Ricerca
Risultati della ricerca
-
Journal article
Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard
Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard is a three-year UK Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project (2021- 2024) which aims to challenge current understanding of the process of hoarding through an interdisciplinary study of one of the best-preserved hoards found in Britain to date.Harris, Susanna ; Goldberg, Martin
Galloway Hoard, organic and inorganic artefacts, textiles, silver, leather, and golf
-
Journal article
60 second interview
Dr Susana Harris is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, who specialises in archaeological textile and fibre analysisHarris, Susanna
wool, textiles, metalwork, braids, plant fibres, silver bullion, leather, silk, glass beads, and Viking Age hoard
-
Book review
Review of: The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: the carved stone balls of late Neolithic Scotland. Chris L Stewart-Moffitt
Carved stone balls are on of Scotland's most intriguing Neolithic artefacts.Anderson-Whymark, Hugo
-
Journal article
A curated DNA barcode reference library for parasitoids of northern European cyclically outbreaking geometrid moths
Large areas of forests are annually damaged or destroyed by outbreaking insect pests. Understanding the factors that trigger and terminate such population eruptions has become crucially important, as plants, plant-feeding insects, and their natural enemies may respond differentially to the ongoing changes in the global climate. In northernmost Europe, climate-driven...Nyman, Tommi ; Wutke, Saskia ; Koivisto, Elina ; Klemola, Tero ; Shaw, Mark R …
metabarcoding , insect outbreaks, population regulation, barcoding , molecular identification, and parasitoid
-
Journal article
Tough to digest: first record of Teleosauroidea (Thalattosuchia) in a regurgitalite from the Upper Jurassic of north‐eastern Italy
Postcranial remains of a small teleosauroid from the Upper Jurassic of north-eastern Italy are described in detail. The specimen, discovered in 1980 on a slab of Rosso Ammonitico Veronese (RAV Fm.; Bajocian–Tithonian), is represented by partially articulated thoracic, sacral and anterior caudal vertebrae, fractured and displaced osteoderms and pelvic girdle...Serafini, Giovanni ; Gordon, Caleb M ; Foffa, Davide ; Cobianchi, Miriam ; Giusberti, Luca
Rosso Ammonitico Veronese, SEM-EDS analysis , regurgitalite, Aeolodontinae , and Upper Jurassic
-
Journal article
The ecological diversification and evolution of Teleosauroidea (Crocodylomorpha, Thalattosuchia), with insights into their mandibular biomechanics
Throughout the Jurassic, a plethora of marine reptiles dominated ocean waters, including ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs. These Jurassic ecosystems were characterized by high niche partitioning and spatial variation in dietary ecology. However, while the ecological diversity of many marine reptile lineages is well known, the overall ecological diversification of...Johnson, Michela M ; Foffa, Davide ; Young, Mark T ; Brusatte, Stephen L
Jurassic ecosystems , thalattosuchian crocodylomorphs, and Teleosauroidea
-
Journal article
When did Alexander Philipp Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied, first describe Felis macroura?
The margay, Leopardus wiedii Schinz, 1821, is a Neotropical small spotted cat, whose nomenclatural history has long been confused (Thomas 1903; Pocock 1917; Allen 1919). This confusion began with Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du roi published in 1765,...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Sanderson, James G
Leopardus macrourus, margay, Leopardus wiedii, wild cat, Heinrich Rudolf Schinz, Reise nach Brasilien, and Felis wiedii
-
Journal article
Biogeography in the deep: Hierarchical population genomic structure of two beaked whale species
The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth, yet little is known about the processes driving patterns of genetic diversity in its inhabitants. Here, we investigated the macro- and microevolutionary processes shaping genomic population structure and diversity in two poorly understood, globally distributed, deep-sea predators: Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius... -
Journal article
Textiles in a Viking Age hoard: Identifying ephemeral traces of textiles in metal corrosion products
This paper presents a novel method and terminology to identify and describe textiles from ephemeral traces in metal corrosion products. Since the 1980s, mineralised textiles (positive and negative casts in Janaway’s terminology) have been an important source of archaeological evidence. A major issue now is the identification of textiles in...Davis, Mary ; Harris, Susanna
Anglo-Saxon, Microscopy, Viking age, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Textile , Silver, Mineralisation, and Copper corrosion
-
Journal article
Phenotypic plasticity determines differences between the skulls of tigers from mainland Asia
