Holy Island 'bucket list' archaeological dig location as 'charnel pit' uncovered at new site
The co-director of a dig off the Northumberland Coast has described Holy Island as a "bucket list destination" after a charnel pit was discovered at a new dig site on the island.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that archaeologists were investigating the possibility of a "lost" cemetery by Northumberland County Council's Green Lane Car Park. A new dig site, Trench 12, is the first dig to take place outside of Sanctuary Close, the island's main digging area in front of Lindisfarne Priory.
A charnel pit is thought to have been uncovered in Trench 12 - a pit used to bury disarticulated human remains which may have been disturbed. So far, a series of skulls and long bones (femurs, tibias, fibulas etc) have been discovered at the site, which offers a view out to Lindisfarne Castle.
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Dr David Petts, co-director of the dig, said that the charnel pit is likely to be on the northern edge of the original St Cuthbert's Monastery, pre-dating the Norman ruins that can be seen on the island today. He told ChronicleLive: "It's a huge one, that version of Lindisfarne was one of the most important in Britain and it really was substantial.
"Anywhere anyone's ever dug in and around the village, stuff from this period has come up. We've got burials everywhere, so there are a lot of people being buried in the Early Middle Ages."
Dr Petts said that modern, sophisticated archaeological techniques would shed light on who the skeletons belonged to. He added: "When we're doing the post-excavation work we'll be looking at ancient DNA which could tell us broadly who these populations are.
"Are they the island community? Are they people coming from elsewhere? We can use the chemistry in bones and teeth to tell us where people are coming from. This is only the first part of the project, the digging, and there's so much to do in the labs - which is why we're stopping next year!"
Dr Petts, who is an authority on Early Medieval archaeology, described Holy Island as a "bucket list" dig destination. He added: "It's not often you get a chance to dig on a site of this kind of importance.
"What's nice is having lots of different trenches, we can work out a basic plan of the monastery and surprisingly, despite its importance, there's no been a lot of archaeology done here before. It's the first time there's been a really sustained detailed look at the early, medieval monastery."
Though the other sites are more easily visible to visitors, Trench 12 still has had a fair bit of interest from members of the public. Several curious visitors pop over to speak to those supervising the dig - Northumberland County Council archaeologist Nick Best, Northumberland Coast National Landscape officer Sarah Winlow, and Harriet Tatton, DigVentures' community archaeologist.
Harriet told ChronicleLive: "We love encouraging people to come and talk to us and have a look at what we're doing, obviously there are a lot of visitors to the island. It's fantastic that people understand why we're here, what we're looking for, and why we're doing what we're doing."
Harriet, who lives in Glasgow, has spent a month on Holy Island each summer for the last 8 years and has come to regard it as her second home. She said: "I feel such a connection to this place having dug here for such a long time now that I'm trying to picture my life not coming here next year.
"It's such a special place, you can see why it was chosen to be home to one of Great Britain's wealthiest and largest monasteries. It's such a peaceful and spiritual place."
Both David and Harriet also spoke of the importance of having local people involved in the dig. Volunteers from the Northumberland Coast National Landscape, and even a few who live on Holy Island itself, have taken part in the digs.
Tracy Ward, 60, who lives in the Midlands, has a long-standing connection to Holy Island as her mum Dorothy, 88, moved to the island 50 years ago. Tracy has watched the digs when visiting each summer for eight years before deciding to get involved in 2024.
She told ChronicleLive: "It's absolutely amazing that it's able to be done. I think it's very interesting to work on the bones and try and treat them with the dignity that they still deserve, because they are human."