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Lecture
“Metal detecting in Scotland: understanding the extent, it’s character & opportunities for engagement”
Dr Natasha Ferguson, Treasure Trove Unit, National Museums Scotland, and Kevin Munro, Historic Environment Scotland, present a short interactive lecture on “Metal detecting in Scotland: Understanding the extent, it’s character & opportunities for engagement” at the Archaeological Research in Progress (ARP 2017) national day conference on Saturday 27th May 2017...Ferguson, Natasha ; Munro, Kevin
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Lecture
An Egyptian Luxury in Roman Scotland
Discover how research and collecting at National Museums Scotland is reshaping understandings of Scotland's past as we take a closer look at a very special Roman object with surprising Egyptian origins.Hughes, Bettany ; Hunter, Fraser ; Potter, Dan
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Lecture
Making sense of silver: the hacking of the Traprain Treasure
RSE Project: Narratives of Roman Scotland in the Digital Age. Organisers: Manuel Fernández-Götz, Chiara Bonacchi and Rebecca JonesHunter, Fraser
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Selective fragmentation: exploring the treatment of metalwork across time and space in Bronze Age Britain
At the end of October the department was the host of a workshop on the topic of fragmentation in archaeological context. The meeting, which was organized by the PAG (Postdoctoral Archaeological Group) at the department of Archaeology and Classical Studies, gathered about 15 participants from various parts of Europe. Postdoctoral...Knight, Matthew
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Roman silver transformed: Hacksilber, its nature, uses and effects
Of the various forms of precious metal in the Roman world, Hacksilber is perhaps the least glamorous. These cut and crushed fragments of silver have received much less attention than intact plate or coinage. Yet they can cast fresh light on the ways in which precious metal was used in...Hunter, Fraser
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Brough of Birsay revisited: a new look at the Pictish workshop
Maldonado, Adrián
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Lecture
“Piece Offerings”: the Destruction and Deposition of Metalwork in Bronze Age Britain?
The destruction and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork took many forms. Weapons were decommissioned and thrown into rivers; axes were fragmented and piled in hoards; and ornaments were crushed, contorted and placed in certain landscapes. There are many such examples from south-west Britain. But what did these practices mean to...Knight, Matthew G
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Lecture
A new Late Bronze Age sword from Swettenham, Cheshire, and its wider context Swettenham
This lecture was delivered by Matt Knight, Senior Curator of Prehistory, National Museums of Scotland, with Vanessa Oakden, Oakden In 2018 five fragments of an almost complete late Bronze Age copper-alloy sword were recovered during metal detecting at Swettenham, Cheshire. The sword falls within the ‘transitional’ group of carp’s-tongue swords...Knight, Matthew ; Oakden, Vanessa ; Jones, Ben ; Brandherm, Dirk
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Abstract
Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard: Object Biographies in the Galloway Hoard
The stereotype of Viking-age hoards in Britain is that they are products of an international context of mobility, migration and raiding, buried at times of stress or under duress. Initially heralded as a ‘Viking’ hoard par excellence, the ongoing conservation and research on the Galloway Hoard from southwest Scotland continues...Goldberg, Martin ; Davis, Mary
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Lecture
Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard
The Galloway Hoard contains an unusual variety of materials and artefact types beyond the silver bullion so often found in Viking-age hoards. The find included heirlooms, ecclesiastical items (one of which names a previously unknown Northumbrian bishop), and the rare preservation of organic materials wrapping parcels and distinct groups. A...Goldberg, Martin
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Conference paper (unpublished)
Where are all the ‘Elites’? Hallstatt C metalwork from Britain and connections with the Continent
It is well-established that, in contrast to many parts of the Continent, Britain lacks clear evidence of ostentatious funerary practices so, as a result, evidence of elites during the Hallstatt C period is largely circumstantial. Many bronze and a few iron objects of the Llyn Fawr metalwork assemblage remain some...Knight, Matthew ; O'Connor, Brendan