Tiger subspecific taxonomy is controversial because of morphological and genetic variation found between now fragmented populations, yet the extent to which phenotypic plasticity or genetic variation affects phenotypes of putative tiger subspecies has not been explicitly addressed. In order to assess the role of phenotypic plasticity in determining skull variation,... -
Journal article
Joseph Anderson (1832–1916) and the Scottish historical collection in the Antiquities Museum, 1869 to 1892
Joseph Anderson (1832–1916) was an influential figure within the history of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and Scottish archaeology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But while Anderson is best known for his contribution to the development of Scottish prehistoric and early medieval archaeology, there has been...Holder, Julie
-
Journal article
A survey of Roman, medieval and post-medieval coin finds from Scotland 2016–20
Coins and other numismatic finds from 276 locations across Scotland are listed and discussed.Savage, Carl E ; Freeman, Emily A ; Paul, Ella B
Medieval, Post medieval, Numismatics, Seventeenth century, and Coins
-
Journal article
African Queen: an intact royal burial from Egypt reveals new insights into cultural connections
The identity of the ancient Egyptian ‘Qurna Queen’ remains a mystery over 100 years after the excavation of her intact burial. However, new research on her burial assemblage is revealing historic biases in interpretation and shedding light on Egypt’s place within African culture, as Margaret Maitland explains.Maitland, Margaret
-
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
-
Journal article
Ecological signal in the size and shape of marine amniote teeth
Amniotes have been a major component of marine trophic chains from the beginning of the Triassic to present day, with hundreds of species. However, inferences of their (palaeo)ecology have mostly been qualitative, making it difficult to track how dietary niches have changed through time and across clades. Here, we tackle...Fischer, Valentin ; Bennion, Rebecca F ; Foffa, Davide ; MacLaren, Jamie A ; McCurry, Matthew R …
palaeoecology, feeding guilds, high-density morphometricss, Cetacea, and marine reptile
-
Journal article
Synchrotron tomography of a stem lizard elucidates early squamate anatomy
Squamates (lizards and snakes) include more than 10,000 living species, descended from an ancestor that diverged more than 240 million years ago from that of their closest living relative, Sphenodon. However, a deficiency of fossil evidence1,2,3,4,5,6,7, combined with serious conflicts between molecular and morphological accounts of squamate phylogeny8,9,10,11,12,13 (but see...Tałanda, Mateusz ; Fernandez, Vincent ; Panciroli, Elsa ; Evans, Susan E ; Benson, Roger J
Skeleton, Herpetology , Phylogenetics , and Palaeontology
-
Newspaper article
We’re revisiting our stories of Empire in museums and galleries - Dr John Giblin and Dr Yahya Barry
Across the UK, galleries, museums, libraries and archives hold collections which tell many millions of stories. Some of these are better known than others, while some are yet to be properly explored.Giblin, John ; Barry, Yahya
-
Journal article
William Littler in West Pans; His Marriage to Jane Booth
The hamlet of West Pans, 1 1/4miles east-north-east of Musselburgh on the south side of the Firth of Forth, included a rocky foreshore on which stood the saltpans from which the name is derived. However, it is not just salt production there from at least the 12th century, but the...Haggarty, George R ; Gaskell, Tony
-
Journal article
Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha
Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, were key components of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems from their sudden appearance in the Late Triassic until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous1,2,3,4,5,6. However, the origin and early evolution of pterosaurs are poorly understood owing to a substantial stratigraphic and morphological...Foffa, Davide ; Dunne, Emma M ; Nesbitt, Sterling J ; Butler, Richard J ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
-
Journal article
The tale of a Mesolithic harpoon head from Arisaig
Sheridan, J A
-
Newspaper article
Taking another look at the past
There are over 12 million objects in Scotland’s National Collection, ranging across natural sciences, Scottish history and archaeology, art, design, science, technology and ancient and living cultures from around the world.Giblin, John
-
Journal article
Edmund Jarzembowski at 70: An appreciation
Edmund Aleksander Jarzembowski (BSc PhD FGS FRES) is currently a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow; Scientific Associate (researcher) at The Natural History Museum London (NHMUK); and Professor at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), Nanjing, specializing in the study of fossil insects (palaeoentomology).Austen, Peter A ; Wang, Bo ; Ross, Andrew J ; Coram, Robert A
-
Journal article
Early Eocene fossil illuminates the ancestral (diurnal) ecomorphology of owls and documents a mosaic evolution of the strigiform body plan
