Not any old rubbish: Edinburgh’s Mound was built to order from rubble, pipes and oyster shells

Excavation of famous site solves 200-year mystery and sheds light on history of the growing city

For more than 200 years, the creation of Edinburgh's famous Mound has remained something of a mystery.

Built on the boggy bed of a drained loch in the late 18th and early 19th century, the artificial mound connected the city's medieval Old Town with the burgeoning prosperity of the New Town, transforming the Scottish capital.