A Community-Led Archaeology Dig on a Tiny Scottish Isle Has Unearthed a Medieval Monastery of 'International Importance'

Historians have long known that Lismore, a small isle in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, was home to a medieval monastery called Lios Mòr. Written records detail its sixth-century founding by St. Mo Luóc, one of the early monks who spread Christianity to northern Britain.

But with very little archaeological evidence, apart from a broken granite cross, scholars could not confirm Lios Mòr’s size, style or significance—until now. According to an article published in the journal Antiquity last week, a group of local volunteers led by archaeologist Clare Ellis, of the firm Argyll Archaeology, discovered an early medieval cemetery, various structures and “sophisticated craftworking of international importance” during excavations near Lismore’s 13th-century parish church. A “dynamic minority” of the island’s 170 or so residents crowdfunded and ran the digs, Robert Hay, a retired local scientist and dig participant, tells the Guardian’s Esther Addley.

Grants, donations and yet more crowdfunding enabled the enthusiastic locals to hire Ellis to lead excavations near the site of Lismore’s 13th-century church, which still holds services. The dig uncovered a medieval cemetery containing at least six burials radiocarbon dated to between 650 and 1040 C.E. The archaeologists also unearthed a piece of an “early medieval cross slab,” per the study.

In another area, they found more human remains and additional fragments of carved stone crosses. He compares it to Scotland’s famed Iona monastery, which was founded in 563 C.E. Both settlements were products of a medieval missionary movement that aimed to spread Christianity throughout pagan Britain.

By the seventh century, Britain was Christianized. The abbey on the island of Iona was founded by St. Columba and survived until the late 12th century, despite frequent Viking attacks.

Restoration of the ruins began in 1938. Elsewhere on the cathedral property, researchers found the remains of an oval-shaped building paved with a layer of limestone. Dated to between the seventh and tenth centuries, it contained remnants of craftwork, handmade pottery, struck flint and an antler.