On 19 September 1513, Scottish King James IV was killed at the Battle of Flodden in Northumberland, England, along with 10,000 other Scots. Now archaeologists are scouring the battlefield, hoping to find the remains of the king. The project marks the 500th anniversary of the battle.

St Donnan, who brought Christianity to Scotland's West Highlands, was killed by Viking riaders in the early 7th century. Now archaeologists from the University of Birmingham are investing remains found at Kildonnan Graveyard to ascertain if the body is that of the saint.

Up Helly Aa, the rousing Viking winterfest held each year in the Shetland Islands, has been named number four in a list of the ten best winter festivals compiled by the British travel publication Wanderlust. Stephen McGinty of The Scotsman has the story.

Somewhere is Scotland exists one man who carries Santa's DNA, the NM46 marker traced to eastern Siberia and to Lapland, Santa Claus's legendary home. The unidentified man, so far the only one recorded in Scotland, may find himself visited by a relative on Christmas Eve.

Excavations near the site of Scotland's Rhynie Man, a six-foot boulder carved with the image of a Pict, have revealed a fortified early medieval settlement, possibly the seat of the mysterious Kings of Pictland.

An archaeological team from the Strathearn Environs and Royal Forteviot (SERF) project has proven the existance of trade between the Romans and the Picts with the discovery of an Iron Age broch containing trade items.

Residents of Musselburgh, Scotland may have to wait a little longer for their health care while city officials and archaeologists decide how to proceed with the excavation of "human remains, the bones of horses and weapons and culinary tools" dating to the Roman era.

Workers constructing a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany have discovered a graveyard of a dozen shipwrecked vessels, some dating to the Middle Ages.

A visit to Westminster Abbey will show visitors the tomb of King Richard II - or will it? Researchers are wondering if tests on remains found at a former Dominican friary in Stirling, Scotland might determine them to be those of the 14th century king.

Archaeologists from Orkney College are looking for the original 6th century monastery built by the Irish monk St. Columba on the island of Iona, off Mull in the Scottish Hebrides.

For years, controversy has surrounded the Stone of Destiny, a relic on display in Edinburgh Castle, with skeptics insisting that the Stone was a fake. Now a "mystery man" claims to have found the real stone in a seaside cave.

Archaeologists have discovered a 700-year-old chemists, an herb garden, which supplied the Soutra Hospital near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Archaeologists working at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland have found what they believe to be remnants of the Constable's Tower, destroyed during the reign of Elizabeth I. The tower was thought to have been lost forever.

"Pick up your ice-cream sticks, send them to me and I will put them to use," said stuntman Robert McDonald to kids on a radio show. What he built from the 15 million sticks was a 15-metre Viking ship.

A team of archaeologists from St. Andrews University are battling against time to study Iron Age roundhouses on the Scottish island of North Uist. The structures were first exposed in 2005, and are now in danger of washing away in a storm.

Archaeologists working on the grounds Scone Palace in Scotland hope to learn more about the site where the famous Scottish Stone of Destiny was mined, and more about the country's early history.

Scotland's place in world mythology is explored in an article by Diane MacLean for the Scotsman. Was King Arthur a Scot? Is the blood of Jesus in Scotland, and is Scotland really the lost city of Atlantis?

Swordmaker Paul Macdonald is fighting City Hall - or more appropriately the Scottish Parliament - who recently passed a law strictly regulating the sale of swords in the country. Macdonald crafts historically-accurate weapons for re-enactors which he sells to museums, theatres and collectors.

According to a recent study of the genetic makeup of Britain's population, nearly all residents are descended from the Celts. "If one thinks that the English are genetically different from the Scots, Irish and Welsh, that's entirely wrong," said Professor Bryan Sykes, a human geneticist at Oxford University.

Dr Andrew Heald, the Later Iron Age and Early Historic Curator at the National Museums of Scotland, tries to lay to rest myths about the cruelty of Vikings in an article for The Scotsman.

Experts from Channel 4's Time Team have discovered the foundation of an ancient monastery beneath the manicured lawn of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dan Brown is not a popular name at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. The fame — or notoriety — of Brown's Da Vinci Code has led some to try to breach the chapel's secret vaults.

Archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones looks at Scotland's 2,000-year-old stone towers known as brochs, which were built by master builders for the purpose of defense.

Radar technology will be used to aid archaeological work on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. Researchers hope to discover such historical buildings as Edinburgh's Tollbooth and Tyne Gaol.

Several castles in Scotland were either built from new — Lochmaben, in Dumfriesshire — or substantially rebuilt and extended — Roxburgh, in the Scottish Borders — by the English during the Wars of Independence of the 14th century. But there is one famous English castle that can claim to be Scottish.

The crumbling tower of the 15th century Newark Castle was the scene of one of the bloodiest incidents between the English and the Scots. Now the UK's biggest private landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, has agreed to take on the task of preserving the monument.

The execution of Scottish hero William Wallace appears to have been the opening act for a medieval carnival in August of 1305.

The remnants of a building dating to 1150 and a garden wall have been discovered on the grounds of the Norton House Hotel, near Ingliston, Scotland. Archaeologists feel that the find has "national significance."

Judy Vickers of the Scotsman looks at the Roman legacy in Scotland and how they influenced life north of Hadrian's Wall.

Archeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones, who lives in Orkney, looks at the ancient village of Skara Brae, the neolithic settlement on Scotland's windy northern isles.