We describe a partial skeleton of a fossil owl (Strigiformes) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The holotype of Ypresiglaux michaeldanielsi, gen. et sp. nov. is one of the most complete specimens of a Palaeogene owl and elucidates the poorly known ecomorphology of stem group Strigiformes....Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
-
Journal article
Oldest fossil loon documents a pronounced ecomorphological shift in the evolution of gaviiform birds
We describe a stem group representative of Gaviiformes (loons or divers) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The holotype of Nasidytes ypresianus gen. et sp. nov. is a partial skeleton including the mandible and all major limb bones. The new species is the oldest unambiguously identified...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
Nasidytes ypresianus, Walton-on-the-Naze, Aves, fossil birds, and London Clay
-
Journal article
New fossils from the London Clay show that the Eocene Masillaraptoridae are stem group representatives of falcons (Aves, Falconiformes)
The Eocene taxon Masillaraptoridae includes long-legged, raptorial birds, the phylogenetic affinities of which are poorly resolved. Here, fossils from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, U.K.) are described, which corroborate the hypothesis that masillaraptorids are stem group representatives of the Falconiformes (falcons). Two partial skeletons are assigned to a new...Mayr, Gerald ; Kitchener, Andrew C
-
Journal article
Nouveaux départs ? Écrire l’histoire de l’art par ses déplacements
Depuis une dizaine d’années, on observe un glissement dans l’historiographie française des institutions culturelles et dans les études sur la vie sociale et culturelle des œuvres. Dans le cadre d’une histoire classique des collections, qui perçoit l’artefact surtout à travers la formation des collections privées et publiques, des logiques de... -
Journal article
An exhibition like no other
IN AUTUMN 1961, THE DOORS OF GOLDSMITHS’ HALL opened for an exhibition like no other. This, according to the late Graham Hughes, Art Director of the Goldsmiths’ Company and curator of the show, was to be ‘an art exhibition of a high order, intended to raise the standing of jewellery...Rothwell, Sarah
-
Journal article
Northern Modernist Jewellery – a museum collecting project
In 2015 National Museums Scotland was awarded an Art Fund New Collecting Award to collect, research and disseminate jewellery designed and created in Britain and the Nordic States between 1945-1978. The project highlighted a legacy of transnational influences and traditions within Northern Europe, particularly shared cultural heritage, the influence of...Rothwell, Sarah
-
Journal article
Noninvasive Characterization and Quantification of Anthraquinones in Dyed Woolen Threads by Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
The anthraquinone components of the roots of various species of madder (like Rubia tinctorum L. and Rubia peregrina L.) have been used for millennia as red colorants in textiles, carpets, tapestries, and other objects. To understand the selection and preparation of dyestuffs in various cultures and historical periods, these dyes...Chavanne, Clarisse ; Troalen, Lore G ; Fronty, Isabelle Bardies ; Buléon, Pascal ; Walter, Philippe
Dyes and pigments, Optical properties, Color, Extraction, and Liquid chromatography
-
Journal article
‘Is Radioactive Iodine Present Equally in the Cream on Milk as in the Milk Itself?’: Lonely Sources and the Gendered history of Cold War Britain
This article argues that one way to foreground and privilege women's perspectives on the Cold War is by re-interpreting their historical experiences of food and drink. The article develops this argument by analysing one letter, from an unknown woman to the BBC, in the context of nuclear health concerns in...Douthwaite, Jessica
-
Journal article
Middle Jurassic fossils document an early stage in salamander evolution
Salamanders are an important group of living amphibians and model organisms for understanding locomotion, development, regeneration, feeding, and toxicity in tetrapods. However, their origin and early radiation remain poorly understood, with early fossil stem-salamanders so far represented by larval or incompletely known taxa. This poor record also limits understanding of...Jones, Marc E H ; Benson, Roger B J ; Skutschas, Pavel ; Hill, Lucy ; Panciroli, Elsa …
AMPHIBIANS , PHYLOGENY , JURASSIC , SALAMANDER, and EVOLUTION
-
Journal article
Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens
Determining when animal populations have experienced stress in the past is fundamental to understanding how risk factors drive contemporary and future species' responses to environmental change. For insects, quantifying stress and associating it with environmental factors has been challenging due to a paucity of time-series data and because detectable population-level... -
Journal article
First large‐scale quantification study of DNA preservation in insects from natural history collections using genome‐wide sequencing
Insect declines are a global issue with significant ecological and economic ramifications. Yet, we have a poor understanding of the genomic impact these losses can have. Genome-wide data from historical specimens have the potential to provide baselines of population genetic measures to study population change, with natural history collections representing... -
