There is a very long history of archaeological investigation of the Wemyss Caves. From 19th-century antiquarians to Time Team in 2004, people have studied and searched for clues as to who lived here, what they thought, and why they carved symbols into the caves.

SWACS are carrying on that tradition. Our recent full digital survey of the coastline has recorded all carvings and the surrounding landscape in the highest quality detail. This has already helped us understand, for example, that the Pictish carvings always appear on brightly lit walls and allowed us to reconstruct the caves at different periods in history on our 4D Wemyss Caves website.

The caves themselves have been dug out and washed clean by the tides many times, so finding new evidence is difficult.

Nevertheless, we think there is still much to learn from and about the site. In partnership with SCAPE and the University of Aberdeen, a programme of community archaeological investigation to enhance our understanding of the significance of the site began in 2019.