Recherche
Résultats de recherche
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2023
Book chapter
‘Found in store’: Working with source communities and difficult objects at Durham University’s Oriental Museum
Rachel Barclay Lauren Barnes Gillian Ramsay Craig Barclay Helen Armstrong Durham University’s Oriental Museum is often described as a ‘hidden gem’. Opened in 1960, today it is home to world-class collections of more than 35,000 objects from across North Africa and Asia. Originally envisioned as a teaching and research resource...Barclay, Rachel ; Barnes, Lauren ; Ramsay, Gillian ; Barclay, Craig ; Armstrong, Helen
Colonialism, Asia, Durham University , Africa , Oriental Museum, and collections
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2023
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
Anglo-Saxon, Microscopy, Viking age, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Textile , Silver, Mineralisation, and Copper corrosion
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2023
Journal article
The Life of Mary Anning, Fossil Collector of Lyme Regis: a Contemporary Biographical Memoir by George Roberts
Despite the modern celebrity of the fossil collector Mary Anning (1799–1847) of Lyme Regis and her frequent use as an icon in scientific education and popularization, there are few accounts of her life by her contemporaries. We report here a previously unpublished anonymous manuscript memoir of Anning's life, in the...Taylor, Michael A ; Benton, Michael J
George Roberts, Lyme Regis, Athenæum, and Mary Anning obituary
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2023
Research report
‘Collecting the New Past: developing representative collections of the present for the future’ National Museums Scotland National Training Programme Report for Contemporary Collecting Symposium, 21 November 2022
This report outlines the discussion and outcomes of the contemporary collecting symposium held by National Museums Scotland in November 2022. The symposium covered three key themes: how contemporary objects represent current issues in Scotland and contribute to expanding representation in museum collections; collecting with communities; and care of short-lifespan material....Vullinghs, Georgia
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2023
Book review
Review of: The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: the carved stone balls of late Neolithic Scotland. Chris L Stewart-Moffitt
Carved stone balls are on of Scotland's most intriguing Neolithic artefacts.Anderson-Whymark, Hugo
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2023
Journal article
The geological and historical milieu of an ornamental cephalopod limestone (‘orthoceratite limestone’, Ordovician, Sweden) used in the Clerk Mausoleum (1684), St Mungo's Kirkyard, Penicuik, Scotland
A slab of cephalopod limestone bears a dedicatory Latin inscription on the mausoleum built around 1684 by Sir John Clerk of Penicuik (1649–1722) for his wife Elizabeth Henderson (1658–83) at St Mungo's Church, Penicuik, near Edinburgh, Scotland. The stone is identified on sedimentological and palaeontological evidence and historical context as... -
2023
Doctoral thesis
The typewriter trade in Scotland, from the 1870s to 1920s
This thesis explores the typewriter trade in Scotland from the 1870s to the 1920s. It analyses the businesses and individuals involved in the marketing, sale and use of writing machines, revealing the processes by which typewriters went from little known novelties in the mid-1870s to essential technologies for commercial and...Inglis, James
19th century, Typewriter , Shorthand, Exhibitions, Commercial education, Office, Women's employment, 20th century, Typing, Scotland, Technology, and Retail
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2023
Journal article
‘South Kensington is practically as far away as Paris or Munich’: the making of industrial collections in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Birmingham
The provocation within the heart of the Congruence Engine leads us to consider not only the connections between our industrial collections, but the differences which shine a light on the gaps that exist nationally as well as institutionally due to the unique ways in which those collections were built. Emerging... -
2022
Journal article
A system for designating taxonomic certainty in mammals and other taxa
Taxonomy and systematics are fundamental to the success of conservation actions. A robust and accurate classification of living organisms is vital for understanding biodiversity, using limited resources wisely, prioritising conservation action, and for legal protection and regulation of trade. However, all too often current taxonomies are not based on the...Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hoffmann, Michael ; Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki ; Breitenmoser-Würsten, Christine ; Wilting, Andreas
Taxonomy, Systematics , Conservation , Classification , and Species concepts
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2022
Journal article
Tremadocian and Floian (Ordovician) linguliformean brachiopods from the Stavelot–Venn Massif (Avalonia; Belgium and Germany)
Lower Ordovician linguliformean brachiopods from the Stavelot–Venn Massif (Belgium and Germany) are described systematically for the first time. The material comprises specimens from the Jalhay (Solwaster Member) and Ottré (Les Plattes Member) formations of Tremadocian and Floian ages, respectively. The Solwaster Member yielded a relatively diverse assemblage of nine species...Candela, Yves ; Mottequin, Bernard
Germany, Lingulida, Siphonotretida, Ordovician, Belgium, Acrotretida, and brachiopods
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2022
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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2022
Journal article
Collecting Covid
Rothwell, Sarah
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2022
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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2022
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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2022
Lecture
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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2022
Exhibition-related event
Spotlight On: Audubon’s Birds of America
Discover how Birds of America, one of the world’s rarest and most coveted books, was made, and learn about the ongoing conservation work to preserve these life-size, hand-coloured prints for future generations. Exhibition Curator Mark Glancy will discuss the journey of bringing the stories behind the Birds of America publication...Glancy, Mark ; Cumming, Lisa
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2022
Blog post
Concepts have teeth Blackfoot objects at National Museums Scotland
A project exploring Blackfoot quillwork in Scottish museums recently led a remote visit to explore and scan Blackfoot collections held in our collections. Members of the project team tell us about this visit and how digital imaging techniques are allowing for closer engagements with cultural heritage.Minkin, Louisa ; Clark, Christine ; Shouting, Melissa ; Clark, Ali
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2022
Blog post
Cups saucers and women's right to vote
How might our design choices inform our values? A recent addition to our collections allows us to explore a group of radical ceramics for Women’s History Month. Claire Blakey, Curator Modern Decorative Arts, talks us through a tea set made to champion women’s suffrage.Blakey, Claire
Suffragette , Women , Ceramics, and WSPU
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2022
Blog post
A badge of honour
The symbolic nature of jewellery has allowed wearers to signal their beliefs, alliances and values for thousands of years. For Women’s History Month, our Senior Curator Modern & Contemporary Design Sarah Rothwell explores the recent acquisition of a brooch that tells the defiant story of women’s suffrage.Rothwell, Sarah
Suffragette , Women , Women Designers, and WSPU
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2022
Book chapter
The goldworking of Riqqa, Egypt: Analysis and comparison between the 12th and 18th dynasties, in Quiles
The first Science for Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technologies conference was held under the auspices of His Excellency Pr. Khaled el-Enany at the Manial Palace Museum in Cairo, from 4 to 6 November 2017. Its aim was to provide a venue at which specialists in the application of physical and...Troalen, Lore ; Guerra, Maria Filomena ; Maitland, Margaret ; Ponting, Matthew ; Price, Campbell
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2022
Book chapter
From colour to nanolayers: corrosion in Egyptian goldwork
The first Science for Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technologies conference was held under the auspices of His Excellency Pr. Khaled el-Enany at the Manial Palace Museum in Cairo, from 4 to 6 November 2017. Its aim was to provide a venue at which specialists in the application of physical and...Tissot, Isabel ; Troalen, Lore ; Guerra, Maria Filomena
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2022
Book chapter
The burial of the “Qurna Queen”
The personal adornments and objects from the burial of Queen Ahhotep belong to one of the most spectacular finds from Ancient Egypt. The history of their discovery is still a mystery. Even the identity of the queen is not fully solved. The twelve essays in this volume tackle different problems...Maitland, Margaret ; Potter, Daniel M ; Troalen, Lore
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2022
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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2022
Journal article
Geographies of Place in Digital Art History
Art history research examines objects as embedded in a web of relationships, including multiple spatial dimensions (e.g. of the materials, of the artist, of the cultural influences, of the museum collection, and of the temporary exhibitions). However, this richness of nuances is not yet fully encompassed in Linked Open Data...Middle, Sarah ; Horne, Ryan ; McMeekin, David A ; Zuanni, Chiara ; Butterworth, Alex
ancient world, spatial humanities, Linked Open Data, geography, cultural heritage, and digital art history
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2022
Journal article
Science in a Somerset Quaker community: Alfred Gillett (1814-1904) fossil collecting and kinship networks in and around Street
Alfred Gillett (1814-1904) was a son of John Gillett, a Langport shopkeeper, and his wife Martha, part of a complex network of families which formed the core of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in eastern and south-eastern Somerset. He went into trade as an ironmonger. In 1841 he became...Taylor, Michael A ; Berry , Charlotte
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2022
Blog post
The value of broken things: fragments from the Bronze Age
