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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
History in the balance: a newly-discovered Anglo-Saxon runic inscription from Croy, Highland
A recent reassessment of the National Museums Scotland’s Viking-age collections revealed a new runic inscription from a previously overlooked scrap of copper alloy. The Croy Hoard is a mixed collection of objects deposited in the late 9th century AD, not far from what is now Inverness Airport. The Hoard was...Maldonado, Adrián
Old English rune, Viking-age collections, Anglo-Saxon runes, Early Medieval Scotland, Runic inscription, The Croy Hoard, and Bronze balance beam
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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... -
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
'Phoebe Anna Traquair' 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.Blakey, Claire
Scottish Arts and Crafts movement, Women's History Month, and Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936)
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Magazine article
The Seafield Collection: A unique collection of arms and armour in Scotland
Within the imposing setting of Fort George in the Scottish Highlands, an impressive collection of weaponry and equipment is displayed in the eighteenth century Grand Magazine (figure 1). All the objects on display relate to the short-lived service of units raised in the 1790s by the landowner, politician, and hereditary...Robertson, Calum
Clan Grant, Castle Grant, arms and armour, Scotland, digitisation, and Seafield Collection
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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
textiles, leather, golf, Galloway Hoard, organic and inorganic artefacts, and silver
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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
Scottish heart brooches a re-evaluation of the luckenbooth
This article presents a study of Scottish heart brooches, primarily from the 18th century, using the collections of the National Museums Scotland, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, the Highland Folk Museum and those reported to the Treasure Trove Unit. By researching over 350 heart brooches it has been possible to...McGill, Lyndsay
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Newspaper article
Shedding new light on some of Scotland's greatest Roman silver treasures - Dr Fraser Hunter
One of the greatest treasures on display in the National Museum of Scotland is the late Roman silver hoard from Traprain Law in East Lothian, which fills three cases in the Early People gallery. Found in excavations in 1919, it’s been on display pretty much constantly since 1920. Now, more...Hunter, Fraser
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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
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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
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Journal article
Matriarchal Journeys: Identity and Generational Exchange in the Travels of Lady Grisell Baillie and Margaret Calderwood of Polton, <i>c.</i> 1730–1757
In 1731 Lady Grisell Baillie began a tour through Europe to Naples with her husband, two daughters, son-in-law and eldest granddaughter. Prompted by an order abroad for her son-in-law’s health, the journey to and from Naples took in cultural sites and offered unique opportunities for shopping. In 1756 Margaret Calderwood...Taylor, Emily
Scotland, women, dress, learning, shopping, and 18th century
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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
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
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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
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
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
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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
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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
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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
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
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Journal article
Collecting Covid
Rothwell, Sarah
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Journal article
The Caquetoire Chair in Scotland
Jackson, Stephen
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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
Quaichs: From monarchy to miners, and marriage too
McGill, Lyndsay
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Journal article
‘Cannel coal bangle’ , In McGalliard, S, & Wilson, D 2021 Bronze Age and Iron Age Archaeology at Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire: An Investigation of Structures and Funerary Practices
Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd was commissioned by Axiom Project Services to undertake an archaeological excavation in advance of a commercial development at Thainstone Business Park, Aberdeenshire. Excavation identified the remains of a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse and a contemporary urned cremation cemetery. Evidence of Late Bronze Age cremation practices was...Hunter, Fraser
Cemetery, Structure, Souterrain, Settlement, Roundhouse, Bronze Age, Cremation, Urn, and Iron Age
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Journal article
‘Pottery’, In McGalliard, S, & Wilson, D 2021 Bronze Age and Iron Age Archaeology at Thainstone Business Park, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire: An Investigation of Structures and Funerary Practices
Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd was commissioned by Axiom Project Services to undertake an archaeological excavation in advance of a commercial development at Thainstone Business Park, Aberdeenshire. Excavation identified the remains of a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse and a contemporary urned cremation cemetery. Evidence of Late Bronze Age cremation practices was...Cruickshanks, Gemma
Urn, Structure, Souterrain, Settlement, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Cremation, Cemetery, and Roundhouse
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Journal article
The Cold War in European museums – filling the ‘empty battlefield’
Recent historical research has analysed the Cold War as an ‘imaginary war’, an interpretation that poses specific challenges for displaying the conflict in museums. In contrast to well-established representations of the First and Second World Wars in exhibitions, we find that the nature of the Cold War in Europe and...Alberti, Samuel J M M ; Nehring, Holger
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Journal article
’A place where eternally blossoming roses grow’: The garden in Iranian textiles
In his monumental epic poem, the Shahnameh, or ‘Book of Kings’, Ferdowsi (b. 940) compared his homeland Iran with the abundance of a garden in spring, full of pomegranates, apples and quinces, and a place where eternally blossoming roses and narcissuses grow. (1) Gardens are a frequent topic in Iranian...Voigt, Friederike
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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
