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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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Feasting with Latinus: the earliest Christians of Whithorn
The excavations led by the late Peter Hill at Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway are widely understood as revealing one of the earliest monasteries in Britain. New analysis and dating evidence by the Cold Case Whithorn project is forcing a rethink of the earliest phases of the sequence. A poorly-understood late... -
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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Nevil Maskelyne and the projects of 18th century astronomy
Focusing on the career and connections of the Fifth Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, this talk will look at what astronomy was for in the 18th century. From his early voyage to St Helena to his long years at Greenwich, Maskelyne was an internationally significant figure who was involved with all...Higgitt, Rebekah
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The Gold Cups of Eternal Stability and the Celebration of the Chinese New Year
The Gold Cups of Eternal Stability are among the most extraordinary objects in the Wallace Collection. The Qianlong Emperor ordered them especially for the First Stroke Ceremony, performed on the New Year’s Day in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Their surface is covered with kingfisher feathers, a technique also used...Cao, Qin ; de Wit, Ada
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A trip to Edinburgh: transfer-printed ceramics in the collection of National Museums Scotland
This lecture will explore the collections of British transfer-printed ceramics in the collection of National Museums Scotland which include wares made for export across the globe, as well as pieces which can be used to illustrate the technical processes of transfer printing on pottery.Blakey, Claire
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A passion for glass
In 2009 National Museums Scotland was generously donated over 300 pieces of art and studio glass by the passionate collector, supporter, and promoter of contemporary glass Dan Klein (1938 – 2009), which he had amassed both separately, and alongside his partner Alan J. Poole. Klein notably championed the work of...Rothwell, Sarah
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Waking the Dead: promoting and recording Carrion beetles
A talk from the 2022 NFBR Conference at Oxford University Museum of Natural HistoryWhiffin, Ashleigh
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Lecture
Museums and Medical Knowledge: past, present, and future
Although populated by the dead, medical museums are for the living. From their roots in the Enlightenment, medical practitioners have gathered pathological and anatomical material for clinical and educational benefit. This practice reached its zenith around 1900, when Maude Abbott led a generation of medical curators who gathered, arranged and...Alberti, S J M M
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The making of the Typewriter Revolution: a new exhibition on typewriters at the National Museum of Scotland.
The Typewriter Revolution exhibition, which opened at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh in July 2021, examines the social and technological impact of typewriters from the mid-nineteenth century to their continued use and popularity in the twenty-first century. James Inglis, whose PhD research has made up a large part of...Inglis, James
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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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Lecture
The Ballachulish Goddess
Come along to Glencoe Folk Museum to learn about the mysterious Ballachulish Goddess from an expert in the field.Hunter, Fraser
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Carrion Beetles: Nature's Undertakers
Meet the unsung heroes of the natural world: carrion beetles. Important decomposers and recyclers, most carrion beetles feed and breed on dead animals. Museum curator and carrion beetle specialist, Ashleigh Whiffin introduces us to these delightful decomposers, digs deeper into their complex ecology, and highlights some of the current work...Whiffin, Ashleigh
Silphidae and Coleoptera
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Lecture
Scottish Agates of the National Museums Scotland collection
Join Emily Brown, Assistant Curator of Earth Systems at National Museums Scotland on a journey though agate formation and agate collecting in Scotland, through the lens of the world famous Scottish agate collection at National Museums Scotland. Agates have fascinated people for thousands of years and have particular cultural relevance...Brown, Emily
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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
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... -
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Archie Brennan, Tapestry Goes Pop!
Join Lisa Mason, National Museums Scotland’s Assistant Curator in Modern and Contemporary Fashion and Textiles, and Kate Grenyer, Exhibitions Curator at Dovecot Studios, for a behind the scenes look at Dovecot’s upcoming exhibition co-curated by National Museums Scotland, Archie Brennan: Tapestry Goes Pop! Enjoy an exclusive preview into the world...Mason, Lisa ; Grenyer, Kate
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Collecting Covid-19 part 2: Exploring the methodological approaches and practices to collecting objects and how they changed in 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic continues, but it wasn’t the only event of 2020 that has impacted and shaped our view of the world as movements like Black Lives Matter gained traction and statues of slave owners were toppled. Over two seminars we will look at the ways museums have been recording...Miles, Ellie ; West, Rosamund Lily ; Laurenson, Sarah ; Goggins, Sophie
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National Museums Scotland Roundtable: “Images of the Buddha: Collecting Histories and the Displays of Buddhist Material in Public Museums”
Research into the nature and the building of public and private collections has been an area of study for scholars and museum professionals for several decades. More recently, the collecting of objects from non-European and indigenous cultures in the context of national imperial histories has come to the front of...Martin, Emma ; Voigt, Friederike ; De Raat, Marjolein ; Cheung, Karwin
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Celebrating Black Fashion
How are progressive changes within the fashion industry being documented through exhibitions and contemporary collecting? Join model and broadcaster Eunice Olumide as she shares her experience of a transforming industry with museum curator Georgina Ripley. Eunice and Georgina will also discuss Eunice’s recent book How To Get Into Fashion, focussing...Olumide , Eunice ; Ripley, Georgina ; Burkinshaw, Mal
