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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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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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Book chapter
Southern art on the northern frontier: a remarkable Iron Age harness fitting from Doune Roman fort
In 2010 excavations within the Flavian fort of Doune (Stirling) uncovered a remarkable bronze strap junction with red glass inlay, decorated in styles of Celtic art typical of southern Britain rather than its immediate environs (Figure 1). Unfortunately, post excavation funding for this phase of the work was not forthcoming...Hunter, Fraser
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Newspaper article
Shedding new light on some of Scotland's greatest Roman silver treasures - Dr Fraser Hunter
One of the greatest treasures on display in the National Museum of Scotland is the late Roman silver hoard from Traprain Law in East Lothian, which fills three cases in the Early People gallery. Found in excavations in 1919, it’s been on display pretty much constantly since 1920. Now, more...Hunter, Fraser
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Blog post
The many lives of the Traprain Treasure’s Roman silver
One of the greatest treasures of our museum is the late Roman silver hoard from Traprain Law in East Lothian, which fills three display cases in the Early People gallery. Found in excavations in 1919, it’s been on display pretty much constantly since 1920. Now, more than a century after...Hunter, Fraser
Traprain Treasure, Silver, and Roman
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Book chapter
Insights from unidentified fragments
Alexander Curle's published catalogue consists of 152 entries, which correlate directly with National Museums Scotland catalogue nos GVA 1-152. His entry 144 is for a 'collection of irregularly-shaped fragments of undecorated, thin pieces of plate which has probably broken off platters or other flat dishes.Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
From Gaul to Galloway: Early Celtic Art and Iron Age Connections
Galloway has produced remarkable treasures of early Celtic art such as the Torrs pony cap, found near Castle Douglas, but their stories are little known. Fraser Hunter, principal curator of prehistoric and Roman archaeology at National Museums Scotland, uses art and archaeology as witnesses to the area’s ancient past. How...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Bronze medallions in Barbaricum and the Northern Provinces. A Medallion of Clodius Albinus from Scotland
Aleksander Bursche has made an in-depth study of Roman medallions beyond the frontier over many years. Gold has been his main focus,¹ but one of his earliest publications concerned a bronze medallion-like coin from Gdansk.² A recent Scottish find prompts a reconsideration of bronze medallions in Barbaricum, and I offer Aleksander...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Brooches from the Antonine Wall
The discovery of a number of brooches in the course of the excavations in the Falkirk district has prompted a review of the brooches known from the Antonine WallHunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
'The Stone Artefacts' In: Hatherley, Catherine & Murray, Ross 'Culduthel: an Iron Age craftworking centre in North-East Scotland'
The Iron Age settlement at Culduthel is one of the most significant later prehistoric sites identified in mainland Scotland. Archaeological excavation in 2005 revealed a craftworking centre which had specialised in the production of iron, bronze and glass objects between the late 1st Millennium BC and early 1st Millennium AD....McLaren, Dawn ; Hunter, Fraser ; McGibbon, Fiona
prehistory, Highlands & Islands, material culture, Prehistoric archaeology, and northern Scotland
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Book chapter
'Iron artefacts' In: Hatherley, Catherine & Murray, Ross 'Culduthel: an Iron Age craftworking centre in North-East Scotland'
The Iron Age settlement at Culduthel is one of the most significant later prehistoric sites identified in mainland Scotland. Archaeological excavation in 2005 revealed a craftworking centre which had specialised in the production of iron, bronze and glass objects between the late 1st Millennium BC and early 1st Millennium AD....Hunter, Fraser
prehistory, Highlands & Islands, Prehistoric archaeology, material culture , and northern Scotland
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Book chapter
'The glass artefacts and glass-working debris from Culduthel: typology, discussion and catalogue' In: Hatherley, Catherine & Murray, Ross 'Culduthel: an Iron Age craftworking centre in North-East Scotland'
The Iron Age settlement at Culduthel is one of the most significant later prehistoric sites identified in mainland Scotland. Archaeological excavation in 2005 revealed a craftworking centre which had specialised in the production of iron, bronze and glass objects between the late 1st Millennium BC and early 1st Millennium AD....Hunter, Fraser
prehistory, Highlands & Islands, material culture, Prehistoric archaeology, and northern Scotland
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Book chapter
'Discussion' In: Hatherley, Catherine & Murray, Ross 'Culduthel: an Iron Age craftworking centre in North-East Scotland'
