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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
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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
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Journal article
Collecting 21st-century science, technology and medicine
Museums are often associated exclusively with bygones. This can be problematic, especially for those who manage science, technology and medicine (STM) collections. In seeking to correct this misconception with contemporary collecting, they also face other problems, especially in scale and complexity. While acknowledging such challenges, this opinion piece proposes opportunities...Alberti, S J M M ; Cox, Elsa ; Phillipson, Tacye ; Taubman, Alison
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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
The polaris subspecies of Little Auk Alle alle on the British List
This paper describes the analysis of a number of Little Auk Alle alle specimens collected in Scotland that show biometrics of the subspecies A.a. polaris which breeds in the eastern part of the species' Arctic range. Wing length measurements confirmed that two specimens are A.a. polaris. This conclusion has been...McInerney, C J ; McGowan, R Y
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Journal article
Distinguishing the victim from the threat: SNP‐based methods reveal the extent of introgressive hybridization between wildcats and domestic cats in Scotland and inform future in situ and ex situ management options for species restoration
The degree of introgressive hybridization between the Scottish wildcat and domestic cat has long been suspected to be advanced. Here, we use a 35‐SNP‐marker test, designed to assess hybridization between wildcat and domestic cat populations in Scotland, to assess a database of 295 wild‐living and captive cat samples, and test...Senn, Helen ; Ghazali, Muhammad ; Kaden, Jennifer ; Barclay, David ; Harrower, Ben …
carnivores, captive populations, conservation management, and invasive species
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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
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
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Journal article
Gold in Prehistoric Scotland
Dr Alison Sheridan introduces a new joint project to explore what we know - and what we have yet to discover - about early gold us in Britain.Sheridan, J A
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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
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Journal article
Illustrating animals and visualizing Natural History in Chambers’s Encyclopaedias
In the 19th century, there was wide-spread public interest in natural history, as reflected in the high attendance at zoos and travelling menageries, in the market for popular field guides, in fashions for orchid collecting, fossil hunting and aquarium building, and in well-attended popular science lectures. More than 10 years...Roberto, Rose
wood-engraving, natural history illustrations, reference books, Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, Victorian book illustration, and Encyclopaedia Britannica
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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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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
The Blattodea (cockroaches), Mantodea (praying mantises) and Dermaptera (earwigs) of the Insect Limestone (late Eocene), Isle of Wight, including the first record of Mantodea from the UK
The fossil cockroaches (Blattodea), praying mantises (Mantodea) and earwigs (Demaptera) are described from the Insect Limestone (Priabonian) of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Three new species of cockroach are described in the family Ectobiidae – Phyllodromica protosardea sp. nov., Balta protosimilis sp. nov. and Malaccina? wightensis sp. nov. –...Ross, Andrew
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Journal article
Non-destructive analysis of nineteenth century Scottish calotype negatives and salt prints
Nineteenth century negatives and positives in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) and the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) were analysed non-destructively to identify the techniques used in their manufacture. Modern positive and negative images prepared using known nineteenth century processes were also analysed for comparison. Air-path...Eremin, Katherine ; Tate, Jim ; Morrison-Low, A D ; Berry, James ; Stevenson, Sara
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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
On the chemistry of John and Robert Adamson’s Salted paper prints and calotype negatives
The chemical processes used by John and Robert Adamson and the possibility that they might have used some special ingredient has long been the subject of speculation. In the early stages of photography in Scotland, the chemical processes used were probably based on William Henry Fox Talbot's, but it is...Eremin, Katherine ; Tate, Jim ; Berry, James
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Journal article
Characterisation of ‘bog butter’ using a combination of molecular and isotopic techniques
The chemical analyses of ‘bog butters’ recovered from peat bogs of Scotland were performed with the aim of determining their origins. Detailed compositional information was obtained from ‘bog butter’ lipids using high temperature gas chromatography (HTGC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results indicate the degree to which ‘bog butters’ have...Berstan, Robert ; Dudd, Stephanie N ; Copley, Mark S ; Morgan, E David ; Quye, Anita …
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Journal article
Genetic variation in field voles (Microtus agrestis) from the British Isles: selective sweeps or population bottlenecks?