Journal article
Anatomy: A matter of death and life
Dr Tacye Phillipson explores what was behind the demand for a supply of dead bodies in 19th-century Edinburgh - and how and why this grisly practice cam to an end.Phillipson, Tacye
-
Journal article
Living with a legacy - Managing the challenges of historic loans and lending at National Museums Scotland
National Museums cares for a collection of over 12.4 million objects and specimens, representing a vast range of collecting spread over five separate sites. The Museums' collecting history spans across 150 years, and like many long-established museums, both lending and borrowing collections have followed different processes and standards. In the...Stevens, Lyn
-
Journal article
Defining role
Geraldine Kendall Adams talks to Christopher Breward about the shift in priorities for National Museums Scotland. Photography by Philip SayerKendall Adams, Geraldine
-
Journal article
Novel mtDNA haplotypes represented in the European captive population of the Endangered François’ langur (Trachypithecus francoisi)
Assessing the genetic diversity of captive populations of endangered species is key to the successful management of conservation-breeding programs. In this study, we sequenced a 393-bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region of 23 captive individuals of the Endangered François’ langur ( ) to assess the mtDNA diversity...Farré, Marta ; Johnstone, Cameron ; Hopper, Jane ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Roos, Christian …
François’ langurs , Captive populations, Conservation genetics , and mtDNA
-
Journal article
Scottish Birds Records Committee report on rare birds in Scotland, 2020
This is the 13th annual report of the Scottish Birds Records Committee (SBRC) describing rare birds recorded in Scotland during 2020. Details of previous annual reports that cover the period 2005 to 2019 can be found listed in McInerny & McGowan (2021), some of which are cited in this reportMcInerny, C ; McGowan, R Y
-
Journal article
A Note on Modern (Fake) Shabtis as Tourist Art
This brief communication is a discussion of several styles of shabti figures identified during the National Museums Scotland review of Egyptian material in Scottish collections. The shabtis’ combination of historical styles, nonsensical inscriptions and material composition clearly characterize them as modern productions, despite several recent publications identifying them as Roman...Potter, Daniel M
modern, tourist art, pseudo-shabti, and Shabti
-
Journal article
The Ordovician diversification of sea urchins: systematics of the Bothriocidaroida (Echinodermata: Echinoidea)
The echinoids of the order Bothriocidaroida represent the initial burst of sea urchin diversification. They were the first echinoids to achieve widespread biogeographical dispersal and achieved high levels of species richness compared to other clades of stem group echinoids. Following long-standing controversy regarding their phylogenetic affinities within the phylum Echinodermata,...Thompson, Jeffrey R ; Cotton, Laura J ; Candela, Yves ; Kutscher, Manfred ; Reich, Mike …
extinction, phylogeny, Bothriocidaris, sea urchin, Bayesian, and Neobothriocidaris
-
Journal article
Noninvasive characterization and quantification of anthraquinones in dyed woolen threads by visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy
The anthraquinone components of the roots of various species of madder (like Rubia tinctorum L. and Rubia peregrina L.) have been used for millennia as red colorants in textiles, carpets, tapestries, and other objects. To understand the selection and preparation of dyestuffs in various cultures and historical periods, these dyes...Chavanne, Clarisse ; Troalen, Lore G ; Fronty, Isabelle Bardies ; Buléon, Pascal ; Walter, Philippe
Dyes and pigments, Optical properties, Extraction, Color, and Liquid chromatography
-
Journal article
Reintroducing the Vikings into Scotland's story
Dr Adrián Maldonado takes anothe rlook at the formation of Scotland, to ask whether we should recalibrate our images of the 'Vikings' to include more than just people of Norse descent.Maldonado, Adrián
-
Journal article
Mind the Shadow Gap: Reflecting on 20 Years of the Museum of Scotland and Looking Forward to the Future
National Museum Scotland comprises multiple display sights, including the Museum of Scotland (hereafter the Museum). Built as an addition to the Victorian Royal Museum building on Chambers Street, Edinburgh, the Museum of Scotland building opened in 1998, and was purpose-built to display over 12,000 artefacts, charting the history of Scotland...collections care, environment, Preventive, access, display, IPM, cleaning, conservation, and building
-
Journal article
New records of Diptera from the Republic of Mordovia, Russia
A list of 55 species of Diptera from families Tanypezidae (1 species), Megamerinidae (1), Acroceridae (1), Psilidae (5), Lonchaeidae (8), Strongylophthalmyiidae (1), Ephydridae (21) Scathophagidae (17 species) collected in the Republic of Mordovia is given. Of them Protearomyia withersi MacGowan, 2014 and Lonchaea baechlii MacGowan, 2016 are recorded from Russia... -
