Ashley Lambie Cowie is a Scottish historian, author, photographer, television presenter and producer. He grew up in the Caithness town of Wick, in the north of Scotland, and attended Wick High School. He then moved to Glasgow to study photography and audio visual communications. After returning north and establishing a number of businesses, including a fishmongers business for ten years in Wick and Thurso, Cowie is heavily involved in conspiratorial interpretations of archaeology and regular contributor to the pseudoscience publication Ancient Origins. He has been commissioned to investigate and decode several ancient carved symbols for historical and research societies, including a group of Scottish Knights Templar. The author of The Rosslyn Matrix he also lectures on The International Science Festival circuit and was featured on the Discovery Channel in April 2008.
Research, publications and media career
Beginning in 1993, Cowie explored the landscapes of northern Scotland and over the following decade he discovered many prehistoric artefacts including Mesolithic & Neolithic flint scatters and carved artefacts. In 2000, Cowie was involved in field walking projects in Caithness which revealed lithic scatters around the shores of Loch Watten and Yarrows, which was new evidence of early prehistoric settlement in Caithness. He went on to discover some of the first flint tools from the Mesolithic lithic scatter at Oliclett in the Yarrows basin which became one of the most significant archeological digs in British history. Cowie began presenting his work in up-beat lectures at the International Science Festival in Orkney where his lecture entitled The Rope Age received a standing ovation from over 100 of the world's most acclaimed professors of archaeology. After this lecture, Cowie was elected as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and his work was featured in several Scotsman newspaper features. Between 2002 and 2009, Cowie was privately commissioned to conduct research projects at various historic locations and during this time his discoveries in the architecture and symbols of Rosslyn Chapel were published in the best selling "The Book of Hiram", where he is credited for having discovered one of the earliest mapping systems known to date. In his own books, The Rosslyn Matrix and The Rosslyn Templar, he detailed the possible connections between the Clan Sinclair, the chapel and the activities of the Knights Templar. Cowie's last book 'The Super Star - America's Royal Secret' 2011 solves a long-standing historical mystery recounting his discovery of an ancient map, which leads him on an adventure through the Scottish Highlands and finally to a far-flung island where he discovers evidence of the, pre-Columbian, Norse discovery of America. In 2009, Cowie became Resident Historian on STV's The Hour Show, where he wrote and presented a series of live TV episodes discussing the origins of Scottish traditions and superstitions. At this time the Scottish media branded him "The Hunky Historian". He next appeared as an expert/sceptical historian on Sky Living TV's 2010 Paranormal Investigation Live where he analysed apparently supernatural occurrences and debunked them with logic and reason. Cowie also appeared as an expert historian in History Channel's Holy Grail in America. In 2011, Cowie was credited as producer, writer and host, of NBC Universal's TV series, Legend Quest. This fast-paced, cinematic, action-adventure series followed Cowie as he travelled the world in search of history's greatest and most mysterious artifacts. Each of the six one-hour episodes include Indiana Jones-type adventure and Da Vinci Code-style puzzle solving. In Legend Quest, Cowie hacked through dense jungles, dived in volcanic lakes, trekked through forbidding deserts and climbed some of the highest mountains in the Peruvian Andes. The show premiered on Syfy Channel on 13 July 2011 attracting 1.2 million viewers, boosting SyFy's ratings by 19%. The series is a co-production from BASE Productions' John Brenkus and Mickey Stern and Universal Networks International. Legend Quest has aired in the US, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe and premiered in the UK on SyFy Channel on 23 April 2012. Cowie's research was featured in the Scottish Sun 's 2012 Lost Treasure Week, where he wrote several articles about his searches for various lost treasures. Cowie recently featured in the documentary seriesGreat Estates Scotland, which aired on PBS in the US and on History Channel elsewhere. In 2015 he discovered a witches' stella stone and a wizards' grave, details of which he published on ashleycowie.com. He also published the results of a 12 year long research project in which he has amassed the world's largest photographic and topographical collection on kerbstone stonemasons' marks. In 2016 Cowie published two new non-fiction historical books: Secret Viking Sea Chart and A Twist in Time. He also teamed up with BBC journalist Sarah Mack to present a new series of The People's History Show on STV, beginning on 6 September 2016. Taking a look back in time to discover the stories that make up Scotland's people's history, the first episode covered the tragic story of Benny Lynch, Scotland's greatest boxer, the grisly tale of Aberdeen's 19th century body-snatchers, and the bizarre death in Edinburgh of one of the world's great illusionists.
