Acknowledgements Special acknowledgements go to Audrey Innes for her laboratory support, to Laura McHardie who originally extracted the core with Michael J. Stratigos. Thanks are owed to the Leys Estate and the then Estate Manager Thys Simpson for allowing access, help in taking the core and overall support for work in the former loch. Thanks to the Hunter Archaeological and Historical Trust who funded the fieldwork. The article was written as part of the Leverhulme Trust funded project ‘Comparative Kingship: the early Medieval kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland’ (Grant RG13876-10). Authors would like to thank the use of RIAIDT-USC analytical facilities. OLC is funded by JIN project (PID2019-111683RJ-I00) Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion and Beca Leonardo a Investigadores y Creadores Culturales 2020 de la Fundación BBVA. open access via Elsevier agreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD
