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Book chapter
Powerful objects: the uses of art in the Iron Age
The real and imagined legacy of the ancient Celts has shaped modern identities across the British Isles and retains a powerful hold over the popular imagination. Furthermore, Celtic art is one of Europe’s great artistic traditions, with the skills of Celtic craftspeople standing alongside the best of the ancient and...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Celts: an exploration through objects
Fraser Hunter and Martin Goldberg introduce a major new exhibition which brings together renowned Celtic art from across the continent for the first time in a generation.Hunter, Fraser ; Goldberg, D Martin
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Journal article
How art treasures reveal the story of the Celts
A major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland is seeking to unravel the complex story of the different groups who have been given the name Celts, through the extraordinary art objects they made and used.Hunter, Fraser ; Goldberg, D Martin
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Book chapter
4.3.5 Lead
Excavation on the headland at Auldhame has revealed one thousand years of burial activity and liturgical practice, the nature of which changed over the course of the millennium. It has charted the birth and death of a church, from a monastic settlement established in the seventh century AD, which then...McLaren, Dawn ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
4.3.2 Copper alloy
Excavation on the headland at Auldhame has revealed one thousand years of burial activity and liturgical practice, the nature of which changed over the course of the millennium. It has charted the birth and death of a church, from a monastic settlement established in the seventh century AD, which then...McLaren, Dawn ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
4.3.4 Iron
Excavation on the headland at Auldhame has revealed one thousand years of burial activity and liturgical practice, the nature of which changed over the course of the millennium. It has charted the birth and death of a church, from a monastic settlement established in the seventh century AD, which then...McLaren, Dawn ; Hunter, Fraser
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Research report
Excavations at Birnie, Moray, 2009
The 2009 excavations examined six roundhouses, three of which had burnt down. Several showed signs of later activity. Trench AL looked at burnt deposits uncovered in a previous trial trench. It revealed a substantial ring-ditch house, 16 m in diameter, which had been repaired and rebuilt before burning down, preserving...Hunter, Fraser
Iron Age Birnie Romans Scotland Antiquities Bronze Age Middle Ages
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Journal article
Traprain law and the Roman world
Hunter, Fraser
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Book
Late Roman Silver: The Traprain Treasure in Context
The Traprain Law treasure from east Lothian in south-east Scotland is the most dramatic hoard of late Roman Hacksilber yet found. The interpretation of these bent, broken and crushed silver fragments has long been debated. Were they loot broken up by uncultured barbarians, or some form of diplomatic gift? This...Hunter, Fraser
Scotland, Romans, Silver, and Traprain Law
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Book chapter
‘Coal money’ from Portpatrick (south-west Scotland): reconstructing an Early Medieval craft centre from antiquarian finds
Late 19th and 20th-century finds of debris from shale bangle manufacture at Portpatrick in south-west Scotland occasioned considerable interest at the time. The early discoveries were found in grave-digging, giving rise to folk traditions of the material as ‘coal money’ placed with the departed, but these were soon dismissed by...Hunter, Fraser
bangles, antiquarian study, Early Medieval, Irish connections, Oil shale, and craft processes
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Journal article
Gods and monsters in Roman Scotland
Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Excavations at Waulkmill, Tarland, Aberdeenshire: a Neolithic pit, Roman Iron Age burials and an earlier prehistoric stone circle
The study of stone circles has long played a major role in British and Irish archaeology, and for Scotland most attention has been focused on the large monuments of Orkney and the Western Isles. Several decades of fieldwork have shown how these major structures are likely to be of early...Bradley, R ; Clarke, Amanda ; Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Mithras in Scotland: a Mithraeum at Inveresk (East Lothian)
Excavations to the east of the Roman fort of Inveresk in 2010 partly uncovered remains of a Mithraeum — the first from Scotland and the earliest securely dated example from Britain. A large rectangular sunken feature with lateral benches contained two altars buried face down at its north-western end. One...Hunter, Fraser ; Henig, Martin ; Sauer, Eberhard ; Gooder, John
