A group of archaeologists found an 11th century Viking parliament site beneath a parking lot in Scotland.

According to a LiveScience report, a group of archaeologists led by Oliver J. T. O'Grady from archaeological consulting firm OJT Heritage were working on “The Thing Project” used historical records which led them to a stack in the vicinity of the creek of an estuary in Dingwall.

Dingwall was often referred to a Thing site because of its remains. The name of the place was derived from a Norse language which means “meeting place.” It is known to be the center of the Viking government and legislation and was the border between the Northern Scotland and Kingdom of the Scots.

Though it was believed that the place was a site of parliamentary gathering, there were no established evidences about it.

"It's a fantastic find, really," said O'Grady who is also the director of the site's excavations. "No one's had dating [information] from a Thing site in Scotland."

The now parking lot happened to be a Viking parliament site based on a small trench the archaeologists dug from the creek. They used radioactive carbon dating to identify the age of the charcoal found in the soil. They discovered that the charcoal dates back to the medieval period and has flakes of pottery and scraps of a 13th-century-old iron vessel.

As they dug deeper, they found that the foundation of the place itself goes back to 11th century. During the 11th century, Vikings were no longer feared intruders but rather Norse kings leading Orkney and Shetland Islands. The site most likely served as a gathering place of the leaders.

The archaeologists are not yet able to identify who built the place but with its size, they believe that only someone who had strong political powers and resources could order its construction.