A TEENAGER has helped uncover three long-lost medieval sculptured gravestones during a community archaeology dig in Glasgow.
Mark McGettigan, 14, volunteered along with his mother, Sandra, to help the Stones and Bones dig at Govan Old Parish Church. He was helping with the survey of the area and felt something solid below the surface.
Mark’s discovery turned out to be part of the Govan Stones collection, dating back to the 10th or 11th century and featuring crosses and Celtic designs.
The S3 pupil from Lourdes Secondary School said: “I was just prodding the ground to see if there was anything there and suddenly it made a noise and I realised I had hit something. Two of the archaeologists and I worked out the area of the object and started to dig it out and clean it. When we checked with the records we realised it was one of the lost Govan Stones. I’m ecstatic at what I helped to uncover.”
Forty-six stones were found in the graveyard in the 19th century. Most were taken into the church for safe keeping and the rest displayed against the wall of the churchyard by the Harland and Wolff shipyard. It was demolished in 1973, and it was thought the stones had been destroyed.
Professor Stephen Driscoll, the University of Glasgow’s Professor of Historical Archaeology and part of The Govan Heritage Trust, said Mark’s find was “the most exciting discovery we have had at Govan in the last 20 years”.
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