Medieval artefacts discovered during work on St Andrews museum

The archaeological discoveries were made during excavations carried out as part of a major capital project to redevelop the University Museum on The Scores.

The finds include about 1000 pieces of medieval pottery, animal bones and shells dating from around the 12th to the 15th centuries.

Fife Council archaeologist Douglas Speirs has described the find as an important insight into medieval St Andrews.

The excavation site may represent the remains of a small sandstone quarry, infilled with material to restore the site for agricultural purposes, or a medieval rubbish pit.

The Museum project sponsor is Dr Katie Stevenson, assistant vice-principal Collections and Digital Content, and co-editor of the 2017 book Medieval St Andrews: Church, Cult, City

She said: “It was extraordinary to witness parts of the hitherto completely unknown history of medieval St Andrews being uncovered before us, on a part of the Scores we know very little about during this period. We are delighted.”

St Andrews University Museums is in an exciting period of development.

The University museum is currently closed to allow for the construction of an extension that will create significant new temporary exhibition space and a larger reception and retail space to expand our visitor facilities.

The four permanent galleries in the museum are also being redeveloped to showcase the scope and quality of the University’s collections and inspire audiences with our world-leading research history.

The museum closed its doors last summer for the £1.6 million development.

MUSA, housed on The Scores, has been extremely successful since its opening in 2008 as the centre-piece of the University’s museum service.

The University museum will reopen in 2020.