Colorado native Dr. Chris Bowles part of historical archeological find in Scotland

A long lost Dark Age kingdom hidden for 1,400 years has been discovered at Trusty’s Hill in Galloway Scotland.  The site at Trusty’s Hill in Galloway was known to be a center of Pictish culture.

Excavation began in 2012, has revealed a complex type of fort, dating back to 600AD and is believed to be the ancient Kingdom of Rheged’s.

The find has been creating a recent reaction from the media and when The Celtic Connection reposted an article on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/celtic.rockies) we heard from proud mother Kathy Bowles (Colorado Springs) that the dig’s co-director Dr. Chris Bowles “Low and behold he is a Coloradoan born and raised..!”

We reached out to Chris (and mother Kathy) while on deadline for February 2017 issue and he quickly got back to us to give a little backstory on how a Colorado boy found his way to Scotland and into the history books:  “My name is Chris Bowles and I was delighted to learn or your interest in our discoveries at Trusty’s Hill, which we are suggesting may have been the capital of the Dark Age kingdom of Rheged. My mother Kathy passed on your interest and thought I should contact you direct.

As she said on your Facebook page I was brought up in Colorado. I’m originally from Fort Morgan, but lived all over the state (with brief stints in upstate New York and Houston) through to my graduation from CU Boulder as an undergrad in ’98. I always loved stories of King Arthur growing up, and also archaeology. I put the two together at CU with a BA in anthropology and a medieval history minor, and then came over here to Edinburgh in late 98 for a Masters in early medieval archaeology. I came back to Colorado for a year after this and worked in Louisville, then went back to Scotland, this time to Glasgow, to get a PhD. I finished this in 2006. Since 2008 I’ve been the county archaeologist for the Scottish Borders (the region in south-east Scotland between Edinburgh and the English border). I live in a little village called Clovenfords about 25 miles south of Edinburgh with my family; wife Claire (a best-selling author in her own right!) and 2 year old son Harry (Harrison…you might guess why).

In 2011 myself and Ronan Toolis the co-director of an archaeology contracting firm, GUARD, thought it would be a good idea to try and excavate at Trusty’s Hill. It had been excavated in 1960, was known for some Pictish symbols carved into bedrock (about 500 miles from the nearest Pictish symbols!) but remained obscure. We thought we might be able to prove the carvings were genuine and hopefully get some evidence for the date of the fort that sits on the hill’s summit. We raised some grants, especially from the Heritage Lottery Fund, got permission from the state agency Historic Scotland, and excavated with some fantastic volunteers from the Dumfrieshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society (DGNHAS) over two weeks in 2012. Our results were phenomenal! The fort had been purposely burnt to the extent that the rock in the ramparts were vitrified. The artefacts included imported 6th-7th century AD pottery from the Loire region of France and Anglo-Saxon metalwork. The residents themselves were engaged in high status metalworking. The carvings at the entrance were proved to be genuine and sat opposite a rock-carved basin. On analogy with other site’s, we’re arguing that the two together formed a ritualized entranceway to the fort consistent with royal inauguration. We’ll of course never be certain, but the likeliest reason for there being a royal site here is that it was a capital of an early medieval kingdom…and the only one that fits the bill historically is the kingdom of Rheged. Historically and in medieval literature Rheged is best associated with King Urien, who later became part of the Arthurian legend.”

Dr Bowles said in an interview with history.com that the people living at Trusty’s Hill were not engaged in agriculture themselves but that “This was a place of religious, cultural and political innovation whose contribution to culture in Scotland has perhaps not been given due recognition. Yet the influence of Rheged, with Trusty’s Hill at its secular heart … and Urien its most famous king, has nevertheless rippled through the history and literature of Scotland and beyond.”

The book on the site, The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged, by Chris Bowles and Ronan Toolis is available now.