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Journal article
Not so hidden messages
The written word is a powerful and persuasive tool that can inspire and revolt in equal measure. Equally, jewellery has the power to spread messages and has been used for generations to declare an individual’s position of allegiance or defiance. By incorporating a message, slogan or symbol, a jewel becomes...Rothwell, Sarah
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Journal article
We need to encourage a plurality of voices in collections-based research
Stories have too narrow a perspective, says John Giblin and Phoenix ArcherGiblin, John ; Archer, Phoenix
Exchange, African, Caribbean and South Asian diaspora heritage communities, Museology, Colonial Histories and Legacies, and Collections Research
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Journal article
Newly-discovered pilgrim souvenirs fit for a saintly queen
Lydia Prosser and Robert Webley take a look at the implications of the exciting discovery of a pair of medieval Scottish pilgrim badges. How did these items find their way to Cambridgeshire and what can this tell us about the use of such badges in the Middle Ages?Prosser, Lydia ; Webley, Robert
cult, metal detecting, Medieval Scotland, Fordham, Cambridgeshire, pilgrim badges, Portable Antiquities Scheme, and Saint Margaret of Scotland
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Journal article
Framing colonial war loot: The ‘captured’ spolia opima of Kunwar Singh
This article investigates the provenance of four artefacts associated with the military commander Kunwar Singh (1777–1858), who fought a guerrilla campaign against the British during the Indian Uprising of 1857–8. By analysing how these objects were documented and inscribed, it can be shown that, through the invocation of what is... -
Journal article
Collecting the nation in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1832–91
The sixty-year period from 1832 to 1891 was key to the development of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and its museum, during which time its collection was transferred to national ownership and greater emphasis began to be placed on social and cultural history. This article analyses acquisition data to... -
Journal article
Nostalgia in the prehistoric archaeological record
Evidence from the prehistoric archaeological record clearly shows that ancient societies had a sense of and engaged with their own histories, be it by reusing, re-appropriating or recreating past material culture. The affective qualities of materials, places and even human remains would have enabled people to remember and connect with...Knight, Matthew G
material culture, human remains, reuse, materials, prehistoric archaeological record, recreation, and re-appropriation
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Journal article
A previously unrecorded 'British Victory' type for Septimius Severus
Most people with an interest in the history of the Roman period in Britain will be aware of the series of coins struck in the names of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons, Caracalla and Geta, following military campaigns carried out against native tribes in present-day Scotland during the...Holmes, N M McQ.
coins, Rome mint, military campaigns in Scotland, and Septimius Severus
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Magazine article
'Mary, Queen of Scots' In: Herstory - women who changed the world
To mark Women's History Month, female curators at National Museums Scotland have each selected an inspiration woman represented in the collection. From entomologist to artist to queen, their legacy lives on.Groundwater, Anna
Women's History Month, The Mary, Queen of Scots Casket, tomb, Monarchy, and Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587)
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Magazine article
'The 'Qurna Queen' In: Herstory - women who changed the world
To mark Women's History Month, female curators at National Museums Scotland have each selected an inspiration woman represented in the collection. From entomologist to artist to queen, their legacy lives on.Maitland, Margaret
Archaeology, Women's History Month, Nubia, gold jewellery, gilded coffin, Excavations in Egypt, and Qurna Queen
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Journal article
GLASS BANGLES IN THE BRITISH ISLES: A STUDY OF TRADE, RECYCLING AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES AD
Glass bangles are found in southern England and Wales from the mid-first century and become common in the north of England and southern Scotland in the late first century, before their numbers decline a century later. British bangles develop at a time of change, as Roman glassmaking practices were introduced...Paynter, Sarah ; Crew, Peter ; Campbell, Richard ; Hunter, Fraser ; Jackson, Caroline
Late Iron Age , Roman , glass bangle , artefact and material culture studies , archaeometry , and Britain
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Journal article
Gerhard Bersu in Scotland, and his excavations at Traprain Law in context
Bersu’s excavations on the hillfort of Traprain Law in south-east Scotland are reviewed in the light of his British and Irish digs and other work on the hill itself. It differs from the rest of his British excavations, which mostly focussed on houses, but is entirely in keeping with his...Hunter, Fraser ; Armit, Ian ; Dunwell, Andrew
Scotstarvit, League of Prehistorians, hillfort , O. G. S. Crawford , Traprain Law, Vere Gordon Childe, and roundhouses
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Journal article
Experiment, Experience and Enchant: Knowledge sharing between museums and contemporary practitioners
