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Book chapter
The lure of silver: denarius hoards and relations across the frontier
Roman frontiers defined the Roman Empire, one of the greatest states that the world has ever seen. By understanding these frontiers we can better understand the relationship between Rome and her neighbours. Leading scholars of the frontiers of the Roman Empire have come together to present this collection of essays...Hunter, Fraser
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Book chapter
The ironwork
Cruickshanks, Gemma ; 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
‘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
Artifact: Romano-British Brooch
Hunter, Fraser
Celtic, Lamberton Moor, Jewellry, Scottish Borders, Roman, and dragonesque
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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
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
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
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
4.3.4 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 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
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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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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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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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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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
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
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
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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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 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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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
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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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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Journal article
'Shale armlet'. In: Church, M. J., Nesbitt, C. & Gilmour, S. M. D. ‘A special place in the saltings? Survey and excavation of an Iron Age estuarine inlet at An Dunan, Lewis, Western Isles’
This is the third of a series of four papers that present the excavations undertaken on the Uig Peninsula, Isle of Lewis, as part of the Uig Landscape Project. We present the archaeological evidence from An Dunan, a causewayed tidal islet in the salt marsh of Uig sands, a liminal...Hunter, Fraser
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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Journal article
Some evidence for brooch manufacture in Roman Scotland
Hunter, Fraser
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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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Book chapter
Stories from black bangles: jewellery and other finds of jet-like materials in Roman Scotland
Lindsay Allason-Jones has been at the forefront of small finds and Roman frontier research for 40 years in a career focussed on, but not exclusive to, the north of Britain, encompassing an enormous range of object types and subject areas. Divided into thematic sections the contributions presented here to celebrate...Hunter, Fraser
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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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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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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
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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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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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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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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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