Journal article
Enigmatic vertebrate trackway from the Scalby Formation (Middle Jurassic) Yorkshire, United Kingdom, with discussion of archosaur and ‘mammal’ trace fossils
We describe a new and unusual vertebrate trackway from the Middle Jurassic Scalby Formation of the Cleveland Basin, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The Enigmatic Burniston Trackway (EBT) is the first and only example of such a trackway known from this region. The best preserved EBT print, belonging to a pentadactyl tetrapod,...synapsid, Sederipes, Synaptichnium, Ravenscar Group, and Footprint
-
Journal article
Fit for a Queen: The Material and Visual Culture of Maria Clementina Sobieska, Jacobite Queen in Exile
Tracing its manifestation across three phases in her biography — marriage, separation and funeral — this article considers the image of Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–35). Examining the objects and portraits which surrounded Clementina’s life and death offers a new historiography for the Jacobite queen in exile. It reinstates her place...Vullinghs, Georgia
Jacobites, royal image, material culture, queenship, and Stuarts
-
Journal article
Mentorship matters: the value of graduate internships
n this article, three recent graduates in book and paper conservation report on the value of graduate internships and advocate for more opportunities. They reflect on their personal experiences of internships at the British Library, Chester Beatty and Getty Research Institute. Results from a survey and questionnaire on graduate internships...Douglas, Kiri ; Coulthard, Sophie ; Hare, Samantha
-
Journal article
An optimised small-scale sample preparation workflow for historical dye analysis using UHPLC-PDA applied to Scottish and English Renaissance embroidery
A sample preparation workflow for historical dye analysis based on 96 well plates and filtration by centrifugation was developed. It requires less sample and the introduced error is decreased, making it useful for culturally important objects. A sample preparation workflow for historical dye analysis requiring less sample has been developed....Sandström, Edith ; Wyld, Helen ; Mackay, C Logan ; Troalen, Lore G ; Hulme, Alison N
-
Journal article
Science in a Somerset Quaker community: Alfred Gillett (1814-1904) fossil collecting and kinship networks in and around Street
Alfred Gillett (1814-1904) was a son of John Gillett, a Langport shopkeeper, and his wife Martha, part of a complex network of families which formed the core of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in eastern and south-eastern Somerset. He went into trade as an ironmonger. In 1841 he became...Taylor, Michael A ; Berry , Charlotte
-
-
Journal article
Review of: Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens (London, The British Library, 8 October 2021–20 February 2022). Catalogue: Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens, ed. Susan Doran. London: The British Library, 2021
Despite the wishful attempts of playwrights and film directors, Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots never met. Nonetheless, theirs was a close relationship, and it lies at the heart of the exhibition Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens, and the excellent accompanying book.Groundwater, Anna
-
Journal article
A late Bronze Age carp’s-tongue sword from Swettenham, Cheshire
In 2018 five fragments of an almost complete late Bronze Age copper alloy sword were recovered during metal detecting at Swettenham, Cheshire, and subsequently reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. This article outlines the discovery of the sword, its typological features and the nature of its fragmentation, as well as...Knight, Matthew G ; Oakden, Vanessa ; Jones, Ben ; Brandherm, Dirk
-
Journal article
The Ann Paludan Archive of Historical Chinese Sculptures
Anna Paludan (1928-2014) was a writer and art historian, who created an exceptional photographic archive of historical sculptures in China, accompanied by extensive research ana analysis embodied in three major books. The archive represents over thirty years of work by Ann in a subject area largely unrecognised at the time,...Cao, Qin ; Frame, Gladys
-
Journal article
Expediency of photographs to study the distribution of wildcats in South-west Asia
By compiling a wildcat catalogue of georeferenced digital photographs from Southwest Asia, we investigated the plausibility of phenotypically identifying Felis silvestris caucasica (Caucasian wildcat), Felis lybica ornata (Asiatic wildcat) and Felis lybica lybica (African wildcat) through external phenotypic traits, in order to verify their known distribution, and identify any inconsistencies...Wuest, Dina ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Ghoddousi, Arash ; Gerngross, Peter ; Barashkova, Anna …
-
Journal article
Locating Works of Art from Hamilton Palace
I would be most grateful for information about paintings and other items from Hamilton Palace for my major, eighteen-chapter book on Hamilton Palace and the collections of the Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon from about 1600 to the present day, which will be published by National Museums Scotland.Evans, Godfrey
