New discoveries made in Inverness have fuelled speculation among experts that it was an important area of prehistoric iron production. Rare finds of well-preserved metalworking hearths, or furnaces, have been uncovered at Beechwood during work by Edinburgh-based AOC Archaeology. Archaeologists believe the discoveries date to the Iron Age.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is spending £25m on preparing the land for the new Inverness Campus. The University of the Highlands and Islands and businesses will eventually occupy buildings constructed on the former farmland. HIE commissioned AOC Archaeology to evaluate and record any buried historical sites and artefacts at Beechwood, before bulldozers moved in earlier this year.