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Standrews

During refurbishment works at a library in St Andrews, Scotland, archaeologists uncovered more than 70 articulated and 15 disarticulated skeletons in a single excavation pit. The skeletons date back to around 1410-1415 when Trinity Church was constructed. Fragments of angular sandstone in the soil indicate waste material from the church's construction. The skeletons were buried with their feet oriented east, following the Christian tradition of facing east for judgement day.

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72 views1 page

Standrews

During refurbishment works at a library in St Andrews, Scotland, archaeologists uncovered more than 70 articulated and 15 disarticulated skeletons in a single excavation pit. The skeletons date back to around 1410-1415 when Trinity Church was constructed. Fragments of angular sandstone in the soil indicate waste material from the church's construction. The skeletons were buried with their feet oriented east, following the Christian tradition of facing east for judgement day.

Uploaded by

Bot Psalmerna
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Archaeology news

Trinity Church Excavation, St Andrews, Fife


Built on top of a medieval cemetery, it was no surprise that skeletons were uncovered when refurbishment
works recently started at the Hay Fleming reference library in the centre of St Andrews. Indeed, in a single
pit excavated to accommodate a new lift shaft, more than 70 articulated and approximately 15 disarticulated
skeletons were recovered.

The earliest burials in this cemetery date from around 1410-1415, the period during which the Trinity Church
was actually constructed. Indeed, the angular sandstone rocks in the cemetery soil matrix are in fact waste
chippings from the construction of the church.

Note the regular east-west alignment of


the burials. Christian dead tend usually
to be buried with their feet to the east,
the belief being that on the day of
judgement when both the quick and
dead are judged, all Christians will
stand up, and face east, the direction
from where the Resurrected Christ will
come.
Douglas Speirs
Fife archaeology unit
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(left) Trinity Church - from a bird’s eye view of


St Andrews. Detail from a manuscript held in
St Andrews University Library: S. Andre sive
Andreapolis Scotiae Universitas Metropolitana
and produced by Geddy around 1580.

HISTORY SCOTLAND - MARCH/APRIL - 2004


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