Archaeology Find Reveals England's Earliest Christian Monastery in the UK

The crowd-funded excavation at Lindisfarne by an amateur archeologist has produced evidence of England's earliest Christian monastery.

The 200 donors contributed £25,000 for the dig, with 60 of them taking part in it.

The dig revealed an Anglo-Saxon namestone dated to mid 7th-8th Century A.D., the period of Lindisfarne's first monastery.

Experts are still deciphering what the stone says, but some letters are clearly visible. The stone seems to say "FRITH." This is a common element in most Anglo-Saxon names, so most believe this was a namestone commemorating a monk.

Lindisfarne is most famous for the 1,300-year-old Lindisfarne gospels, a book that includes the oldest surviving English version of the gospels.

Vikings raided the island for the first time in 793 A.D. and again in 875 A.D.

Lindisfarne is believed to have been home to St Cuthbert, Northumberland's patron saint. The island is connected by a tidal causeway to the mainland, getting cut off twice every day.

The project timeline reveals the team's discoveries and future plans. With only 13 namestones like the one above found thus far, there is still room for discovery.