Knowledge sharing between contemporary practitioners and museum professionals can be more than just investigating how something is made. It is also about working together to understand why an object was created, and by whom; how each artefact has a story to tell, of its journey through time and the places...Maldonado, Adrián ; Rothwell, Sarah
sculpture, knowledge sharing, The Glenmorangie Commission, contemporary practitioners, museums, and Simone ten Hompel
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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
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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
Textile , Mineralisation, Silver, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Microscopy, Copper corrosion, Viking age, and Anglo-Saxon
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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
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Journal article
'Polished stone axehead' In: Claire Christie, Magnar Dalland. The excavation of a prehistoric settlement at Lower Slackbuie, Inverness
The expansion of Inverness southwards has led to the uncovering of a landscape rich in archaeological activity, dating from the Neolithic period onwards. The abundance of archaeological evidence as been interpreted as indicating that the area was a hub for prehistoric activity (Hatherley & Murray 2021). The excavation of an...Anderson-Whymark, Hugo
Grooved Ware, axe, linseed, scraper, flax, palisade, roundhouse, Carinated Bowl, and bangle
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Journal article
“Balure Dun”
The site at Balure, until relatively recently, was unrecognised as a dun structure, although it had been noted by Forestry Commission operatives as an enclosure and/or cairn and recorded as such on the Forestry Commission’s Heritage database for North Knapdale Forest.Regan, Roddy ; Campbell, Ewan ; Ballin, Torben ; Sheridan, J A ; Cressey, Michael
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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
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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
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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
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Journal article
Scientists, collectors and illustrators: the roles of women in the Palaeontographical Society
Women have taken on a range of roles in scientific societies since the early twentieth century. The oldest society dedicated to palaeontology, the Palaeontographical Society, was established in 1847 principally for the publication of monographs on British fossils. Since its foundation, women have been involved, initially as collectors and illustrators,... -
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
queenship, Jacobites, Stuarts, royal image, and material culture
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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
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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
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Journal article
Reintroducing the Vikings into Scotland’s story
Dr Adrián Maldonado takes another look at the formation of Scotland, to ask whether we should recalibrate our image of the 'Vikings' to include more than just people of Norse decentMaldonado, Adrián
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Journal article
An Iron Age burial with a polished stone disc from Baledgarno, Perth and Kinross
A polished stone disc which has long lurked in Dundee Museum’s collections is identified as a rare example associated with an Iron Age burial. This was an occasional but recurrent rite during the Roman Iron Age, with parallels further up the E coast as far as Shetland. Where the burial...Hunter, Fraser
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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
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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
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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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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
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Journal article
Iona in the Viking Age: laying a ‘zombie narrative’ to rest
The traditional story of Iona’s early medieval monastery ends in tragedy and bloodshed, with the religious community wiped out by vicious Viking raiders. Increasingly, though, the archaeological and historical evidence does not support this persistent narrative, as Adrián Maldonado, Ewan Campbell, Thomas Owen Clancy, and Katherine Forsyth report.Maldonado, Adrián ; Campbell, Ewan ; Thomas Owen, Clancy ; Forsyth, Katherine
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Journal article
Social hierarchy and the choice of metal recycling at Anyang, the last capital of Bronze Age Shang China
Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts,...Liu, Ruiliang ; Pollard, A Mark ; Cao, Qin ; Liu, Cheng ; Sainsbury, Victoria …
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Journal article
Ancient DNA in Ireland: isolation, migration and elite incest
Ten thousand years ago, Ireland, Britain and the adjacent continent were already sharing connections while developing separate histories and identities. Ancient DNA has brought poweful new ways of exploring these worlds, as Lara Cassidy shows with a new genomic study of hunters and early farmers.Cassidy, Lara ; Sheridan, J A
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Journal article
Poolewe: The last Bronze Age hoard in Scotland?
