The find near Inverness Royal Academy was uncovered by a team who spent almost a year excavating the remains of seven large roundhouses and almost a dozen iron kilns.

Last year The Inverness Courier revealed the team from Headland Archaeology had uncovered the ancient city's "industrial estate" where iron was smelted, bronze was cast and glass was produced.

But at the weekend, at the final event of the Highland Archaeology Fortnight, archaeologist Ross Murray gave further details about what he and his colleagues had discovered so far about the city that once stood at the eastern end of the Great Glen.

"It would certainly have been of national importance and known internationally,” he said.

"They had a large industrialised production setup and would have been producing goods for trade with other countries."

Among the items found below a site near Inverness Royal Academy, now being developed by Tulloch Homes, were part of a bronze horse harness, an enamelled bronze brooch, dozens of woodworking tools and a large iron sword.

"It has been a privilege to work on this remarkable site,” Mr Murray told an audience at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel on Church Street.

"We found boxes upon boxes of iron and bronze objects and these are all at the National Museum of Scotland being analysed.

"What is already obvious was the wealth of this settlement and we have just clipped the industrial part of it.

"The rest is now covered by earlier development at Culduthel.

Members of the dig party at the former roundhouse.

"The occupants were obviously people of some importance because some of the finds were damned impressive. I would hesitate to say the leader here was a king but he was certainly a very important local lord."

Mr Murray praised Tulloch Homes for its patience while the initial excavation lasted longer and longer as more features were uncovered by ground radar.

"We told the client we would be here for six weeks but we ended up putting the development back by nine months,” he said. "They were very gracious about it but we were taking about one of the most important recent discoveries in Scotland."

The Tulloch Group has also been given permission to develop neighbouring fields but initial surveys have revealed this area is also likely to cover part of the ancient settlement and will need to be excavated. Headland Archaeology expects to begin negotiations soon with the developer about carrying out the work needed on that site.

Over the next few months experts at the National Museum will analyse samples to assess where the iron ore used in the kilns came from and study fragments of ancient wooden beams to provide an accurate date for some of the buildings in the ancient settlement.

Just as part of modern Culduthel stands on top of the Iron Age settlement, it too was built over the remains of a much earlier Neolithic community from 5000 years ago.

These remains will also be investigated to learn more about the earliest inhabitants' lives.

g.burke@inverness-courier.co.uk

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