TWO community archaeology projects in Scotland have been nominated for an award for their work helping to discover a key detail towards the myth of Merlin and for shedding new light on whisky production in the Highlands.

The two projects have been nominated for the Archaeological Research Project of the Year Award for involving local communities in helping to link traditional tales and myths with physical sites across Scotland.

The Drumelzier’s Hidden Heritage project led by the Arthur Trail Association and GUARD Archaeology, with help from volunteers and local heritage groups, investigated the archaeological roots of Drumelzier’s Merlin legend and has been nominated for the award by Current Archaeology.

The village of Drumelzier in the Scottish Borders has long been associated with the myth of Merlin.

According to Vita Merlini Sylvestris (the Life of Merlin of the Forest), a medieval manuscript held by the British Library, Merlin was reportedly imprisoned there and buried on the banks of the Tweed in the seventh century.

In 2022, a team of volunteers across Scotland led by GUARD Archaeology set out to investigate the archaeological roots of the legend with the results from the work published last year revealing there may indeed be some truth to the reports of Merlin's death in Scotland.

A geophysics survey revealed that there is an archaeological feature resembling a grave near the believed location of Merlin’s Grave at Drumelzier.

Excavation of Tinnis Castle, another local site associated with Drumelzier’s legend, found that the hillfort was occupied around the late sixth and early seventh centuries AD, when the story was set, and has the hallmarks of a lordly stronghold of the time.

An excavation of the Thirlestane Barrows across the other side of the Tweed also discovered that sometime between the late third and late sixth centuries AD a square barrow was raised over the graves of two individuals of exceptional elite status.

A scatter of Late Mesolithic and early Neolithic flint blade fragments were also recovered from the summit of Tinnis, leaving a slight trace of the first groups of humans ever to climb the prominent hill.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24870315.archaeologists-line-top-award-key-merlin-myth-discovery/