ARCHEOLOGISTS MAY HAVE DISCOVERED AN ANCIENT GRAVE WHERE THE WIZARD MERLIN IS BURIED
Arthurian legend has permeated western culture for centuries. But it’s been all the more popular with contemporary media culture in the last 100 years. It’s referenced so much, you may not know that many of your favorite fictional storylines are actually based on some aspect of King Arthur, the Round Table, Lancelot, Guinevere and, of course, the wizard merlin. Merlin, of course, is an enigmatic character whose very mystery makes him the foundation for dozens of other myths. So it’s pretty exciting and disturbing to learn that archEologists found real evidence of Merlin’s death. And yes, we’re talking about a real man who had a real life and death, and a real grave in Scotland.
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ARCHEOLOGISTS CONTINUE TO DO EXCAVATIONS ON SITE NEAR GRAVE OF MERLIN IN SCOTLAND
According to the British library’s copy of Vita Merlini Sylvestris (the Life of Merlin of the Forest), Merlin was indeed King Arthur’s advisor in the Dark Ages who was imprisoned, killed and then laid to rest near the river Tweed. But recently, a new geological survey of the area near the remains of Tinnis Castle in Drumelzier discovered a pit that archeologists say is an ancient grave. And so they continued excavating in the area and found signs of human living there from the time Merlin was supposedly alive. In other words, they found evidence that makes a real Merlin that much more likely.
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IS MERLIN REALLY IN THIS GRAVE, OR JUST THE MAN WHO INSPIRED THE LEGEND TODAY?
The lead researcher on the tem is Ronan Toolis, who is the CEO of GUARD Archeology in Glasgow. He says that a major grave site like the one they discovered is “quite rare” for that time period, and that it is a “remarkable coincidence” that the grave lines up in terms of the timeline and location with the local stories of Merlin’s death there. So was Merlin real? That still isn’t clear. But at a minimum it means that Merlin’s story could come from real events, and a real man buried there, that grew from local stories into the legend he is today.