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Lecture
Feasting with Latinus: the earliest Christians of Whithorn
The excavations led by the late Peter Hill at Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway are widely understood as revealing one of the earliest monasteries in Britain. New analysis and dating evidence by the Cold Case Whithorn project is forcing a rethink of the earliest phases of the sequence. A poorly-understood late... -
Presentation
Scottish Weapons: crafting and collecting identity
Join our conversation on the issues of provenance, repatriation, collections, and collecting practices, explored through the lens of material culture. This roundtable brings together researchers to discuss these topics as they pertain to the theme of object biographies from the experience of their various professional backgroundsRobertson, Calum
arms and armour , Scottish Weapons, crafting and collecting identity, national collections, and National War Museum Scotland
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Lecture
'The Viking-age Reuse of Insular Metalwork From Northern Britain'
The looting of Christian shrines and reliquaries in the Viking Age is so well-documented that it has been reduced to a cartoonish vision of pillaging heathens. A close look at the evidence for such ‘looting’ tells a different story – or rather a number of different stories. A recent reassessment... -
Lecture
Re-framing Mary: audience-focused collecting and display
During the life of the RSE project, and following the acquisition of the Mary Queen of Scots casket, National Museums Scotland re-framed the narrative it tells of Mary in the Chambers Street museum. This talk explores the museum’s role in mediating narratives of Mary’s life and impact, to argue that...Groundwater, Anna
casket, material culture, Mary, Queen of Scots, and museum collecting, interpretation and display
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Lecture
Highland Style: Fashioning Highland Dress, c.1745-1845
he period c.1745-1845 was a revolutionary chapter in the history of Highland dress. With the advent of the European Romantic movement, this once regional costume was revived and reinvented to reflect the changing times and preoccupations of its wearers. Associated with the warrior culture of Gaelic society, by the close...Waine, Rosie
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Lecture
The Traprain Treasure – latest research on a remarkable Roman silver hoard
The Roman Treasure from Traprain Law Excavated on Traprain Law in May 1919, this was one of the most spectacular discoveries of Roman silver ever made in Europe – and the biggest hoard found to date of ‘hacksilver’: 23kg, battered, crushed and chopped-up silver vessels. An international team of scholars...Hunter, Fraser
Late Roman Hoard, Traprain Law, East Lothian, hacksilver, elite tableware, and Silver Treasure
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Lecture
Viking Panic? Looking for the 9-12th centuries in Argyll
The story of early medieval Argyll is told through overarching narratives: the arrival of the Scots of Dál Riata; incoming missionaries in the age of saints; and the invasions of the Vikings. A recent reassessment of the National Museums Scotland collections from this period emphasises how material culture tells a... -
Lecture
Sacrifice, scrap or something else? Practices of metalwork deposition in Late Bronze Age Britain and Ireland
Throughout the Bronze Age, large quantities of metal artefacts were deposited across Europe. Interpretations often centre around whether these deposits may have been sacrificial offerings to deities or else discarded scrap metal intended for recycling. These grand ideas mask the individual decisions local communities made when depositing their objects, such...Knight, Matthew
recycle, archaeology, Bronze Age Europe, metal depositpion, worship, and sacrificial objects
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Lecture
The Art of Tapestry
On day 1 you will hear from experts in the field and find out more about the Burrell Collection tapestries and Medieval and Renaissance Tapestries in general. We will also document and discuss the artistic value, nature, and identity of 21st century tapestry as a distinctive Scottish art form with...Wyld, Helen
Renaissance , Medieval , and European Tapestries
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Presentation
Ni’isjoohl memorial pole repatriation – an international panel discussion
The Nisga’a delegation, alongside staff from National Museums Scotland will participate in the first public panel discussion on the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole re-p/matriation. The discussion will be moderated by Barbara Fillion, Programme Officer for Culture with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Among the topics addressed, the panel will discuss the...Giblin, John ; St Clair Inglis, Chante
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Abstract
Exploring literal and conceptual fragmentation through medieval material culture
This paper will explore meaning-rich fragmentation in a medieval context and suggest that relevant theoretical frameworks may be enriched by thinking about different kinds of deconstruction. The breaking and remaking of Christian reliquaries provide one opportunity – viewing things like the Monymusk reliquary not as one object but as many...Blackwell, Alice
Monymusk reliquary , fragmentation, Christian reliquaries, Archaeology, and deconstruction
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Abstract
Revisiting the fragmentation revolution
Fragments are commonly encountered in the archaeological record. Historically, broken things have been considered scrap or rubbish resulting from accidental processes. However, during recent decades archaeologists have come to recognise acts of deliberate fragmentation, and fragments themselves, as performing a range of important roles in the past. A key moment...Knight, Matthew G ; Chittock, Helen
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Abstract
Presenting a complex hoard deposit – the Galloway Hoard
The Galloway Hoard is the focus of an ongoing research project at National Museums Scotland examining a complex Viking-age deposit composed of multiple parcels, with organic preservation and a variety of materials (gold, silver, copper-alloy, glass, rock crystal, minerals, leather, wood, wool, silk, linen, and animal gut). There may be...Goldberg, Martin
Viking-age hoards, Galloway Hoard , rock crystal, minerals, wool, research project, wood, animal gut, silk, linen, gold, copper-alloy, leather, silver, and glass
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Abstract
The long, strange journey of Viking-Age ringed pins
Ringed pins are the calling card of the Viking Age in Britain and Ireland: small, low-value metal cloak fasteners, found in dressed burials, and frequently encountered as stray finds. They have a complex trajectory, beginning as Irish dress items in the pre-Viking period. From the middle of the ninth century,...Maldonado, Adrián
Ireland, Scandinavia, burials, diaspora, Iceland, Newfoundland, Britain, Viking Age , Dublin, Ringed pins, and Irish Sea trading settlements