Apollo Citharodeous, Mithras, Inveresk, pigments, Sol, plectrum, lyre, and Mithraeum
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Book chapter
Roman Iron Age activity at stone monuments in north-east Scotland
The study of stone circles has long played a major role in British and Irish archaeology, and for Scotland most attention has been focused on the large monuments of Orkney and the Western Isles. Several decades of fieldwork have shown how these major structures are likely to be of early...Bradley, R ; Clarke, Amanda ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The jet-like material
Portmahomack on the Tarbat peninsula overlooking the Dornoch Firth is a fishing village with a 1,500-year-old history. In the sixth and seventh century it was a high-ranking centre with monumental cist burials and links to the equestrian class in England. In the eighth century it was a monastery, creating manuscripts...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The ironwork
Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Beyond Hadrian’s Wall
Britannia’s northern frontier varied considerably over the Roman period, stabilizing only in the early third century. This variation leads to a fascinating archaeological record of the changing Roman military presence and its relation to the local population. This chapter examines the local Iron Age societies, considers military aspects of the...Hunter, Fraser ; Revell, Louise ; Moore, Alison
Antonine Wall, military community, Scotland, frontier life, diplomacy, interaction with local population, Agricola, Celtic art, and subsidy
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Journal article
Tracing troops: an Upper German belt-fitting from Roman Scotland
A silver belt-fitting from Cramond in the shape of a ring-pommel sword is linked to a class of beneficiarius equipment typical of Germania Superior. It is argued that this represents troop movements connected with the Severan campaigns.Hunter, Fraser
beneficiarius, ring-pommel, military belt-fitting, Germania Superior, Roman military equipment, silver, and Cramond
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Lecture
Celts: Art and Identity
Dr Fraser Hunter FSA Scot, Principal Curator, Iron Age & Roman Collections in the National Museums Scotland, presents a lecture on “Celts: Art and Identity” to coincide with the international exhibition on Celts held in the NMS in collaboration with the British Museum. The lecture was recorded on Monday 11...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The ironwork
Trusty's Hill is an early medieval fort at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway. The hillfort comprises a fortified citadel defined by a vitrified rampart around its summit, with a number of enclosures looping out along lower-lying terraces and crags. The approach to its summit is flanked on one side...Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The lead
Trusty's Hill is an early medieval fort at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway. The hillfort comprises a fortified citadel defined by a vitrified rampart around its summit, with a number of enclosures looping out along lower-lying terraces and crags. The approach to its summit is flanked on one side...Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Glass bead
Trusty's Hill is an early medieval fort at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway. The hillfort comprises a fortified citadel defined by a vitrified rampart around its summit, with a number of enclosures looping out along lower-lying terraces and crags. The approach to its summit is flanked on one side...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
X-ray fluorescence analysis of metalworking ceramics and coper alloy mount
Trusty's Hill is an early medieval fort at Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway. The hillfort comprises a fortified citadel defined by a vitrified rampart around its summit, with a number of enclosures looping out along lower-lying terraces and crags. The approach to its summit is flanked on one side...Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Hacksilber in the Late Roman and Early Medieval world – economics, frontier politics and imperial legacies
This volume explores the final phase of the West Roman Empire, particularly the changing interactions between the imperial authority and external 'barbarian' groups in the northwest frontiers of the empire during the fourth and fifth centuries. The contributions present valuable overviews of recent archaeological research combined with innovative theoretical discussions....Hunter, Fraser ; Painter, Kenneth
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Book chapter
Recycling power and place: the many lives of Traprain Law, South East Scotland
Recycling is a basic anthropological process of humankind. The reutilization of materials or of ideas from the Past is a process determined by various natural or cultural causes. Recycling can be motivated by a crisis or by a complex symbolic cause like the incorporation of the Past into the Present....Armit, Ian ; Dunwell, A ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Later prehistoric finds