'The faience beads' In: T. Woolhouse, A 'persistent place': late Mesolithic flint working, Early Bronze Age burials, Iron Ages settlement and a Roman farmstead at The Street, Easton
Excavations adjacent to The Street, Easton found evidence for human activity spanning some seven millennia, from the Late Mesolithic (c.6500–4000 BC) to the end of the Romano-British period, with probably continuous occupation on or near the site for at least a thousand years between the Early Iron Age (c.800–600 BC)...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
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
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Journal article
21st-century Buffalo Boys: Intersectional approaches to the complexities of modern masculinity
Scottish-born stylist, Ray Petri, founder of the maverick Buffalo Collective, defined the look and feel of the radical fashion magazines such as i-D, The Face and Arena. The Buffalo Boy look pioneered a more sexually ambiguous form of fashion iconography, undermining the putative immutability of normative codes of gender and...Ripley, Georgina
Buffalo collective, gender, queer Black masculinity, Black sexuality, Campbell Addy, intersectionality, and Ibrahim Kamara
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Journal article
Conserving 18th-century shoes National Museums Scotland
A pair of women's shoes dated c.1730-1760, was recently conserved for display in the Fashion and Style gallery at National musuems ScotlandConnolly, Danielle
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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
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Journal article
Dryleys Pottery, Montrose
While cataloguing pottery from a private collection for an exhibition in the City of Edinburgh Museum, I realised just how little was known about a yellow galzed moulded jug marked "D Crowe/Montrose". I therefore decided to research the pottery and its wares.Haggarty, George R
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Journal article
A Scottish stoneware jug
In 2001 National Museums Scotland (NMS) acquired an elaborately decorated but unmarked stoneware jug, which was tentatively linked to Newbigging Pottery in Musselburgh. Over the last year exhibition research has shed light on documentary evidemce, linking the jug to the pottery at Newbigging.Hynes, Adrienne
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Journal article
Investigating the Traprain Law Roman treasure
National Museums Scotland has one of the most important late Roman treasures in Europe, the Traprain Treasure, found in 1919 on Traprain Law, East Lothian, a hill top some 20 miles east of Edinburgh. The treasure is the largest and most important hoard of late Roman silver from beyond the...Tate, Jim ; Troalen, Lore
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Journal article
The early evolution of the tappit hen
The recent discovery of three pewter tappit hen measures from the excavation of a ship sunk off Mull in 1653 has enabled us to deduce something of the origins of this eponymous Scottish measure. They are of Scots pint, chopin and half-mutchkin capacity, and they display several hitherto unrecognised features....Davies, Peter ; Dalgleish, George ; Lamb, David
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Journal article
West Pans: excavations at a ceramic production site in Musselburgh, East Lothian
Excavations were undertaken in 1981 and 1990–1 at the site of the 18th-/19th-century ceramics manufacturing complex of West Pans, near Musselburgh. The foundations of several structures were uncovered although many proved impossible to interpret or date. Several puddling pits, most of them quite small, were identified, as was part of...Lewis, John ; Cobo del Arco, Belen ; Eremin, Katherine ; Forbes, Shiela ; Gallagher, Denis …
kiln, ceramics, William Littler, and puddling pits
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Journal article
Ceramic traditions - the evidence from clay sampling at two late prehistoric sites: Birnie (Moray) and Traprain Law (East Lothian), Scotland
Clay sampling in archaeological studies has predominantly been used to answer questions of the provenance of ceramic materials, but recent literature has increasingly focused on further issues concerning material choices and selection (e.g. Martineau et al. 2007). These studies have often highlighted social mechanisms behind the selection of clays and...Sahlén , Daniel
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Journal article
Scottish East Coast Transfer Printed Wares
In this paper I will use both extant examples and shards recovered archaeologically to highlight what evidence we have, for production of transfer printed wares, by the potteries situated between Portobello and PrestonpansHaggarty, George R
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Journal article
Italian pottery in Scotland
John Hurst, in his seminal paper on Italian pottery imported into Britain and Ireland, stated that ‘pottery datable between the thirteenth and twentieth centuries, has been found on over one hundred sites in Britain and Ireland but did not reach Scotland' (Hurst 1991, 212). In an attempt to up-date the...Haggarty, George R
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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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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
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
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
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
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
The Old State Drawing Room from Hamilton Palace at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
This article examines one of the most important rooms from Scotland’s largest and greatest private residence, which has been transferred from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and installed as a focal point in the centre of one of the ten new galleries in the National Museum of Scotland,...Evans, Godfrey ; Stable, Charles
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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 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
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
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
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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Quye, Anita
lac, analysis, liquid chromatography, dyes, madder, Cochineal, and kermes
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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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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
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 study of pollution-induced glass deterioration
White crystalline deposits were present on a large number of 19th and 20th century British glass artefacts in the National Museums of Scotland collections. Analysis of these deposits by ion chromatography showed that sodium and formate were the dominant ions. Raman spectroscopy identified sodium formate anhydrate phase II as the...Robinet, L ; Eremin, Katherine ; Cobo del Arco, B ; Gibson, L T
sodium formate, glass corrosion, ion chromatography, pollutant gas, and micro‐Raman spectroscopy
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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
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
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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