St Mathews

St Mathews

Had you come here in medieval times, you would have soggy feet and ankles by now. You would be standing on the shore line in someone’s back yard. And if you were really unlucky, there would be flooding, as so often happened in Perth at that time (and other times). The ground underneath Perth is like a swamp, dense, wet, and carries no oxygen. Anything that gets buried in there is preserved well. In the 20th and 21st centuries, various archaeological excavations in the city have shown a huge amount of very well preserved objects people of medieval and other times have lost, thrown away, or that were washed away with floods. People were keen to avoid floods and just built their houses on the old rubble of previous dwellings. If you build higher, the floods will be less severe for your belongings. Because of the quality of the earth beneath Perth, many natural materials, such as leather and wood were very well preserved and show an astonishing amount of detail. This gives us today a good and very detailed view into the past, as we can imagine more easily how life would have been. When you visit Perth Museum and Art Gallery, you can see many of these found pieces. Archaeologists love Perth, because it is one of the richest places for medieval finds in Scotland.

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Had you come here in medieval times, you would have soggy feet and ankles by now. You would be standing on the shore line in someone’s back yard. And if you were really unlucky, there would be flooding, as so often happened in Perth at that time (and other times). The ground underneath Perth is like a swamp, dense, wet, and carries no oxygen. Anything that gets buried in there is preserved well. In the 20th and 21st centuries, various archaeological excavations in the city have shown a huge amount of very well preserved objects people of medieval and other times have lost, thrown away, or that were washed away with floods. People were keen to avoid floods and just built their houses on the old rubble of previous dwellings. If you build higher, the floods will be less severe for your belongings. Because of the quality of the earth beneath Perth, many natural materials, such as leather and wood were very well preserved and show an astonishing amount of detail. This gives us today a good and very detailed view into the past, as we can imagine more easily how life would have been. When you visit Perth Museum and Art Gallery, you can see many of these found pieces. Archaeologists love Perth, because it is one of the richest places for medieval finds in Scotland.

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