In 1877, a hoard of nine copper alloy objects was recovered from a peat bog at Poolewe, Scotland, including axeheads, rings and an ornament. For the first time since its discovery, this article publishes the hoard in its entirety, including an assessment of typological features, full illustration and metallurgical analysis....Knight, Matthew G ; Boughton, Dot ; Northover, J Peter
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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
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Journal article
Torwood Broch: the reassessment of a Complex Atlantic Roundhouse near Falkirk
This paper presents the first modern account of Torwood’s artefact assemblage and the most accurate survey of the site to date. These are combined with the results of a small-scale excavation on a newly discovered outer rampart and the publication for the first time of a reused concentric ring-marked stone... -
Journal article
Combined visual and biochemical analyses confirm depositor and diet for Neolithic coprolites from Skara Brae
Coprolites (fossilized faeces) can provide valuable insights into species’ diet and related habits. In archaeozoological contexts, they are a potential source of information on human-animal interactions as well as human and animal subsistence. However, despite a broad discussion on coprolites in archaeology, such finds are rarely subject to detailed examination... -
Journal article
A decorated carved stone ball and associated lithic scatter from the Blackford Estate, Sheriffmuir, Perthshire
A comparatively small number of carved stone balls have precise findspots and exceptionally few have been recovered from secure archaeological contexts. The discovery of a carved stone ball in pristine condition at Sheriffmuir during tree-planting in 2017 provided the opportunity to examine an accurate findspot and explore its archaeological and...Anderson-Whymark, Hugo ; Hall, Mark
later Neolithic, carved stone ball , lithic scatter , and pitchstone
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Magazine article
The Peebles Hoard
On 21st June 2020, metal detectorist Mariusz Stepien reported a number of Late Bronze Age artefacts, including horse harness fittings, to the Treasure Trove Unit (TTU).Freeman, Emily
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Journal article
Incest uncovered at the elite prehistoric Newgrange monument in Ireland
The huge, elaborate, 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange, Ireland, is thought to have been built for a powerful elite. DNA of a man buried there reveals a case of incest. Was this a strategy to maintain a dynastic bloodline?Sheridan, Alison J
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Journal article
Post-medieval settlement in the Isle of Lewis: a study in adaptability or change?
The work of historical geographers has produced a rich literature concerning medieval and later rural settlement in Scotland. This work has frequently been used in an uncritical manner by archaeologists studying this period, often to the exclusion of developing a suitable theoretical and methodological basis for archaeological research. These models...Campbell, Stuart
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Journal article
Rethinking the Dark Age: the multiple voices of early medieval Britain
What do you picture when you think of the Dark Age. The common perception the phrase conjures is simple living and hardship. However, the sheer number of inscribed objects from this period paint another picture. Through new research methods, we are uncovering the multiple voices of early medieval Britain and...Maldonado, Adrián
literacy, Archaeology, Vikings, Symbols, Research Project, St Ninian's Isle Treasure, Glenmorangie, and Picts
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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
Kinneddar: a major ecclesiastical centre of the Picts
The early Christian sculpture from Kinneddar has long been noted as a major assemblage. New survey work by the University of Aberdeen and AOC Archaeology has identified a large vallum enclosure around the site that was renewed on at least one occasion. The vallum enclosures surrounded an area of up...Noble, Gordon ; Cruickshanks, Gemma ; Dunbar, L ; Evans, N ; Hall, Derek …
Early Christian, Sculpture, Pictish, Early medieval, Church, and vallum
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Journal article
Neolithic pits and Late Bronze Age roundhouses in the Upper Ury Valley, Aberdeenshire
Archaeological monitoring of works on a gas pipeline route in Aberdeenshire, north-west of Inverurie, resulted in the discovery and excavation of several groups of Neolithic pits and four Bronze Age roundhouses. The Neolithic pits were concentrated around the Shevock Burn, a small tributary of the Ury, and in the East...Moore, Richard ; Lingard, Claire ; Johnson, M ; Clarke, Ann ; Hastie, M …
Ring-ditch roundhouse, Impressed Ware, Neolithic pits, Bronze Age, Post-built roundhouse, and Modified Carinated Bowl
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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
From rebellion to romantic appreciation: the wearing of tartan following the Act of Proscription
Dr Rosie Waine charts the use of tartan following the repeal of the Act of Proscription, as the plaid was rehabilitated from its earlier associations with rebellion to become a popular and patriotic fashion fabric in Britain.Waine, Rosie
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Journal article
Thai ceramics
Among the museum's collection are a group of ceramics excavated from the ruins of ancient kilns at Sawankhalok in Thailand.Nicolson, Rosanna
