Archaeologists working on prehistoric sites at Daer on Lowther Hills, an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, are discovering further sites within a forestry plantation.
     For the first time Biggar Archaeological Group has found colouring substances, used by hunter-gatherers over 6000 years ago. "Haematite was rubbed on stones to give a bright maroon coloured powder which makes good paint," explained group leader Tam Ward. "How it was used at Daer is not known but in Denmark, where graves are often found, the skeletons are covered in this stuff. The overlap between the hunters and the first farmers has also been found and is causing some excitement."

Edited from Lanark Gazette (22 January 2011)