GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—On February 13, 1692, about 40 members of Clan MacDonald were massacred at Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. The Catholic MacDonalds were supporters of the exiled King James VII of Scotland (reigned 1685–1689) and supported the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne. Members of the clan had reportedly failed to pledge their allegiance to the new rulers, William III and Mary II, and been condemned to death. Excavations on a property associated with clan chief Alasdair Ruadh “MacIain” MacDonald of Glencoe have uncovered a coin hoard that may have been hidden during the massacre. The hoard, says a BBC News report, contains 36 coins dated to between the late 1500s through the 1680s minted by the monarchs Elizabeth I, James VI and I, Charles I, the Cromwellian Commonwealth, and Charles II. Project director Michael Given of the University of Glasgow says, “These exciting finds give us a rare glimpse of a single, dramatic event. Here’s what seems an ordinary rural house, but it has a grand fireplace, impressive floor slabs, and exotic pottery imported from the Netherlands and Germany. And they’ve gathered up an amazing collection of coins in a little pot and buried them under the fireplace.” To read about the earliest example of true tartan found in Scotland, go to “Bog Togs.”

Source: archaeology.org