-
Journal article
A new genus and species of gall midges the tribe Winnertziini (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae, Porricondylinae) from lower Eocene Fushun amber from China
The new taxon, Fushuniola mai Fedotova & Perkovsky, gen. et sp. nov., is described from a single female from the lower Eocene (Ypresian) Fushun amber from China. This is the second record of Cecidomyiidae known from Fushun amber. The first record is Cecidomyia bujunensis Naora. The new species is characterized... -
Journal article
Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2021
This is a supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography covering taxa described or recorded during 2021, plus a few earlier records that were missed previously. Up to the end of 2021, 2,198 species were recorded from Kachin amber of which 337 were named in 2021. Five species...Ross, Andrew J
Amber , Burmese , Invertebrates , Myanmar , Plants, Cretaceous, Vertebrates , Arachnids , and Insects
-
Journal article
An annotated list of Lonchaeidae (Diptera) from China, Cambodia and Vietnam with description of a new species
A preliminary list of 14 species of the family Lonchaeidae recorded from Cambodia, China and Vietnam is given. Silba filamenta sp. n. is described from North-East China. New country records are provided for three species of Lonchaea Fallén, 1820 and two species of Silba Macquart, 1851.MacGowan, Iain ; Barták, M ; Honorary Research Associate, National Museums of Scotland, Collection Centre, 242 West Granton Road, Edinburgh EH5 1JA, United Kingdom
-
Journal article
Holidaying behind the Iron Curtain: The material culture of tourism in Cold War Eastern Europe
During the Twentieth Century, foreign travel underwent a process of democratisation. Increasingly, through the development of package holidays to ever more far-flung destinations, leisure tourism for the first time allowed ordinary people to experience different cultures first hand. With the increased availability and affordability of foreign travel, actively promoted by...Wilkins, Carys
Cold War, Scotland, Eastern Europe, Friendship Society, and Souvenir
-
Journal article
Abnormal (Hydroxy)proline Deuterium Content Redefines Hydrogen Chemical Mass
Analyzing the δ2H values in individual amino acids of proteins extracted from vertebrates, we unexpectedly found in some samples, notably bone collagen from seals, more than twice as much deuterium in proline and hydroxyproline residues than in seawater. This corresponds to at least 4 times higher δ2H than in any...Gharibi, Hassan ; Chernobrovkin, Alexey L ; Eriksson, Gunilla ; Saei, Amir Ata ; Timmons, Zena …
Biopolymers, Ions, Hydrogen , Peptides , Anatomy, proteins, and isotopes
-
Journal article
Drug jars from Edinburgh Castle and the associated Burgh
This paper seeks to investigate aspects of the form, manufacture, and possible provenance of drug jars from excavations carried out at Edinburgh Castle, and set them in their wider context by studying comparable jars from other sites across Edinburgh's Old Town, both physically and scientifically, using Plasma spectrometry (ICP). They...Haggarty, George ; Hughes, Mike ; McLaren, Dawn
-
Journal article
Genetic examination of historical North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) bone specimens from the eastern North Atlantic: Insights into species history, transoceanic population structure, and genetic diversity
Species monitoring and conservation is increasingly challenging under current climate change scenarios. For the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) this challenge is heightened by the added effects of complicated and uncertain past species demography. Right whales once had a much wider distribution across the North Atlantic Ocean, although the...Frasier, Brenna A ; Springate, Leah ; Frasier, Timothy R ; Brewington, Seth ; Carruthers, Martin …
-
Journal article
A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight1,2 and include the largest flying animals in Earth history.3,4 While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes (wingspans ca. <1.8–1.6 m) from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic,...Jagielska, Natalia ; O’Sullivan, Michael ; Funston, Gregory F ; Butler, Ian B ; Challands, Thomas J …
-
Journal article
A fifteenth-century hoard from Muthill, Perthshire
A hoard comprising twenty-three Scottish and English groats and half-groats (Plates 7-8) was recovered in 2017 during metal-detecting in the vicinity of Muthill, Perthshire. The coins were claimed as Treasure Trove (TT 39/18) and allocated to National Museums ScotlandHolmes, N M
-
Journal article
A short cross hoard from Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire
A hoard of thirty-two Short cross pennies and one cut halfpenny was recovered by metal-detectorists at Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire, in 2019. It is currently being assesses for Treasure Trove purposes, and has the temporary designation TTDB 2019/334. All but three of the coins were English, with just one Scottish penny of...Holmes, N M McQ.