The Iron Age settlement at Culduthel is one of the most significant later prehistoric sites identified in mainland Scotland. Archaeological excavation in 2005 revealed a craftworking centre which had specialised in the production of iron, bronze and glass objects between the late 1st Millennium BC and early 1st Millennium AD....Hatherley, Candy ; Dungworth, David ; Hunter, Fraser ; Mclaren, Dawn
prehistory, northern Scotland, material culture, Prehistoric archaeology, and Highlands & Islands
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Roman silver transformed: Hacksilber, its nature, uses and effects
Of the various forms of precious metal in the Roman world, Hacksilber is perhaps the least glamorous. These cut and crushed fragments of silver have received much less attention than intact plate or coinage. Yet they can cast fresh light on the ways in which precious metal was used in...Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Unusual Roman Iron Age burials on the Links of Pierowall, Westray, Orkney
Antiquarian accounts and surviving finds allow two Iron Age cist-burials found in the late 18th century on the Links of Pierowall on Westray, Orkney, to be reconstructed, although no details of the bodies survive (but both were most probably inhumations); the unusual finds have not previously received full attention. One...Graham-Campbell, James ; Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
Making sense of silver: the hacking of the Traprain Treasure
RSE Project: Narratives of Roman Scotland in the Digital Age. Organisers: Manuel Fernández-Götz, Chiara Bonacchi and Rebecca JonesHunter, Fraser
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Blog post
Stories from small things – a remarkable Roman brooch
Fraser Hunter is the principal curator of Iron Age and Roman collections at National Museums Scotland. His primary research interests are understanding Iron Age decorative metalwork (“Celtic art”) in its European context, understanding the impact of the Roman world on the peoples of Scotland in its Empire-wide context and making...Hunter, Fraser
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Lecture
An Egyptian Luxury in Roman Scotland
Discover how research and collecting at National Museums Scotland is reshaping understandings of Scotland's past as we take a closer look at a very special Roman object with surprising Egyptian origins.Hughes, Bettany ; Hunter, Fraser ; Potter, Dan
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Book chapter
Discussion
The Sculptor’s Cave is one of the most enigmatic prehistoric sites in Britain. Excavated in the 1920s and 1970s, new analysis of the archive has revealed a complex history of funerary and ritual activity from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age. Using innovative methods and new techniques, this...Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Hunter, Fraser ; Armit, Ian ; Büster, Lindsey
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Journal article
‘Cannel coal bangle’ , In McGalliard, S, & Wilson, D 2021 Bronze Age and Iron Age Archaeology at Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire: An Investigation of Structures and Funerary Practices
Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd was commissioned by Axiom Project Services to undertake an archaeological excavation in advance of a commercial development at Thainstone Business Park, Aberdeenshire. Excavation identified the remains of a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse and a contemporary urned cremation cemetery. Evidence of Late Bronze Age cremation practices was...Hunter, Fraser
Cemetery, Structure, Souterrain, Settlement, Roundhouse, Bronze Age, Cremation, Urn, and Iron Age
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Journal article
Some evidence for brooch manufacture in Roman Scotland
Hunter, Fraser
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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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Journal article
Appendix 5: the Sheep Hill oil shale and cannel coal jewellery: In E W MacKie, Excavations on Sheep Hill, West Dunbartonshire, 1966-69: a Late Bronze Age timber-framed dun and a small Iron Age hillfort
Excavations at Sheep Hill hillfort, West Dunbartonshire, took place at weekends between 1966 and 1969, with a small team of volunteers. The fort is sited on a volcanic plug of basalt with extensive views up and down the river Clyde. The finds are in the Hunterian Museum of the University...Mackie, Ewan ; Hunter, Fraser
vitrified fort, moulds, shale ornaments, cup-and-ring rock, and hillfort
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Journal article
A century of Roman silver - new views on the Traprain Treasure
Dr Fraser Hunter provides a timely reassessment of the Traprain Treasure with the results of a ten-year research project that invites us to reassess why the treasure was 'hacked' and what this can tell us about Roman links to Scotland.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
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 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
A northern view of Arras: or, we have chariots too
