marked an ancient burial. Archaeological excavation of a souterrain - Shanzie Farm A late British Iron Age souterrain was excavated by a team of Headland Archaeology in Shanzie Farm, c 3.5. north-east of Alyth. The underground structure was roughly C-shaped in plan and measured c 35 metres in length. There was a single chamber c 5m long and an entrance to the south-east. For the most part, the souterrain had been badly plough truncated and the walls survived as a single course. The northern terminal of the souterrain was better preserved, where 3-4 courses of wall survive. The chamber here narrowed and had been filled with rubble to a depth. The walls also started to corbell inwards indicating this was originally a stone-capped structure rather than timber roofed. No evidence of an associated settlement or any other surface features were identified; these have undoubtedly been lost to the plough. The structure is typical of the 'southern Pictland group'. The souterrain had clearly been broken into during the Victorian period, but also, during medieval times. Finds included several types of late prehistoric pottery, a fragment of probable Roman pottery, an amber ring, a pair of tweezers, a brooch or clasp, two copper alloy rings and a fragment from a quern stone. The souterrain was partially backfilled allowing visitors to see the structure in plan. Governance Alyth lies within the Perth & Kinross council area of eastern central Scotland. The town is the second largest settlement within Ward 2 (Strathmore) of Perth & Kinross Council, which is currently (2020) represented by four councillors - two Conservative, one SNP and one Liberal Democrat. Alyth lies within the Perth and North Perthshire constituency of the UK Parliament and the Perthshire North constituency of the Scottish Parliament. In 1488, King James III made Alyth a Burgh of Barony, a status it retained until 1834 when it became a Police burgh with its own law enforcement and other functions under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act, 1833. In 1624, the lands around Alyth passed from the Lindsay Earls of Crawford into the hands of the local Ogilvy family, and the first Earl of Airlie acquired the feudal superiority of the burgh. Baron Ogilvy of Alith and Lintrathen remains a subsidiary title of the Earls of Airlie. Throughout these centuries, Alyth was a distinct parish within the Scottish local government system, situated mostly within the historic county of