Search Constraints
Search Results
-
Journal article
A Boyne to Brodgar research framework
Note: this research framework, created by Alison Sheridan (National Museums Scotland) and Gabriel Cooney (University College Dublin), forms part of an article, ‘The Boyne to Brodgar initiative: understanding – and preserving, presenting and raising awareness of – Neolithic monuments and the people who built and used them in Ireland, Scotland...Sheridan, J A ; Cooney, Gabriel
-
Journal article
(Re)discovering the Gaulcross Hoard and other early medieval silver
Modern excavations can sometimes provide surprising new insights on antiquarian finds of metalwork. The Pictish silver hoard from Gaulcross in north-eastern Scotland provides an excellent example. Recent fieldwork, including metal-detecting, has clarified the size and composition of the hoard, and uncovered 100 new silver items, including coins, fragments of brooches...Noble, Gordon ; Goldberg, D Martin ; McPherson, Alistair ; Sveinbjarnarson, Oskar
late Roman, Hacksilber, Scotland, metal-detecting, Pictish, silver hoard, and early medieval
-
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
-
Journal article
St Patrick’s footprint – an early Medieval royal inauguration site at Portpatrick?
A rock-cut footprint linked in tradition to St Patrick was recorded and destroyed during harbour works at Portpatrick (Wigtownshire) in the early nineteenth century. This paper argues it was an early Medieval royal inauguration site, based on wider Scottish and Irish parallels. The footprint's setting, on a rock in a...Hunter, Fraser ; Hunter, J
-
Journal article
Worked shale. 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
-
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
-
Journal article
The facial reconstruction of an Ancient Egyptian Queen
The National Museums of Scotland Mummy Project has provided important new information about a burial excavated in Egypt. This has resulted in the facial reconstruction of a woman who was probably a queen at Thebes ca. 1570-1520 BCE. There are strong suggestions from the grave goods and her diet that...Manley, Bill ; Eremin, Katherine ; Shortland, Andrew ; Wilkinson, Caroline M
-
Journal article
Ivory piano keys from Mastodons: Why poor anthropocentic legislation endangers fossils
Palaeontological material and sites have faced a variety of challenges in the last half century, often due to inadequate legislation from poorly informed legislators designed for very different objects. The most common problematic scenario is for material to be assessed on anthropocentic grounds that are more traditionally applied to archaeological...Liston, Jeff
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Journal article
Mummy 1911-210-1
n ancient Egyptian mummy from the collections of the National Museums of Scotland was examined using computerised tomography (CT) scanning as part of the NMS mummy project. A facial reconstruction was produced from the CT scans for comparison with a painted 'portrait' which covers the face of the wrappings. The...Macleod, R I ; Eremin, Katherine ; Wright, A R ; McDonald, J
-
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 …
-
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
-
Journal article
Pictish symbols: inscribing identity beyond the fringe of empire
In the first of two features about early scripts in Britain, we visit north-east Scotland, where Pictish symbol stones tease the imagination with their appealing designs and mysterious origins. A new project has dated them, finding they were inspired by contact with the Roman world, like runes and ogham. Gordon...Noble, Gordon ; Goldberg, D Martin ; Hamilton, Derek
-
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
-
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 …
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Journal article
Preserved collagen reveals species identity in archaeological marine turtle bones from Caribbean and Florida sites
Advancements in molecular science are continually improving our knowledge of marine turtle biology and evolution. However, there are still considerable gaps in our understanding, such as past marine turtle distributions, which can benefit from advanced zooarchaeological analyses. Here, we apply collagen fingerprinting to 130 archaeological marine turtle bone samples up... -
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
-
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
-
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 ; Cowie, Trevor
Spearhead, Heirloom, Battle of Flodden, Bronze Age, and Chisholme
-
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
-
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
-
Journal article
Two recent Bronze Age finds in Torquay Museum and their place in South West England
Two pieces of Bronze Age metalwork have recently ben acquired by Torquay Museum: an Early Bronze Age axe and a Middle Bronze Age rapier. Both were found in the Broadsands area, Paignton. The form, function and a rol.e of the objects are analysed, and the landscape context in which they...Knight, Matthew G ; Chandler, Barry
-
Journal article
Going to pieces: investigating the deliberate destruction of Late Bronze Age swords and spearheads
The deliberate destruction of Late Bronze Age swords and spearheads has been widely recognised across Europe. This observation has typically relied on the obvious nature of the destruction, such as the bending of blades or the crushing of sockets, and the association of multiple broken pieces. These obvious acts have...Knight, Matthew G
Bronze Age metalwork, spearheads, experimental archaeology, Fragmentation, and swords
-
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
-
Book chapter
The vitrified metal
An archaeological excavation was carried out across an area proposed for re-development at Goosecroft Road, Stirling. The investigations uncovered the foundations of a substantial stone wall in the south-west corner of the site, and another wall further to the south, that probably relate to the nearby location of a medieval...Cruickshanks, Gemma
-
Book chapter
The metalwork
An archaeological excavation was carried out across an area proposed for re-development at Goosecroft Road, Stirling. The investigations uncovered the foundations of a substantial stone wall in the south-west corner of the site, and another wall further to the south, that probably relate to the nearby location of a medieval...Cruickshanks, Gemma
-
Book chapter
The art and science of replication. Copies and copying in the multi-disciplinary museum
Few institutions are warier of copies than museums. Few fields of knowledge are more prone to denounce copies as fake than the heritage field. Few discourses are as concerned with authenticity, aura, originals and provenance as those concerning exhibiting and collecting. So why is it that these are institutions, fields...Alberti, S J M M ; Blackwell, Alice ; Davidson, Peter ; Goldberg, D Martin ; Swinney, Geoffrey N
-
Book chapter
Coping with changing worlds: the roles of Celtic art in central Britain in the Roman period
What happened to the Brigantes when Rome took over? How were they affected by military events? Can we see sub-territories in their material culture? How did they react to the opportunities that Rome offered? Was their way of looking at the world altered? This reasonably-priced book summarises current opinion.Hunter, Fraser
-
Book chapter
Objects made of iron and bone
During the late 1st millennium BC into the early 1st millennium AD, the small island of Unst in the far north of the Shetland (and British) Isles was home to well-established and connected farming and fishing communities. The Iron Age settlement at Milla Skerra was occupied for at least 500...Goldberg, D Martin ; Hunter, Fraser
-
Book chapter
Intrepreting lipid residues in archaeological ceramics: preliminary results from laboratory simulations of vessel use
During the past four and a half years this group has been involved in a programme of development and testing of methods for the study of organic residues in archaeological ceramics. The analytical approach used is based on solvent extraction of powdered potsherds to release lipids absorbed in the ceramic...Evershed, R P ; Charters, Stephanie ; Quye, Anita