Artefacts from Caerlaverock Castle
Overlooking the Solway Firth in south-west Scotland, Caerlaverock Castle is among the most impressive medieval castles in Britain. There are in fact two castles at Caerlaverock. The present castle replaced an earlier one, built in the 13th century and lying in woodland just 200m to the south. Both castles are looked after by Historic Scotland and can be visited throughout the year.
Archaeologists have investigated both castles over the years. The moat around the later castle was excavated between the 1950s and 1970s. More recently, archaeologists have excavated the site of the earlier castle at Caerlaverock and have learned much more about it. The results of this excavation, carried out by SUAT, are described in detail on SUAT's website: www.suat.demon.co.uk/caerlaverock
The artefacts found by the archaeologists are very important pieces of evidence about the lives of people at Caerlaverock in medieval times. Artefacts made from a variety of materials, and with a wide variety of uses, were found. Here, you can investigate a selection of the artefacts in more detail. Go first to the Artefact Investigation Kit, for ideas about how to look for the clues each artefact holds.
Discovery by an archaeologist is just one stage in an artefact's life. The story of an artefact's life, from the moment it was made until the present day, is reconstructed by archaeologists, using the available clues. Click here to read the story of the brooch fragment from Caerlaverock.
Click on the names of the artefacts below to find out more about them.
On all of these pages, click on any underlined words to go to an explanation of what they mean.