Rare 2,000-year-old 'food' chamber found hiding under Scottish construction site

An ancient chamber, nearly 2,000 years old, has been found hiding under a construction site in Scotland. Archaeologists believe that the underground void dates back to 350BC and was used for storing food items.

The chamber was discovered accidentally when a digger driver was unearthing foundations of a piece of land in Ness, a village in the northernmost part of the Isle of Lewis, to build a house. As he went ahead with the work, he saw a void, nearly one metre deep, extending like an ancient passageway, the BBC reported.

When local archaeologists explored the stone-built chamber and its interior structure, they posited that the narrow void belonged to the middle of Iron Age and was possibly used for the purpose of storing food items such as meat and dairy products or wood.

In all, the ancient chamber goes three feet below the surface and is six feet long, according to the Daily Mail.

Rachel Barrowman, one of the two archaeologists who explored the chamber, said the void appeared modern at first look but, later they realised it was a lot older than they thought.

Such chambers are usually linked to Atlantic roundhouse or wheelhouses. However, "if this one was associated with a roundhouse it is likely to have been cleared away by now," Rachael's partner Chris Barrowman told the BBC. Such sites have been discovered in the past but finding a chamber this well preserved is very rare, the duo noted.

Now, the two archaeologists are in talks with the person building the property to decide what to do with the chamber. The mostly scenario, as they say, would be to study the site and then fill and cover it to preserve the archaeology and continue the construction as it was supposed to.

IBTimes UK has contacted the archaelogist duo for more information on the discovery and is awaiting a response.