Archaeologists explore the depths of Scotland's Scone Palace grounds

London, July 22 : Scotland's famous Scone Palace grounds have been exposed for the first time in centuries as archaeologists have dug into one of the most influential religious and historic buildings in the world.

It's pretty astonishing but there is very little sign of the 12th century building visible above the ground. The archaeologists who have been digging deep into the grounds believe strongly that they have finally found the lost abbey.

"We worked here last year to look at the radar and did remote sensing across the whole area," BBC quoted archaeologist Peter Yeoman, as saying.

The team is also scrutinizing the Moot Hill which first came into the picture in 906 AD when King Constantine II met the Bishop of St Andrews on the Hill. The hill holds great historical significance for kings like Macbeth and Robert the Bruce, were crowned here.

From the plot we got from that we've now laid out these trenches and are starting to investigate and find parts of the medieval abbey. Pottery, oyster shells and an old coin have been found," the archaeologist added.

"One of the important things about the site is it has such an extended pedigree, an extended history and we're also trying to understand the evocative Moot Hill," archaeologist Oliver O'Grady said.

The revealed they have unearthed numerous several skeletons as well.

"We've found a range of artefacts which tell us quite a lot about both the nature of the physical remains of the abbey church, but also the kinds of economic activities and food and so on that were being brought in here in fairly large quantities to keep the monastic house going," O'Grady added.

The inaugural site of the kings of Scotland would further be examined to collect significant facts.

"We've put some trenches across what we think is a large buried ditch around the site in order to gather environmental information and dating evidence to answer some of the questions about whether this was a pictish centre, which then led on to become the inaugural site of the kings of Scotland," Oliver O'Grady added

ANI