In 1817 a group of East Yorkshire gentry opened barrows in a large Iron Age cemetery on the Yorkshire Wolds at Arras, near Market Weighton, including a remarkable burial accompanied by a chariot with two horses, which became known as the King’s Barrow. This was the third season of excavation...Hunter, Fraser
lithic artefacts, prehistoric structure and pits, Palimpsest site, and prehistoric pottery
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Journal article
Context for a carnyx: excavation of a long-lived ritual site at Leitchestown, Deskford, Moray, north-east Scotland
Excavations at the findspot of the Deskford carnyx, a major piece of Iron Age decorated metalwork found in a bog in the early nineteenth century, revealed a special location with a long history. Early Neolithic activity on the adjacent ridge consisted of massive postholes and pits, suggesting a ceremonial site....Hunter, Fraser
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Book
The carnyx in Iron Age Europe : the Deskford carnyx in its European context [1]
The carnyx, an animal-headed bronze horn, once echoed across Iron Age Europe. Now, after centuries of silence, this book presents a full picture of this dramatic instrument for the first time. It considers the rare surviving fragments, with a detailed study of the Deskford carnyx from north-east Scotland, alongside depictions...Hunter, Fraser
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Book
The carnyx in Iron Age Europe : the Deskford carnyx in its European context [2]
The carnyx, an animal-headed bronze horn, once echoed across Iron Age Europe. Now, after centuries of silence, this book presents a full picture of this dramatic instrument for the first time. It considers the rare surviving fragments, with a detailed study of the Deskford carnyx from north-east Scotland, alongside depictions...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Shale analysis. In: Arabaolaz, Iraia. 2019. Beside the River Ayr in prehistoric times: excavations at Ayr Academy
Archaeological interventions at Ayr Academy, Ayrshire revealed a number of pits and postholes on a raised beach on a terrace of the River Ayr dating from the late Mesolithic to the late Bronze Age. One group of pits and postholes probably defines a middle Bronze Age burial ground. The environmental...Hunter, Fraser
lithic artefacts, prehistoric structure and pits, Palimpsest site, and prehistoric pottery
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Book chapter
Technologies of the self: painted pebbles, ornaments and the burial
During the late 1st millennium BC into the early 1st millennium AD, the small island of Unst in the far north of the Shetland (and British) Isles was home to well-established and connected farming and fishing communities. The Iron Age settlement at Milla Skerra was occupied for at least 500...Goldberg, D Martin ; Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
Objects made of iron and bone
During the late 1st millennium BC into the early 1st millennium AD, the small island of Unst in the far north of the Shetland (and British) Isles was home to well-established and connected farming and fishing communities. The Iron Age settlement at Milla Skerra was occupied for at least 500...Goldberg, D Martin ; Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
Glass. In: Savory, Gary, Mike Cressey, Clare Ellis, Mhairi Hastie, Fraser Hunter, Jennifer Thoms, and Graeme Carruthers. 2019. Excavation of a double-ditched enclosure at Winchburgh, West Lothian
A sub-circular double-ditched enclosure, visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, was excavated by CFA Archaeology Ltd in 2013. The enclosure had an inner ditch with two possible entrances and an intermittent outer ditch. The inner ditch measured up to 4.65m wide and survived to a maximum depth of 1.4m....Hunter, Fraser
Circular enclosure, Jewellery, Ditch, Glass bead, and Animal remains
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Journal article
Worked shale. In: Savory, Gary, Mike Cressey, Clare Ellis, Mhairi Hastie, Fraser Hunter, Jennifer Thoms, and Graeme Carruthers. 2019. Excavation of a double-ditched enclosure at Winchburgh, West Lothian
A sub-circular double-ditched enclosure, visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, was excavated by CFA Archaeology Ltd in 2013. The enclosure had an inner ditch with two possible entrances and an intermittent outer ditch. The inner ditch measured up to 4.65m wide and survived to a maximum depth of 1.4m....Hunter, Fraser
Circular enclosure, Jewellery, Ditch, Glass bead, and Animal remains
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Book chapter
Coping with changing worlds: the roles of Celtic art in central Britain in the Roman period
What happened to the Brigantes when Rome took over? How were they affected by military events? Can we see sub-territories in their material culture? How did they react to the opportunities that Rome offered? Was their way of looking at the world altered? This reasonably-priced book summarises current opinion.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
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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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
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
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
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