Archaeology and folklore supports evidence of Merlin legend in Scotland

Archaeologists have discovered evidence to support the existence of the legendary Merlin. Arthurian romances and other portrayals have added Merlin to the mythological milieu of King Arthur. However, this new research focuses on the world of the would-be wizard or druid, rather than the once and future king. In 2022, a team of volunteers led by Guard Archaeology set out to investigate a local legend that centred around Dromelia. The village in southern Scotland has long been associated with the legendary Merlin, who was reputedly imprisoned there by a Dark Age king before being killed and buried by the banks of the Tweed nearby. This is according to the Vita Merlini Silvestris, The Life of Merlin of the Forest, a medieval tale probably written in Glasgow during the 12th century. Now the results of the volunteers' work have been published and they reveal the startling survival of the early medieval cultural heritage of the Britons in southern Scotland. A geophysics survey revealed that there is an archaeology feature resembling a grave near to the reputed location of Merlin's grave at Dromelia. Excavation of Tinnis Fort, which overlooks Merlin's grave, found that this prominent hill fort was occupied around the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD, when the story was set, and that it has the hallmarks of a high-status stronghold of the time. Excavation of the Thirlstane Barrows, across the other side of River Tweed, discovered that sometime between the late 3rd and late 6th centuries AD, a square barrow was added to a much earlier group of Bronze Age round barrows, within which two individuals of exceptional elite status were buried. What the findings reveal is not necessarily that the local story was true, but that the Dromelia legend, which contains pre-Christian customs and ancient Cumbric names, was associated with local sites which archaeology now shows could credibly have given rise to the story. The legend was not brought to the area as a wandering medieval tale, told at any settlement or hostelry that would hear it, but would more likely originate in Dromelia itself, perhaps beginning as a folk memory, embellished over the centuries before it spread far and wide and changed out of almost all recognition. Nor, given the archaeology encountered from the late Mesolithic, early Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Medieval periods, was this the only trace of local stories that the Dromelia's hidden heritage project discovered. A scattering of late Mesolithic or early Neolithic flint blade fragments were recovered from the summit of Tinnis, the barest traces of some of the earliest groups of people to ever climb this prominent hill, and from its vantage point gaze across the Tweed Valley that looked very much different from the present. The vitrified ramparts at Tinnis attest to the fall of a late Iron Age hillfort, the forgotten victims of a conflict in the distant past when high-status households vied for power and the foundations for petty kingdoms were being laid. And in the 14th century a castle was built at Tinnis by the fearsome Tweedies of Dromelia, who held this castle for the kings of Scotland from about 1366 until about 1525, a bulwark against English raids from the south. Whether it was a folk memory or stories that clung to the group of Bronze Age round barrows at Thirlstane, these monuments evidently had some historic significance in the landscape, for the square barrow to be sited so close after an intervening two millennia. The people of ancient Tweedale were obviously aware of the history beneath their feet and the people that came before, and it was through local folklore that stories about their past were transmitted. The Dromelia's hidden heritage project was a collaboration between various groups, including the Arthur Trail Association, local heritage groups, volunteers, Magnitude Surveys and Guard Archaeology Ltd. Unearthing Ancient Tweedale, Tinnis Castle, Thirlstane Barrows and Merlin's Grave by Ronan Toulis, Amanda Gilmore, Thomas Muir, Laura Muser and Alan Woodward is freely available to download from Archaeology Reports online, link in description. An exhibition called Unearthing Ancient Tweedale at Peebles Museum ran from the 8th of June to the 27th of July, but is currently on tour at various locations. But that's it for this video, don't forget to like, share and most importantly subscribe, and you can also support the channel on Subscribestar via the link in the description, or via YouTube Superthanks. Thanks for watching, bye for now.