Possible Connection Found Between Coin Hoard and Glencoe Massacre of 1692

Archaeologists believe that coins discovered under a fireplace may have been hidden by a victim of the Massacre of Glencoe, a tragic event in 1692 where nearly 40 members of Clan MacDonald were killed. The site of a house linked to the clan's chief was being excavated by a student named Lucy Ankers when she made the find. The coins, totaling 36, were found inside a pot with a small round pebble acting as a lid, placed beneath a hearth stone slab in the fireplace. The property was associated with clan chief Alasdair Ruadh "MacIain" MacDonald, who was among those killed in the massacre. Historians believe the MacDonalds were targeted for their support of the exiled King James VII of Scotland and II of England and their involvement in the Jacobite Rising. The University of Glasgow suggests that the coins, all minted before the 1680s, were likely deposited for safekeeping during the killings but were never retrieved. The discoveries provide a fascinating insight into the lives of the past, according to Dr Michael Given, a co-director of the archaeological project.