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Journal article
Dismantling the master’s house: thoughts on representing empire and decolonising museums and public spaces in practice an introduction
Museums were both produced by and producers of the ideals that drove the growth of European empires. As such, many of the collections made during and since the colonial era are unique and powerful reflections of this history. Despite this potential, with few exceptions, object-focused critical histories of empire in...Giblin, John ; Ramos, Imma
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Journal article
Women in shunga: questions of objectification and equality
The objectification of women in art and pornography is often seen as harmful. However, Martha Nussbaum’s articulation of seven types of objectification shows how it can be benign or positive depending on the context. This paper utilizes Nussbaum’s ideas to examine the objectification of women depicted in shunga, sexually explicit...Boyd, Louise
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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
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
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
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
The Sobieski Stuarts and the Garde-Robe of Scotland
Julie Holder provides a new assessment of the celebrity brothers John and Charles Edward Sobieski Stuart, whose assertion of descent from Prince Charles Edward Stuart has tended to overshadow their important work in the study of tartan and the history of Gaelic culture.Holder, Julie
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Journal article
The Excavation: The Later Post-Medieval Period. In: Stoakley, M 2019 ‘Great fears of the sickness here in the City … God preserve us all …’ A Plague Burial Ground in Leith, 1645: an archaeological excavation at St Mary’s (Leith) RC Primary School, Leith Links, Edinburgh, Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports 86
In 2016, Wardell Armstrong undertook an archaeological excavation at St Mary’s (Leith) RC Primary School, Edinburgh. The archaeological excavation revealed four phases of activity; Phases 1 and 2 comprised coffined and uncoffined human burials. The lack of infectious pathognomic skeletal lesions, the dating of the finds, the dendrochronological analysis of...Haggarty, George ; Stoakley, Megan
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Journal article
After-hours events at the National Museum of Scotland: a product for attracting, engaging and retaining new museum audiences?
Cultural heritage is recognized as one of the major contributors to the economy and has traditionally been funded from the public sector. Operating in an increasingly competitive tourism environment, museums have moved away from their traditional role as collectors and conservators of artefacts of historical importance, to become more audience-...Easson, Hilary ; Leask, Anna
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Journal article
Wild and majestic: romantic visions of Scotland
Dr Patrick Watt provides an in-depth review of the National Museum of Scotland's new exhibition that considers changing views of the tartan and bagpipes so beloved of modern-day global audiences.Watt, Patrick
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Journal article
The deliberate destruction of Late Bronze Age socketed axeheads in Cornwall
The deliberate destruction of socketed axeheads is a common feature among Late Bronze Age finds. It is particularly noticeable in the numerous single finds and hoards that have been recovered from Cornwall recently. Interpretations have tended to focus on why these objects were damaged, with little understanding of how this...Knight, Matthew G
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Journal article
Manpower, myth and memory: analysing Scotland's military contribution to the Great War
The aim of this article is to determine what conclusions the available sources allow us to make about the nature of Scottish service and sacrifice in the Great War. The article finds that contemporary sources do not lend themselves well to statistical analysis of Scotland's manpower contribution in the Great...Watt, Patrick
Great War, Royal Navy, losses, statistics, Scotland, myth, British Army, Royal Flying Corps, memory, and military
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Journal article
Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain
The roles of migration, admixture and acculturation in the European transition to farming have been debated for over 100 years. Genome-wide ancient DNA studies indicate predominantly Aegean ancestry for continental Neolithic farmers, but also variable admixture with local Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Neolithic cultures first appear in Britain circa 4000 bc, a millennium after...Brace, Selina ; Diekmann, Yoan ; Booth, Thomas J ; Faltyskova, Zuzana ; Rohland, Nadin …
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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
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
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
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
Round robins: Scotland's Neolithic carved stone balls
Hugo Anderson-Whymark has published digital 3D models of 60 carved stone balls in the collections of National Museums Scotland. He considers these eternally puzzling Neolithic objects.Anderson-Whymark, Hugo
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Journal article
What does the future of museum learning and engagement look like?