The Eurasian field vole (Microtus agrestis) comprises three evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). The northern ESU is found at higher latitudes across the western Palaearctic region and includes six, largely allopatric, mitochondrial DNA lineages that were derived from population bottlenecks. One of these lineages is found in southern Britain and nearby...Herman, Jeremy S ; Stojack, Joanna ; Paupério, Joana ; Jaarola, M ; Wojcik, J M …
Y-chromosome, cytochromeb, selection, post-glacial colonization, population bottleneck, and microsatellite
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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
Democratising 19th-century Science and Technology
Rose Roberto discusses the impact of a Special Projects Grant awarded by the BSHSRoberto, Rose
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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
Non-destructive analysis of nineteenth century Scottish calotype negatives and salt prints
The combination of Raman spectroscopy and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry can improve understanding of the chemistry of the glass alteration process. Formic and acetic acids play an important role in the alteration of museum glass objects placed in a humid atmosphere. Raman spectroscopy indicates that the soda-rich glass structure is...Robinet, L ; Eremin, Katherine ; Fearn, Sarah ; Pulham, C ; Hall, Christopher
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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
New theropod dinosaur teeth from the Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland
The Middle Jurassic is a largely mysterious interval in dinosaur evolution, as few fossils of this age are known worldwide. In recent years, the Isle of Skye has yielded a substantial record of trackways, and a more limited inventory of body fossils, that indicate a diverse fauna of Middle Jurassic...Young, Chloe M E ; Hendrickx, Christopher ; Challands, Thomas James ; Foffa, Davide ; Ross, Dugald A …
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Journal article
Three memoirs of Hugh Miller (1802–1856) by his son Hugh Miller FGS
Hugh Miller FGS (1850–1896) wrote a set of three memoirs on his father Hugh Miller (1802–1856), geologist, writer and newspaper editor. The first two are successive versions of a text written about 1883 to accompanya portrait of the elder Miller by the pioneering photographers David Octavius Hill (1802–1870)and RobertAdamson(1821–1848).The second...Taylor, Michael A
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Journal article
Revision of the Late Jurassic deep-water teleosauroid crocodylomorph Teleosaurus megarhinus Hulke, 1871 and evidence of pelagic adaptations in Teleosauroidea
Teleosauroids were a successful group of semi-aquatic crocodylomorphs that were an integral part of coastal marine/lagoonal faunas during the Jurassic. Their fossil record suggests that the group declined in diversity and abundance in deep water deposits during the Late Jurassic. One of the few known teleosauroid species from the deeper...Foffa, Davide ; Johnson, Michela M ; Young, Mark T ; Steel, Lorna ; Brusatte, Stephen L
Crocodylomorpha, Teleosauroidea, Kimmeridgian, and Aquatic adaptations
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Journal article
A new hexactinellid sponge from the Silurian of the Pentland Hills (Scotland) with similarities to extant rossellids
The Pentland Hills sponge fauna (Llandovery, Telychian) consists of an unusual, aberrant assemblage, but of low diversity. A new specimen of a unique sponge, Eoghanospongia carlinslowpensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the classic locality of R82. The mushroom-shaped, probably stalked body (peduncle attachment to body not exposed) resembles...Botting, Joseph P ; Candela, Yves ; Carrió, Vicen ; Crighton, William R B
Rossellidae, fossil, prostalia, Porifera, and North Esk Inlier
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Journal article
Synoptic revision of the Silurian fauna from the Pentland Hills, Scotland described by Lamont (1978)
Archibald Lamont (1907-1985) sampled the North Esk Inlier Silurian fauna for almost 30 years. He had amassed a substantial fauna that has been, in part, bequeathed to the National Museums Scotland after his death. Unfortunately, the descriptions of the faunas in his last opus were careless and the illustrations were...Candela, Yves ; Crighton, William R B
systematics, Scotland, museum collections, North Esk Inlier, and palaeontology
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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
Two examples of anterior / posterior gynandromorphism in Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera)
Two specimens of Ichneumonidae exhibiting interior/posterior gynandromorphism are described. In both the specimens of Ephialtes manifestator (L.) (Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) and Cylloceria sylvestris (Gravenhorst) (Ichneumonidae: Cylloceriinae), the head is female (as is the mesosoma of E. manifestator) and the metasoma is male. A potential mechanism for generation of transverse (anterior/posterior) gynandromorphs...Shaw, Mark R ; Broad, Gavin R
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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