The value of an object is often framed in terms of its completeness. As individuals and as a museum, we like pristine things and try to keep them that way. If something breaks, we repair it. If it is broken beyond repair, we may replace it. And yet, sometimes it...Knight, Matthew
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2022
Journal article
Scottish Birds Records Committee report on rare birds in Scotland, 2020
This is the 13th annual report of the Scottish Birds Records Committee (SBRC) describing rare birds recorded in Scotland during 2020. Details of previous annual reports that cover the period 2005 to 2019 can be found listed in McInerny & McGowan (2021), some of which are cited in this reportMcInerny, C ; McGowan, R Y
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2022
Journal article
‘Ear stones’ in crocodylians: a cross-species comparative and ontogenetic survey of otolith structures
The vestibular system of the inner ear is a crucial sensory organ, involved in the sensation of balance and equilibrium. It consists of three semicircular canals that sense angular rotations of the head and the vestibule that detects linear acceleration and gravity. The vestibule often contains structures, known as the...crocodylia, ontogeny, otolith, inner ear, and vestibular system
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2022
Book
The earth: a biography of life: the story of life on our planet through 47 incredible organisms
It is difficult to conceive of the vast scale of the history of life on Earth, from the very first living organisms sparking into life in hydrothermal deep-sea vents to the dizzying diversity of life today. The evolution of life is a sweeping epic of a tale, with twists and...Pancorili, Elsa
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2022
Journal article
Defining role
Geraldine Kendall Adams talks to Christopher Breward about the shift in priorities for National Museums Scotland. Photography by Philip SayerKendall Adams, Geraldine
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2022
Journal article
“Balure Dun”
The site at Balure, until relatively recently, was unrecognised as a dun structure, although it had been noted by Forestry Commission operatives as an enclosure and/or cairn and recorded as such on the Forestry Commission’s Heritage database for North Knapdale Forest.Regan, Roddy ; Campbell, Ewan ; Ballin, Torben ; Sheridan, J A ; Cressey, Michael
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2022
Blog post
QR codes in museums – worth the effort?
If you’ve visited the National Museum of Scotland in the last year, you probably saw a QR code in one of our exhibitions. There’s a good chance you even used one! Did you get your phone out and scan it? Or walk on by? Adam Coulson looks into changes in...Coulson, Adam
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2022
Book chapter
Introduction
The period c.1745-1845 was a revolutionary chapter in the history of Highland dress. With the advent of the European Romantic movement, this once regional costume was revived and reinvented to reflect the changing times and preoccupations of its wearers. Associated with the warrior culture of Gaelic society, by the close...Waine, Rosie
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2022
Book
Highland Style: Fashioning Highland dress c.1745-1845
For many people across the world, Highland dress, bagpipes and Highland landscapes are the images of Scotland that first spring to mind. Ideas about the Scottish Highlands which took hold around the turn of the 19th century remain to the present day. National Museums Scotland holds a significant collection of...Waine, Rosie
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2022
Journal article
Middle Jurassic fossils document an early stage in salamander evolution
Salamanders are an important group of living amphibians and model organisms for understanding locomotion, development, regeneration, feeding, and toxicity in tetrapods. However, their origin and early radiation remain poorly understood, with early fossil stem-salamanders so far represented by larval or incompletely known taxa. This poor record also limits understanding of...Jones, Marc E H ; Benson, Roger B J ; Skutschas, Pavel ; Hill, Lucy ; Panciroli, Elsa …
AMPHIBIANS , PHYLOGENY , JURASSIC , SALAMANDER, and EVOLUTION
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2022
Blog post
Unwrapping stories revisiting the costume at Paxton House
Nestled on the bank of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, Paxton House is an eighteenth-century home and museum with exceptional collections. The Chippendale and Trotter furniture is recognised as being of international importance, and the building itself is Grade A listed. But what else lies hidden in storage?Tayor, Emily ; Murrell, Fiona Salvesen
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2022
Journal article
Evolution: The origin of insect wings revisited
The evolution of wings and flight was key for the rise of insects. A new study finds that lateral extensions on the abdominal segments of primitive insect nymphs are the serial homologues of wings and probably helped control gliding.Ross, Andrew J
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2022
Journal article
‘Is Radioactive Iodine Present Equally in the Cream on Milk as in the Milk Itself?’: Lonely Sources and the Gendered history of Cold War Britain
This article argues that one way to foreground and privilege women's perspectives on the Cold War is by re-interpreting their historical experiences of food and drink. The article develops this argument by analysing one letter, from an unknown woman to the BBC, in the context of nuclear health concerns in...Douthwaite, Jessica