The Museums Association is holding a one-day conference, Future of Museums: Learning and Engagement, on 27 March at the National Museum of Scotland, EdinburghAllen, Stephen
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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
Doughty Donald Ross - fighter for cleared Highlanders: Donald Ross [1813-1882], critic of the Highland Clearances and contemporary of Hugh Miller
Much has already been written about the Highland Clearances, then and since, foremost among them Hugh Miller in the Editor’s chair at The Witness, with such still famous leading articles as “Sutherland as it was and is” (1843), and by Donald Macleod and other eyewitnesses, to the savage cruelties of...Ross, Andrew
evictions, Donald Ross (1813-1882), emigration, Highland Clearances, and biography
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Journal article
‘Ava’: a Beaker-associated woman from a cist at Achavanich, Highland, and the story of her (re-)discovery and subsequent study
This contribution describes the discovery and subsequent investigation of a cist in a rock-cut pit at Achavanich, Highland. Discovered and excavated in 1987, the cist was found to contain the tightly contracted skeletal remains of a young woman, accompanied by a Beaker, three flint artefacts and a cattle scapula. Initial...Hoole, M ; Sheridan, J A ; Boyle, A ; Booth, T ; Brace, S …
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Journal article
The development of the Pictish symbol system: inscribing identity beyond the edges of Empire
The date of unique symbolic carvings, from various contexts across north and east Scotland, has been debated for over a century. Excavations at key sites and direct dating of engraved bone artefacts have allowed for a more precise chronology, extending from the third/fourth centuries AD, broadly contemporaneous with other non-vernacular...Noble, Gordon ; Goldberg, D Martin ; Hamilton, Derek
language, Scotland, Pictish, writing, carving, and symbolism
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Journal article
Embroidered stories
Helen Wyld introduces an extraordinary collection of Scottish needlework which records lives that would otherwise have been forgotten.Wyld, Helen
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Journal article
When ivory came from the seas. On some traits of the trade of raw and carved sea-mammal ivories in the Middle Ages
Even if it played a part, it is not so much the lesser availability of elephant ivory as the Norse expansion in the Northern Atlantic that brought the success of walrus ivory throughout Western Europe and far beyond. The strength of demand did not only bring the extinction of the...Dectot, Xavier
trade, walrus, Middle Ages, Iceland, narwhal, Ivory, Greenland, unicorn, and khutū
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Journal article
2. Scotland.
Hunter, Fraser
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Journal article
The complexities of Metal Detecting Policy and Practice: a response to Samuel Hardy, ‘Quantitative Analysis of Open-Source Data on Metal Detecting for Cultural Property’ (Cogent Social Sciences 3, 2017)
In his paper ‘Quantitative analysis of open-source data on metal detecting for cultural property’, Samuel Hardy suggested that permissive policy is ineffective in minimizing the damage done to cultural heritage by non-professional metal detecting. This response paper contests the basic assumptions upon which this analysis is based. While Hardy‘s comparative,... -
Journal article
Personality in fashion: case studies of localism in Eighteenth-century Scotland
Is it obvious to state that a wearer’s fashion choices result from a complex mixture of personal, local–social and international influences? What if I say the same was true for consumers in rural eighteenth-century Scotland? Contemporary fashion communities sometimes idealize and demonize their past: the idyllic time before mass consumption,...Taylor, Emily
Scotland, fashion, localism, eighteenth-century, and dress
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Journal article
Lost in translation: discussing the positive contribution of hobbyist metal detecting
This paper will consider the positive contribution from hobbyist metal detecting from both the perspective of the archaeological and metal detecting community. Are we currently opting for a path of least resistance with a ‘better than nothing’ approach to encourage reporting and to maintain good working relationships, even if it... -
Journal article
Uncovering stories of military collecting
Nicole Hartwell tells the story of a delicately embroidered Italian textile whose appearance is at odds with the tumultuous and bloody period of British Indian history to which it is connected.Hartwell, Nicole M