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Journal article
(Re)discovering the Gaulcross Hoard and other early medieval silver
Modern excavations can sometimes provide surprising new insights on antiquarian finds of metalwork. The Pictish silver hoard from Gaulcross in north-eastern Scotland provides an excellent example. Recent fieldwork, including metal-detecting, has clarified the size and composition of the hoard, and uncovered 100 new silver items, including coins, fragments of brooches...Noble, Gordon ; Goldberg, D Martin ; McPherson, Alistair ; Sveinbjarnarson, Oskar
late Roman, Hacksilber, Scotland, metal-detecting, Pictish, silver hoard, and early medieval
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Journal article
Art treasures were sold as palace vanished from sight
The demolition of Hamilton Palace at Hamilton in South Lanarkshire in the 1920s and the dispersal of its treasures in two sales in 1882 and 1919 was a national tragedy.Evans, Godfrey
Scotland, mausoleum, Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, Hamilton Palace, and Scottish
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Journal article
Gold in Prehistoric Scotland
Dr Alison Sheridan introduces a new joint project to explore what we know - and what we have yet to discover - about early gold us in Britain.Sheridan, J A
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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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Journal article
The practice of dyeing wool in Scotland c.1790-c.1840
The history of dyeing is complex, even when analysed over a short period of time and in a comparatively small country such as Scotland. There are hundreds of dyes, natural and manufactured; most require the use of further chemicals as mordants to fix the colour; dyes interact with different vegetable...Burnett, John ; Mercer, Katherine ; Quye, Anita
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Journal article
Exploring East Asia at the National Museum of Scotland
With around 23,000 objects representing the cultures of China, Japan and Korea, the National Museum of Scotland houses the largest collection of East Asian material in the United Kingdom outside London. In February 2019, a new gallery named ‘Exploring East Asia’ will open to showcase works from this collection. Exploring...Buckland, Rosina
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Journal article
By the mandate of heaven': a kingfisher-feather headdress in the National Museum of Scotland
This article focuses on a kingfisher headdress selected for the new East Asia gallery at the National Museum of Scotland. Dating to the late Qing dynasty and previously thought to be part of an opera costume, new research has revealed that this intricate headdress might instead have been the property...Cao, Qin
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Journal article
Analytical study of the Middle Kingdom group of gold jewellery from tomb 124 at Riqqa, Egypt
The jewellery from tomb 124 at Riqqa, consisting of one pectoral and one winged beetle in gold and cloisonné work, one gold shell pendant decorated with wires and granulation, and one hollow gold amulet in the form of god Min, was analysed by handheld X‐ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy...Troalen, Lore ; Guerra, Maria Filomena ; Maitland, Margaret ; Ponting, M ; Price, C
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Journal article
A Raman spectroscopic analysis of pigments from Dynastic Egyptian funerary artefacts
As part of a comprehensive analytical survey, Raman spectra were obtained of pigments from ancient Egyptian funerary artefacts dating from the 17th Dynasty to the Graeco‐Roman period, using several laser excitation wavelengths. A wide colour palette has been identified with mineral pigments and pigment mixtures; several variations were detected with...Edwards, Howell G M ; Jorde Villar, S E ; Eremin, Katherine
Egyptian artefacts, mineral pigments, sarcophagi, and micro‐Raman spectroscopy
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Journal article
The natural constituents of historical textile dyes
The sources and structures of dyes used to colour Western historical textiles are described in this tutorial review. Most blue and purple colours were derived from indigo—obtained either from woad or from the indigo plant—though some other sources (e.g. shellfish and lichens) were used. Reds were often anthraquinone derivatives obtained...Ferreira, Ester S B ; Hulme, Alison N ; McNab, Hamish ; Quye, Anita
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Journal article
Silver dirhams from the Storr Rock Viking Hoard
A 10th-century hoard found on the Isle of Skye contained 19 dirhams, silver coins from the Islamic emirates of central Asia. These were not exotic curiosities collected by a Viking traveller, but evidence of trade routes connecting Scotland across vast distances at the turn of the first millennium.Maldonado, Adrián
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Journal article
Simulation experiments for determining the use of ancient pottery vessels: the behaviour of epicuticular leaf wax during boiling of a leafy vegetable
Laboratory experiments were performed using replica ceramic jars to simulate ancient pottery vessel use. The aim of the study was to investigate the behaviour of lipids, specifically, epicuticular leaf wax components during the processing of foodstuffs in unglazed ceramic vessels to determine if the pattern of lipid accumulation in a... -
Journal article
Liquid chromatography determination of natural dyes in extracts from historical Scottish textiles excavated from peat bogs
Textiles excavated from Scottish sites belonging now to the collections of the National Museums of Scotland, including seventeenth century textiles from peat bogs in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, were selected for analysis by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (PDA HPLC) to detect whether any dyes remained...Surowiec, Izabella ; Trojanowicz, Marek ; Quye, Anita
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Quye, Anita
lac, analysis, liquid chromatography, dyes, madder, Cochineal, and kermes
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Journal article
Effect of organic acid vapors on the alteration of soda silicate glass
Organic acids were previously shown to be involved in the alteration of historic soda silicate glasses in humid atmospheres under museum storage conditions. The present study investigates the role of these pollutants on the visual, compositional and structural modification of soda silicate glasses. Replica glasses aged in humid or humid/acidic... -