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David Stewart of Garth, Scott’s “Highlander of the Old Stamp”
Stuart’s title features David Stewart of Garth as Scott’s ‘Highlander of the Old Stamp’, which I believe is a quotation from a letter of Scott’s to J. G. Lockhart of 14 July 1828. The name rings a particularly sharp bell for me personally, since later that year Stewart, on the...Allan, Stuart
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David Ramsay, the King’s Chief Clockmaker
This lecture is presented by Dr Tacye Phillipson (National Museums Scotland) and Dr John C. Taylor OBE (horologist and inventor), and delivered in conjunction with the National Museums Scotland. Dr Phillipson provides an overview of the variety and development of clockwork during the 17th century. Dr Taylor uncovers the innovation...Phillipson, Tacye ; Taylor, John C
David Ramsay, c1585-1660, master, Worshipful Clockmakers Company, London , Chief Clockmaker, clockwork , Scottish watchmaker, and King James I and VI
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Post-Palissian Ceramics: moving beyond the master
French lead-glazed moulded ceramics are present in many museum collections today but their dating and attribution is often uncertain. This talk will use the collections of the British Museum and National Museums Scotland as its starting point, to summarise past scholarship and to look to the future for these objects....Blakey, Claire ; King, Rachel
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Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Hamilton Palace: the awe inspiring demonstration of exalted status of the premier peer of Scotland and some final additions from the Beckford bequest
This year’s Beckford Lecture ‘Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton and Hamilton Palace: the awe inspiring demonstration of exalted status of the premier peer of Scotland and some final additions from the Beckford bequest’ will be given by Dr Godfrey Evans. Dr Evans is Principal Curator of Decorative Arts, National Museums...Evans, Godfrey
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Lecture
The Renaissance Reimagined: Minton, Majolica and Maiolica
From about 1850 the Renaissance Revival inspired the design of both architecture and the decorative arts in Britain, prompting Minton & Co. to bring the arts of the period to the Staffordshire potteries. The lecture will focus on a subgroup of revivalist ware inspired by Italian Renaissance maiolica through the...Blakey, Claire
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Tools of Knowledge: Exploring the Scientific Instrument Trade with Digital Tools
The second edition of the Neuchâtel Seminar in History of Science and Technology – entitled Scientific Objects: Then and Now – aims to reflect on scientific objects and the problems raised by their study by working on two aspects in particular. On the one hand, the seminar will host retrospective...Higgitt, Rebekah
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Re-examining the Rubers Law hoard
In 1863 a hoard of bronze vessels and other items was found on the slopes of the hillfort of Rubers Law, near Hawick. Although it crops up in the literature, it has received only cursory attention. In the course of preparing it for display in the revamped Trimontium Trust museum...Hunter, Fraser
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Beyond Treasure: new findings from fieldwork on Scotland’s prehistoric hoards
Hoards evoke stories and generate questions: Why do people collect things, both now and in the past? How do ordinary things become treasured objects? And why do we find these discoveries so fascinating? Hoards help us imagine particular events – the moment of burial, the moment of discovery – but...Freeman, Emily ; Knight, Matthew
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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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Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard
Buried at the beginning of the 10th century in Dumfries and Galloway, the Hoard lay undisturbed for a thousand years before being discovered by a metal detectorist and excavated by an archaeologist in September 2014. Four years of painstaking conservation and research has restored these rare and unique treasures to...Goldberg, Martin ; Maldonado, Adrián
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The Galloway Hoard
Goldberg, Martin
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Bones, teeth and gum: How museums can contribute to improving animal welfare
How museums can contribute to improving animal welfareKitchener, Andrew C
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An introduction to the marine invertebrate wet collections at National Museums Scotland
Natural History Wet collectionsWare, Fiona
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Insects - The little things that run your Garden
Gardens can support an incredible diversity of insects, but beyond butterflies and bees, how aware are you of these 6-legged neighbours? Do you know what bizarre behaviours and essential services are occurring in the undergrowth? Join Ashleigh as she shares her passion for some of the unconventionally charismatic insects, and...Whiffin, Ashleigh L
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Hidden treasure of National Museums Scotland revealed: A silk rug with Tree of Life by Kashani master weaver Mohtasham
This fine silk rug features a large flowering tree. Likely never used, the multiple colours of the rug’s dazzling array of blossoms are magnificently preserved. The weaver of this exquisite piece, Hajj Molla Mohtasham, ran one of the most successful carpet manufactures in 19th-century Kashan. Mohtasham rugs are highly prized...Voigt, Friederike
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Climate change: a time travel adventure
Join climate campaigner and author Alice Bell in a trip through time to the decisions, inventions and accidents which created the warming world we’re living in today – and how it could have ended up quite differently. Beginning with the discovery of CO2 in Edinburgh, travel through the pioneering age...Bell, Alice ; Higgitt, Rebekah
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The Galloway Hoard
Goldberg, D Martin
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Ancient African Queens: New perspectives on Black history
Join our panel as they discuss how reassessing 19th and 20th century colonial attitudes can bring new perspectives to fascinating aspects of ancient Egyptian culture and its place in African history.Maitland, Margaret ; Ashby, Solange
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Ice Age Fauna of Scotland and the Loch Ryan Mammoths
Scotland is renowned today for its rich and varied wildlife but have you ever wondered what lived here in the past? Andrew Kitchener, Principle Curator of Vertebrates at National Museum of Scotland, presents a talk about creatures that lived in Scotland during the Ice Ages. The talk will include a...Kitchener, Andrew
Stranraer, mammoth, Ice age, and Rhins of Galloway