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2022
Journal article
Monumental Record
In 2013 archaeologists uncovered what has since been called ‘the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century’: hundreds of papyrus fragments dating to the last years of King Khufu’s reign (c.2500 BC) at the oldest harbour in Egypt, a site on the Red Sea coast called Wadi al-Jarf.Potter, Daniel M
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2022
Journal article
Reintroducing the Vikings into Scotland’s story
Dr Adrián Maldonado takes another look at the formation of Scotland, to ask whether we should recalibrate our image of the 'Vikings' to include more than just people of Norse decentMaldonado, Adrián
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2022
Journal article
Cranial volume and palate length of cats, Felis spp., under domestication, hybridization and in wild populations
Reduced brain size, compared with wild individuals, is argued to be a key characteristic of domesticated mammal species, and often cited as a key component of a putative ‘domestication syndrome’. However, brain size comparisons are often based on old, inaccessible literature and in some cases drew comparisons between domestic animals...Lesch, Raffaela ; Kitchener, Andrew C ; Hantke, Georg ; Kotrschal, Kurt ; Fitch, W Tecumseh
skull, conservation, brain size, wildlife, hybridization, and cranial capacity
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2022
Journal article
Sympiesis notata (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae), a gregarious parasitoid of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera), and some records of other Chalcidoidea associated with skipper butterflies in the Western Palaearctic
Sympiesis notata is a gregarious ectoparasitoid of skipper butterfly caterpillars. Other Lepidoptera larvae in leaf mines and leaf folds are attacked by the same morphospecies, but on these smaller hosts S. notata is usually a solitary parasitoid. Other Chalcidoidea recorded as reared from hesperiid hosts are mostly species of Brachymeria...Askew, Richard ; Shaw, Mark R
primary parasitism, multiparisitism, Chalcididae, Pteromalidae, Hesperiidae, Microgastrinae, Eulophidae, secondary parasitism, and Ichneumonidae
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2022
Journal article
Genetic examination of historical North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) bone specimens from the eastern North Atlantic: Insights into species history, transoceanic population structure, and genetic diversity
Species monitoring and conservation is increasingly challenging under current climate change scenarios. For the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) this challenge is heightened by the added effects of complicated and uncertain past species demography. Right whales once had a much wider distribution across the North Atlantic Ocean, although the...Frasier, Brenna A ; Springate, Leah ; Frasier, Timothy R ; Brewington, Seth ; Carruthers, Martin …
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2022
Journal article
Abnormal (Hydroxy)proline Deuterium Content Redefines Hydrogen Chemical Mass
Analyzing the δ2H values in individual amino acids of proteins extracted from vertebrates, we unexpectedly found in some samples, notably bone collagen from seals, more than twice as much deuterium in proline and hydroxyproline residues than in seawater. This corresponds to at least 4 times higher δ2H than in any...Gharibi, Hassan ; Chernobrovkin, Alexey L ; Eriksson, Gunilla ; Saei, Amir Ata ; Timmons, Zena …
Biopolymers, Ions, Hydrogen , Peptides , Anatomy, proteins, and isotopes
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2022
Journal article
A new genus and species of gall midges the tribe Winnertziini (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae, Porricondylinae) from lower Eocene Fushun amber from China
The new taxon, Fushuniola mai Fedotova & Perkovsky, gen. et sp. nov., is described from a single female from the lower Eocene (Ypresian) Fushun amber from China. This is the second record of Cecidomyiidae known from Fushun amber. The first record is Cecidomyia bujunensis Naora. The new species is characterized... -
2022
Journal article
An annotated list of Lonchaeidae (Diptera) from China, Cambodia and Vietnam with description of a new species
A preliminary list of 14 species of the family Lonchaeidae recorded from Cambodia, China and Vietnam is given. Silba filamenta sp. n. is described from North-East China. New country records are provided for three species of Lonchaea Fallén, 1820 and two species of Silba Macquart, 1851.MacGowan, Iain ; Barták, M ; Honorary Research Associate, National Museums of Scotland, Collection Centre, 242 West Granton Road, Edinburgh EH5 1JA, United Kingdom
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2022
Journal article
Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2021
This is a supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography covering taxa described or recorded during 2021, plus a few earlier records that were missed previously. Up to the end of 2021, 2,198 species were recorded from Kachin amber of which 337 were named in 2021. Five species...Ross, Andrew J
Amber , Burmese , Invertebrates , Myanmar , Plants, Cretaceous, Vertebrates , Arachnids , and Insects
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2022
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2022