Journal article
The use of Raman spectrometry to predict the stability of historic glasses
In the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) widespread alterations have been observed in the glass collections of 19th to 20th century, affecting British, Islamic and Asian glasses. It is important for museums to be able to distinguish between stable and unstable glasses, so that particular care can be taken to...Robinet, L ; Eremin, Katherine ; Coupry, Claude ; Hall, Christopher
alkali silicate, elemental composition, stability, and historic glass
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Journal article
Raman investigation of the structural changes during alteration of historic glasses by organic pollutants
The combination of an unstable glass composition, fluctuating humidity and a high concentration of organic pollutants is responsible for the widespread alteration of part of the glass collections of the National Museums of Scotland (NMS). The alteration has resulted in the formation of crystalline corrosion at the surface and strong...Robinet, L ; Eremin, Katherine ; Coupry, Claude ; Hall, Christopher
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Journal article
The jet bead. In: Gibson, A. Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant,...Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Survey and sampling at the Castle Dykes Iron Age ‘henge’, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire
Survey and sampling at the classic single-entranced henge monument at Castle Dykes, in North Yorkshire, has revealed traces of circular timber structures, interpreted as later prehistoric roundhouses, in the immediate vicinity and within the henge. Coring of the waterlogged silts of the internal ditch has produced considerable environmental data: plant,...Gibson, Alex ; Neubauer, Wolfgang ; Flöry, Sebastian ; Schneidhofer, Petra ; Allen, Mike …
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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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Journal article
Holy buckets! Insular identities in the Viking age
The small jewel case was marked Machrins, the name of a Viking cemetery on Colonsay, so it immediately caught my attention. I unwrapped the tissue paper to reveal a shining fragment of metal with curious markings on it.Maldonado, Adrián
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Journal article
Prehistoric Crafts and Identities. Special swords, glittering gold and pots for the people
Next month, National Museums Scotland will be hosting the annual Later Prehistoric Finds Group conference, this year entitled: Crafting Identities.Knight, Matthew G
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Journal article
Pottery. In: Black, S. 'Pathfoot: the lost village of shoemakers'
During July and August 2016, Northlight Heritage undertook archaeological works on behalf of Cala Homes (West) Ltd. In response to a planning condition by Stirling Council, in advance of a housing development at Sheriffmuir Road, Bridge of Allan, It was thought the site could lie on or near the former...Haggarty, George
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Journal article
A 4.1.1 Coin. In: Roy, M 'Matter of Life and Death' Trade and Burial around St Giles' Cathedral: Archaeological Investigations at Parliament House, Edinburgh'
Archaeological evaluation of the Southern Courtyard of the Parliament House complex, to the south of St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh’s Old Town, has provided a valuable insight into the lives, health and mortality of the inhabitants of the late medieval city. The evaluation revealed a backland area in the centre...Holmes, Nicholas
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Journal article
Life's rich tapestries
In its 400th anniversary year, Helen Wyld explores the short and turbulent history of the Mortlake tapestry works, arguably the greatest State-sponsored manufactory Britain has ever known.Wyld, Helen
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Journal article
The Spearhead of the Pennon …
In 1999, the late Professor Charles Thomas donated a Middle Bronze Age spearhead to the National Museum collection. This spearhead came with a label indicating that it was part of the pennant taken into the Battle of Flodden by Robert Chisholme in 1513. This paper investigates the likelihood that such...Knight, Matthew G ; Sheridan, J A
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Book chapter
The vitrified metal
An archaeological excavation was carried out across an area proposed for re-development at Goosecroft Road, Stirling. The investigations uncovered the foundations of a substantial stone wall in the south-west corner of the site, and another wall further to the south, that probably relate to the nearby location of a medieval...Cruickshanks, Gemma
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Book chapter
The metalwork
An archaeological excavation was carried out across an area proposed for re-development at Goosecroft Road, Stirling. The investigations uncovered the foundations of a substantial stone wall in the south-west corner of the site, and another wall further to the south, that probably relate to the nearby location of a medieval...Cruickshanks, Gemma
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Book chapter
The art and science of replication. Copies and copying in the multi-disciplinary museum
Few institutions are warier of copies than museums. Few fields of knowledge are more prone to denounce copies as fake than the heritage field. Few discourses are as concerned with authenticity, aura, originals and provenance as those concerning exhibiting and collecting. So why is it that these are institutions, fields...Alberti, S J M M ; Blackwell, Alice ; Davidson, Peter ; Goldberg, D Martin ; Swinney, Geoffrey N
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Book chapter
Deictic motion verbs and divine interaction. Placing the individual and the divine in time and space
This volume is a collection of papers that were presented during the international conference Time and Space in Ancient Egypt organised by the Université catholique de Louvain and the Université de Liège (Louvain-la-Neuve, 9–11 June 2016). The participants were invited to examine in the broadest possible way the interactions between...Potter, Daniel M
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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
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