulated skeletons were found, in three wooden coffins and placed in a brick-built chamber (known as a charnel house). Significant quantities of coffin wood, fixtures, fittings and furniture, and textile were also found. The find suggests that during a previous development of the Gallery (possibly 19thcentury), these bodies were lifted and moved from where the building work was taking place, boxed and put into the brick chamber.