-
Journal article
Monumental Record
In 2013 archaeologists uncovered what has since been called ‘the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century’: hundreds of papyrus fragments dating to the last years of King Khufu’s reign (c.2500 BC) at the oldest harbour in Egypt, a site on the Red Sea coast called Wadi al-Jarf.Potter, Daniel M
-
Journal article
The Statue of a Sistrum-Player in Montrose and Her Position in an Early Ptolemaic Theban Priestly Family
This article is the publication of an indurated limestone standing statue, now in Montrose Museum (ANGUSalive M1980.4578), identified as a Sistrum-player. The statue was collected in 1834 by Dr James Burnes IV, a relative of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, during a journey from India to Scotland. Stylistic features of...Potter, Daniel M
Karnak, priesthood, Scotland, Thebes, prosopography, and Ptolemaic sculpture
-
Journal article
Gold in Britain’s auriferous regions, 2450–800 BC
Incorruptible and brilliant, and shining like the sun, gold has always attracted attention. From its earliest known use at Varna around 4500 BC, this metal has been utilised to make some of the finest objects humans have ever possessed. Gold use, and the know-how to work it, arrived in Britain...Knight, Matthew G ; Sheridan, J A ; Horak, Jana
-
Journal article
‘Where is the Ship Which From the Ceiling Hung?’ Ghost Ships: The ship models missing from Scotland’s churches
A recent survey of the surviving ship models in Scottish churches has identified an interesting chronological gap, an absence which has created the impression that ship models in Scotland’s churches are a nineteenth-century phenomenon. Existing older models from the seventeenth century have been dismissed as anomalies harking back to pre-Reformation...Greiling, Meredith
Shipmaster , Seafarer societies, ship models, Scottish churches, votive ships, and model-makers
-
Journal article
Jewellery and Covid-19
Over the last 18 months the pandemic has affected many areas of life, with society witnessing huge changes globally, and museums acquiring artefacts and works of art, design and crat that reflected and responded to the impact of covid-19. In my own organisation, the approach has focused on a range...Rothwell, Sarah
-
Journal article
Collecting Covid
Rothwell, Sarah
-
Journal article
The Caquetoire Chair in Scotland
Jackson, Stephen
-
Journal article
Bill measurements aid sub-specific identification of Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Britain
Wing length has been used by researchers to separate the resident British subspecies of Great Spotted Woodpecker from migrants from Fennoscandia, though some degree of overlap exists with this character. In this study, specimens at National Museums of Scotland (NMS) show that bill shape aids subspecific identification, confirming that Fennoscandian...Dougall, T W ; McGowan, R Y
-
Journal article
Hugh’s printing protégé becomes his publisher. The story of Alexander Strachan or Strahan, publisher of The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller.
I am researching Hugh Miller’s unusual publishing arrangements, including the frequency with which his firm, Miller & Fairly, printed his books for their Edinburgh publishers before and after his death. The obvious exception is Peter Bayne’s family-approved The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller (1871), printed in London for Strahan...Taylor, Michael A
-
Journal article
Dating the publication of Hugh Miller’s The testimony of the rocks (1857)
Assessing the precise publication dates of nineteenth-century books is difficult. Common problems include inadequate, inaccurate and confusing title-page information, and misleading advertisements. It is better to use multiple lines of evidence rather than a single source. The first Scottish and English edition of The testimony of the rocks, by Hugh...Taylor, Michael A ; O’Connor, R ; Overstreet, L K
-
Journal article
The unusual printing and publishing arrangements of Hugh Miller (1802–1856)
John Johnstone was an Edinburgh printer and publisher, from 1849 in partnership with Robert Hunter. In 1839, Johnstone and the printer Robert Fairly established a separate firm, Johnstone & Fairly, to publish the Witness, a newspaper edited by the geologist Hugh Miller. The firm became Miller & Fairly in 1844...Taylor, Michael A
-
Journal article
Peelhill Farm: a possible Late Bronze Age weapon sacrifice in Lanarkshire
The hoard of bronze weapons found in 1961 at Peelhill Farm in South Lanarkshire remains one of the most remarkable discoveries of Late Bronze Age metalwork from Scotland, its importance reflected in the detailed account of the find published by John Coles and Jack Scott in 1963. In the present...Mörtz, Tobias ; Knight, Matthew G ; Cowie, Trevor ; Flint, Jane
Late Bronze Age, Hoard, Conflict, Ritual, and Weapons
-
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
-
Journal article
A survey of Roman, medieval and post-medieval coin finds from Scotland 2011–15
Coins from 235 locations across Scotland are listed and discussed.Savage, Carl E ; Freeman, Emily A ; Paul, Ella B
Archaeology, Medieval, Numismatics, Coins, Post medieval, and Roman
-
Journal article
Review of: Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano and Juan Carlos Sánchez-León: Le Premier Nome du sud de l’Égypte au Moyen Empire, Fouilles de la mission espagnole à Qoubbet el-Haoua (Assouan) 2008–2018
At the First Cataract of the Nile in southern Egypt, the sandstone hill of Qubbet el-Hawa is the site of a large necropolis, most notably home to the tombs of local ruling officials (c. 2345–1795 BCE), as well as other burials dating up to the Roman period, a Coptic church...Maitland, Margaret
-
-
Journal article
Luffia lapidella (Goeze, 1783) (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) proved to be the host of Choeras gielisi van Achterberg (Braconidae: Microgastrinae), new to Britain
