The report describes the results of excavations in 1981, ahead of development within the South Choir Aisle of St Giles' Cathedral, and subsequent archaeological investigations within the kirk in the 1980s and 1990s. Three main phases of activity from the 12th to the mid-16th centuries were identified, with only limited evidence for the post-Reformation period. Fragmentary evidence of earlier structural remains was recorded below extensive landscaping of the natural steep slope, in the form of a substantial clay platform constructed for the 12th-century church. The remains of a substantial ditch in the upper surface of this platform are identified as the boundary ditch of the early ecclesiastical enclosure. A total of 113 in situ burials were excavated; the earliest of these formed part of the external graveyard around the early church. In the late 14th century the church was extended to the south and east over this graveyard, and further burials and structural evidence relating to the development of the kirk until the 16th century were excavated, including evidence for substantive reconstruction of the east end of the church in the mid-15th century. Evidence for medieval slat-bottomed coffins of pine and spruce was recovered, and two iron objects, which may be ferrules from pilgrims' staffs or batons, were found in 13th/14th-century burials.

Articulated human skeletons and disarticulated bones recovered in 1993 from excavations in the area of the former Lady Yester's Kirkyard showed clear evidence of post-mortem dissection. They are identified as the `unclaimed' dead buried by the Royal Infirmary in the second half of the eighteenth century. There was evidence for post-mortem tooth removal from all the dentitions recovered during the excavation, probably for the manufacture of sets of false teeth. A further assemblage of human bones, found in 1988 adjacent to eighteenth/nineteenth-century anatomy schools formed part of a teaching collection from the schools.

A 19th-century discovery of a Roman urned cremation is reconsidered. The remains were those of an adult male younger than middle age with evidence of arthritis and a partly healed fracture. The pot used as a receptacle was a locally produced Greyware jar, most probably of Antonine date. Corrosion marks on the pot suggest the former presence of iron objects with the burial. Possible locations for such a burial are discussed within the context of Roman Cramond, and its wider place in the scanty evidence for Roman burials in Scotland is outlined.

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An excavation was undertaken in the north of Abbey Yards Field, adjacent to Coldingham Priory,the Scottish Borders. Three ditches crossed the area on the same alignment and one was wood-lined.Radiocarbon dating indicated that this boundary had been created in the 7th or early 8th century AD.Several patches of midden were preserved within adjacent hollows in the subsoil. Finds were scarcebut a similarly dated fragment of antler comb and an assemblage of pre-medieval animal bone were recovered from the fills and midden. Bede referred to an Urbs Coludi as the location of a monasteryand nunnery presided over by St Æbbe in the mid-7th century. The location of this foundation hasbeen identified as Kirk Hill, situated on the coast to the north of Coldingham. The evidence is reviewedand it is concluded that Coldingham is as likely a location for the ecclesiastical site, with Kirk Hilla contemporary secular fort. There may have been some form of continuing settlement at the site, assuggested by later medieval historians, before the founding of a new church by Edgar King of Scotsat the very end of the 11th century. By the middle of the 12th century this had developed into a priory dependent on Durham. The edge of the church graveyard was identified, with several industrialfeatures immediately outside. A second late medieval phase of cemetery was also excavated. It issuggested that the edge of the graveyard was an area used to bury marginalized members of society,with ill health and disability commonly evident among the skeletons. Animal bone associated withthe industrial features indicated that activities such as production of glue or tallow and tanning wereundertaken in the vicinity.