From This is North Scotland: Ancient bead may be clue to king of Orkney.
Posted on August 22, 2005 10:19 AM. Filed under: history & archaeology.A Small brown and yellow bead which travelled 600 miles from one end of the country to the other has yielded another clue about where a King of Orkney might have lived around 2,000 years ago.
The round Meare bead has just been found in what was thought to be a rubbish site beside the Minehowe rock-built underground structure.
Excavation started in 2000 after local farmer Douglas Paterson of Tankerness rediscovered the site. It was originally found in the 1950s and covered up again for the safety of farm animals. The latest dig has been focusing on a ditch, encircling the Iron Age underground structure, and a metalworker's workshop nearby. [continue]