Halstatt C, hoards, metalwork, bronze swords, socketed axeheads, Llyn Fawr , Early Iron Age, rapezoidal razors, and chapes
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Lecture
Destruction and Deposition at Duddingston Loch
Dr Matthew Knight is a Senior Curator of Prehistory at the National Museums Scotland, responsible for the Scottish Chalcolithic and Bronze Age collections. Matthew completed his BSc and MA at the University of Exeter between 2009 and 2014, during which he explored links between Bronze Age metalworking evidence, settlement activities...Knight, Matthew
Research, swords, spearheads, Archaeology, and Bronze Age
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Abstract
Presenting a complex hoard deposit – the Galloway Hoard
The Galloway Hoard is the focus of an ongoing research project at National Museums Scotland examining a complex Viking-age deposit composed of multiple parcels, with organic preservation and a variety of materials (gold, silver, copper-alloy, glass, rock crystal, minerals, leather, wood, wool, silk, linen, and animal gut). There may be...Goldberg, Martin
Viking-age hoards, Galloway Hoard , rock crystal, minerals, wool, research project, wood, animal gut, silk, linen, gold, copper-alloy, leather, silver, and glass
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Abstract
Revisiting the fragmentation revolution
Fragments are commonly encountered in the archaeological record. Historically, broken things have been considered scrap or rubbish resulting from accidental processes. However, during recent decades archaeologists have come to recognise acts of deliberate fragmentation, and fragments themselves, as performing a range of important roles in the past. A key moment...Knight, Matthew G ; Chittock, Helen
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Abstract
Exploring literal and conceptual fragmentation through medieval material culture
This paper will explore meaning-rich fragmentation in a medieval context and suggest that relevant theoretical frameworks may be enriched by thinking about different kinds of deconstruction. The breaking and remaking of Christian reliquaries provide one opportunity – viewing things like the Monymusk reliquary not as one object but as many...Blackwell, Alice
Monymusk reliquary , fragmentation, Christian reliquaries, Archaeology, and deconstruction
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Lecture
Sacrifice, scrap or something else? Practices of metalwork deposition in Late Bronze Age Britain and Ireland
Throughout the Bronze Age, large quantities of metal artefacts were deposited across Europe. Interpretations often centre around whether these deposits may have been sacrificial offerings to deities or else discarded scrap metal intended for recycling. These grand ideas mask the individual decisions local communities made when depositing their objects, such...Knight, Matthew
recycle, archaeology, Bronze Age Europe, metal depositpion, worship, and sacrificial objects
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Lecture
Viking Panic? Looking for the 9-12th centuries in Argyll
The story of early medieval Argyll is told through overarching narratives: the arrival of the Scots of Dál Riata; incoming missionaries in the age of saints; and the invasions of the Vikings. A recent reassessment of the National Museums Scotland collections from this period emphasises how material culture tells a... -
Lecture
Metal Detecting and Treasure Trove in Scotland
Did you know that in Scotland, archaeological artefacts found by members of the public are considered 'Treasure Trove' and can be claimed to enable them to end up in museums. But what is Treasure Trove, and how do you make sure you're following the rules and metal detecting responsibly, in...Flynn, Sophie
Scotland, metal detecting, portable antiquities, recording and processing finds, and Treasure Trove Unit
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Lecture
The Traprain Treasure – latest research on a remarkable Roman silver hoard
The Roman Treasure from Traprain Law Excavated on Traprain Law in May 1919, this was one of the most spectacular discoveries of Roman silver ever made in Europe – and the biggest hoard found to date of ‘hacksilver’: 23kg, battered, crushed and chopped-up silver vessels. An international team of scholars...Hunter, Fraser
Late Roman Hoard, Traprain Law, East Lothian, hacksilver, elite tableware, and Silver Treasure
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Lecture
'The Viking-age Reuse of Insular Metalwork From Northern Britain'
The looting of Christian shrines and reliquaries in the Viking Age is so well-documented that it has been reduced to a cartoonish vision of pillaging heathens. A close look at the evidence for such ‘looting’ tells a different story – or rather a number of different stories. A recent reassessment...