This 1,000-year-old ring has been unearthed in a town by a descendant of a family who lived there.
The kite-shaped gem with a garnet or red glass center was found at the site of a Pictish fort in Burghead, Moray.
It was thought that the area was “archaeologically vandalised” when the town was built between 1805 and 1809, as much of the fortress was covered or dismantled with stones used for building.
But the ring was uncovered by dig volunteer John Ralph whose ancestors had been urged to move to North East Scotland to help the fishing industry.
The retired engineer graduated from Aberdeen University which ran the two-week dig and he offered to help after seeing a post by Gordon Noble, its professor of archaeology.
Prof Noble has led the work funded by government agency Historical Environment Scotland for three years to highlight the importance of the site.
John, a self-described “enthusiastic amateur”, had many times where he thought he had spotted something special, only to be told that he had rather a knack for finding “shiny pebbles”.
So when on the last day of the work he found something that looked interesting he did not raise his hopes.
But Prof Noble said: “John was digging…and said 'Look what I've found'.
“What he handed over was incredible. We could see it was something really exciting as, despite more than a thousand years in the ground, we could see glints of the possible garnet.
“There are very few Pictish rings…and those we do know about usually come from hoards which were placed in the ground deliberately for safe keeping.
“We certainly weren't expecting to find something like this lying around the floor of what was once a house but had appeared of low significance so…we had left work on it until the final day.” The ring is being analyzed by National Museum of Scotland experts.
John grew up in Burghead and said: “It's good to think that I've given something back with this little piece of the puzzle of the past.”
Prof Noble said that the find “adds to the growing evidence that Burghead was a really significant seat of power in the Pictish period”.
Visitors to an open day at the fort on Sunday can learn more about the ring and details of the wider dig.