Choeras gielisi is recorded from Britain for the first time, on the basis of two female and two male specimens reared solitarily from sexual and parthenogenetic forms of the Luffia lapidella at different sites. These rearings, the first with clear host detemination, provide strong evidence that the type specimen of...Shaw, Mark R
-
Journal article
Capturing decorative art - the work of Frances Priest
Within this article I hope to highlight and explore the progression of the practice of Edinburgh-based ceramic artist, Frances Priest, through works held by National Museums Scotland, and her most recent public commission for the city's Royal Edinburgh Hospital. I shall discuss her enduring passion for The Grammar of Ornament,...Rothwell, Sarah
-
Newspaper article
Climate change: The answers to our greener future might just lie in the past
Climate change information is everywhere: billionaires write books about it, and social media is aflame. A bewildering array of data and opinions assault us from all sides, but as a science curator, my favourite place to learn about our environment is in museums.Alberti, Samuel J M M
Edinburgh, Scotland, and Climate Change
-
Journal article
Exhibition Review: Mary Quant, Curated by Jenny Lister and Stephanie Wood for The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London, England and V&A Dundee, Scotland, 27 August 2020–24 December 2020
Curated by Jenny Lister and Stephanie Wood for The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London, England and Dundee, Scotland. Reviewed by Georgina RipleyRipley, Georgina
-
Journal article
Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis in captive gorillas (Gorilla Spp.): Appearance and diagnosis
Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a disorder of unknown cause, in which new bone forms in soft tissues attached to the skeleton. Originally described in humans, in whom it is quite common, it is usually asymptomatic. New bone may completely bridge across joints, especially in the spine. However, it...Livingstone, Brian ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hull, Gordon ; Schwarz, Tobias ; Vijayanathan, Sanjay …
-
Journal article
Machine learning ATR-FTIR spectroscopy data for the screening of collagen for ZooMS analysis and mtDNA in archaeological bone
Faunal remains from archaeological sites allow for the identification of animal species that enables the better understanding of the relationships between humans and animals, not only from their morphological information, but also from the ancient biomolecules (lipids, proteins, and DNA) preserved in these remains for thousands and even millions of... -
Journal article
Small carnivorans, museums and zoos
Small carnivorans are generally poorly represented in zoos, probably because they are small, mostly nocturnal and solitary hunters. However, there is limited knowledge about the ecology and behaviour of a large number of these and many species are threatened with extinction or their conservation status is poorly known or even...Kitchener, Andrew C
museums , zoo, small carnivoran , research , taxonomy , conservation , collection, anatomy , and biobanking
-
Journal article
‘Tuesday Morning’, the schoolboy and Mann early medieval burials at Holm Park near Ballantrae, Ayrshire, Scotland
The rediscovery of human remains, correspondence and other unpublished excavation archival material in the Glasgow Museums collection of Ludovic McLellan Mann prompted the reappraisal of a short archaeological investigation undertaken in April 1931 at Holm Park, near Ballantrae, Ayrshire, by a schoolboy, Eric French and his biology teacher, William Hoyland....Finlay , Nyree ; Duffy , Paul ; Dene, Wright ; Maldonado, Adrián ; Cerón-Carrasco, Ruby
Inhumation burial, Mesolithic, Dog whelk shells, and Historiography
-
Journal article
Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, and the Great Storm of 1824
During the Great Storm of 1824, the house and fossil shop of Mary Anning (1799-1847), fossil collector of Lyme Regis, in Cockmoil Square, was supposedly flooded. The popular but physically unlikely story is probably based on misreading Anning's report of flooding in her brother Joseph's premises, and copying a tale...Taylor, Michael A
-
Journal article
Emmeline Hastings: otherworldly jewels
I remember the day I first encountered the work of Emmeline Hastings. It was in the wonderfully titled Not Too Precious exhibition of 25 international artists, who, as curator Dr Elizabeth Goring stated in the introduction to the catalogue, represented those makers who were ‘dedicated to using materials for their...Rothwell, Sarah
-
Journal article
The Graham Gadd collection of furniture ephemera
National Museums Scotland recently received a donation of furniture related items from RFS member Graham Gadd.Jackson, Stephen
-
Journal article
Collecting COVID-19 at National Museums Scotland
This opinion piece discusses National Museums Scotland’s first responses to collecting COVID-19. Drawing on perspectives from social history, biomedical science and military history, this short paper contextualizes COVID-related collecting within the contexts of the organization’s programme of contemporary collecting and the nation’s ongoing socio-political journey.Laurenson, Sarah ; Robertson, Calum ; Goggins, Sophie
Scotland, Contemporary collecting, social history, military history, and medical history
-
Journal article
Carlisle Museum's Natural History Record Bureau, 1902–1912: Britain's first local environmental records centre
Carlisle Museum's Natural History Record Bureau, Britain's first local environmental records centre, collected and collated records, mainly of birds but including also mammals and fishes, from amateur naturalists. It initially covered an area of 80 kilometres around Carlisle, and later from Cumberland, Westmorland and the detached portion of Lancashire north...