Archaeologists have revealed a hoard of 36 coins discovered in Glencoe that date back to the era of the area’s infamous massacre.
The silver and bronze coins were in a small pot found beneath the fireplace of a Glencoe summerhouse by University of Glasgow archaeology student Lucy Ankers during an archaeological dig in August 2023.
It was Ms Anker’s first experience of an archaeological dig.
None of the coins found were minted after 1680, and the nature of their hiding and the owner’s failure to return for them indicate they may have been buried by someone killed in the 1692 massacre, during which more than 30 members of the Clan MacDonald were slain.
The house is traditionally associated with Alasdair Ruadh ‘MacIain’ MacDonald of Glencoe, chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe from 1646-1692.
The earliest coin in the collection is from the late 1500s, and the hoard also includes pieces from the reigns of Elizabeth I, James VI and I, Charles I, the Cromwellian Commonwealth, and Charles II.
There are also coins from France and the Spanish Netherlands, and one which appears to have originated in the Papal States.
‘MacIain’ is known to have travelled to Rome and Paris in his youth.
Dr Michael Given, senior lecturer in Archaeology and co-director of the University of Glasgow’s archaeological project in Glencoe, said: “These exciting finds give us a rare glimpse of a single, dramatic event. Here’s what seems an ordinary rural house, but it has a grand fireplace, impressive floor slabs, and exotic pottery imported from the Netherlands and Germany. And they’ve gathered up an amazing collection of coins in a little pot and buried them under the fireplace.
“What’s really exciting is that these coins are no later than the 1680s: so were they buried in a rush as the massacre started first thing in the morning of the 13th February 1692?
“We know some of the survivors ran through the blizzard and escaped up the side glens, including this one: were these coins witnesses to this dramatic story? It’s a real privilege, as archaeologists, to hold in our hands these objects that were so much part of people’s lives in the past.”
Derek Alexander, head of archaeology at the National Trust for Scotland, the conservation charity who care for the Glencoe National Nature Reserve, said the work undertaken by the Glasgow team and the found artefacts would make a significant contribution to understanding the history of Glencoe.
“Gradually a fuller story is being pieced together, not just about the time of the infamous massacre, but also of everyday life in the glen before and after 1692,” he said.
Ms Anker’s said the two weeks digging on site had solidified her want to pursue a career in archaeology.
She added: “I wasn’t expecting such an exciting find as one of my first, and I don’t think I will ever beat the feeling of seeing the coins peeking out of the dirt in the pot.”
MacIain’s house has now been fully excavated and post-excavation analysis of the finds and environmental samples is in progress.
A digital model of the site can be found at sketchfab.com/3d-models/the-summerhouse-of-maciain-7fd6e72bee79479fb2e70a07cfb78bfe