Dominating the surrounding landscape from its volcanic outcrop, Stirling Castle is an enduring symbol of an epic past. The castle’s history is inextricably bound with that of the Scottish nation. It has been touched by every drama and conflict, from the campaigns of the Wars of Independence, through the Jacobite...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Hacksilber inside and outside the late Roman world: a view from Traprain Law
Renewed study of the hoard of late Roman Hacksilber from Traprain Law (UK) is casting fresh light on this important find and on the wider phenomenon of Hacksilber. It is increasingly clear that such finds of sub-divided, broken-up Roman silver objects are not purely a 'barbarian' phenomenon, but were a...Painter, Kenneth ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book
Scotland’s Early Silver: transforming Roman pay-offs to Pictish treasures
Based on the exhibition Scotland's Early Silver, opening at the National Museum of Scotland, 13 October - 25 February 18. In Scotland, silver, not gold, was the most important and powerful precious metal for a thousand years, from the arrival of the Roman army until the dawn of the Viking...Blackwell, Alice ; Goldberg, D Martin ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
XRF analysis
Kirk, Susy ; Dungworth, David ; Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Solving a silver jigsaw: a new hoard of Roman hacksilver from Fife
Recently discovered in Fife, the Dairsie Hoard represents the earliest-known evidence found outside the empire for Roman use of hacksilver to secure their frontiers.Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The material world of Iron Age Wigtownshire
Cults Loch, at Castle Kennedy in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, loch lies within a landscape rich in prehistoric cropmark sites and within the loch itself are two crannogs, one of which has been the focus of this study. A palisaded enclosure and a promontory fort on the shores of the...Hunter, Fraser ; McLaren, Dawn ; Cruickshanks, Gemma
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Book chapter
The glass bead
Cults Loch, at Castle Kennedy in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, loch lies within a landscape rich in prehistoric cropmark sites and within the loch itself are two crannogs, one of which has been the focus of this study. A palisaded enclosure and a promontory fort on the shores of the...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The shale
Cults Loch, at Castle Kennedy in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, loch lies within a landscape rich in prehistoric cropmark sites and within the loch itself are two crannogs, one of which has been the focus of this study. A palisaded enclosure and a promontory fort on the shores of the...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
The Roman non-ferrous metal objects. In: Cook, Martin, Lawson, John A and McLaren, Dawn, 'Excavations and Interventions in and around Cramond Roman Fort and Annexe, 1976 to 1990'. Scottish Archaeology Internet Report 74
Cramond Roman Fort has been the focus of archaeological interest since the publication of John Wood’s history of the parish in the late 18th century, with a floruit of activity in the latter half of the 20th century. Playing an important part in this volume of work have been the...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
The shale bangle fragments. In: Cook, Martin, Lawson, John A and McLaren, Dawn, 'Excavations and Interventions in and around Cramond Roman Fort and Annexe, 1976 to 1990'. Scottish Archaeology Internet Report 74
Cramond Roman Fort has been the focus of archaeological interest since the publication of John Wood’s history of the parish in the late 18th century, with a floruit of activity in the latter half of the 20th century. Playing an important part in this volume of work have been the...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Identification and discussion of selected Roman objects. In: Cook, Martin, Lawson, John A and McLaren, Dawn, 'Excavations and Interventions in and around Cramond Roman Fort and Annexe, 1976 to 1990'. Scottish Archaeology Internet Report 74
Cramond Roman Fort has been the focus of archaeological interest since the publication of John Wood’s history of the parish in the late 18th century, with a floruit of activity in the latter half of the 20th century. Playing an important part in this volume of work have been the...McLaren, Dawn ; Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Copper alloy: Roman. In: Cook, Martin, Lawson, John A and McLaren, Dawn, 'Excavations and Interventions in and around Cramond Roman Fort and Annexe, 1976 to 1990'. Scottish Archaeology Internet Report 74
Cramond Roman Fort has been the focus of archaeological interest since the publication of John Wood’s history of the parish in the late 18th century, with a floruit of activity in the latter half of the 20th century. Playing an important part in this volume of work have been the...Hunter, Fraser