Journal article
Review of: Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens (London, The British Library, 8 October 2021–20 February 2022). Catalogue: Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens, ed. Susan Doran. London: The British Library, 2021
Despite the wishful attempts of playwrights and film directors, Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots never met. Nonetheless, theirs was a close relationship, and it lies at the heart of the exhibition Elizabeth and Mary: Royal Cousins, Rival Queens, and the excellent accompanying book.Groundwater, Anna
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2022
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2022
Lecture
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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2022
Blog post
Snow hunter collecting Scotland's vanishing ice
What can patches of snow across Scotland tell us about the global environmental challenge? We recently acquired objects from Scotland’s ‘Snow hunter’ Iain Cameron relating to his vital work recording these patches. In this blog, Curator Sarah Laurenson introduces us to those objects before Iain offers an evocative insight into...Laurenson, Sarah ; Cameron, Iain
Scottish History, Contemporary Collecting, and Climate Change
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2022
Blog post
Joan Faithfull’s Mull pottery
What does it mean for an object to be ‘of’ a place? Joan Fathfull’s pottery in Tormore, Mull, became a fixture for visitors to the Inner Hebrides in the mid-20th century. Ailsa Hutton, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary History, discusses the recent gifting of Joan’s works by her sons,...Hutton, Ailsa
Scottish History, Contemporary Collecting , Mull , and Pottery
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2022
Blog post
Take to the Skye: New pterosaur discovery
A recent spectacular find on the Isle of Skye shines new light on pterosaurs of the Jurassic period. Our Keeper of Natural Sciences Nick Fraser tells us more about this discovery, Skye’s fossil riches and the people bringing them to light, both in the past and today.Fraser, Nicholas C
Fossils , Palaeontology , Skye, and Dinosaurs
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2022
Blog post
The Iqbalnama: celebrating the life of Sardar Iqbal Singh
The Iqbalnama is a series of six paintings depicting the life of Sardar Iqbal Singh, a Sikh man from Lahore, India, who moved to Scotland and fostered cross-cultural connections. We mark one year since he passed away with a reflection on his achievements by Elizabeth Guest, as well as a...Guest, Elizabeth
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2022
Blog post
Trade, taste and tea bowls: uncovering Chinese ceramics in our collections
Ceramic objects are useful in day-to-day life and may also be put on display, for example in people’s homes, yet they are more than just functional or decorative. They can also tell stories of manufacturing, taste and international trade. National Museums Scotland has a large and important but little-known Chinese...Cao, Qin
World Cultures, Ceramics , and China
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2022
Blog post
Connecting collections through the congruence engine
Like all museums, what we have on display at any one time barely scratches the surface of the 12 million objects in our collection. We try to make these collections more accessible to as many people as possible. So we’re excited to be part of a newly launched partnership of...Taubman, Alison
Digital , Technology , Congruence Engine , Energy , Textiles, Science And Technology , and Communications
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2022
Journal article
Genetic integrity of European wildcats: Variation across biomes mandates geographically tailored conservation strategies
Hybridisation between domestic and wild taxa can pose severe threats to wildlife conservation, and human-induced hybridisation, often linked to species' introductions and habitat degradation, may promote reproductive opportunities between species for which natural interbreeding would be highly unlikely. Using a biome-specific approach, we examine the effects of a suite of...Protected area management, Biomes, Felis silvestris, Conservation, and Hybridisation
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2022
Blog post
Conserving the Galloway Hoard: a silver brooch goes under the microscope
The Galloway Hoard was in the ground for nearly 1,000 years. That brings all kinds of conservation challenges, as Galloway Hoard Project Artefact Conservator Mary Davis explains. Learn what it takes to preserve Viking-Age treasures, and what the conservation process tells us about the objects and people who used and...Davis, Mary
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2022
Journal article
Reintroducing the Vikings into Scotland's story
Dr Adrián Maldonado takes anothe rlook at the formation of Scotland, to ask whether we should recalibrate our images of the 'Vikings' to include more than just people of Norse descent.Maldonado, Adrián
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2022
Blog post
Collecting contemporary Scottish whisky / A’ cruinneachadh uisge-bheatha Albannach an latha an-diugh
Plenty of people collect whisky, but how many can say that they collect whisky for a museum? PhD student Laura Scobie has the enviable job of expanding our whisky collections. In this blog post, Laura explores the ways that whisky brands adopt a sense of place and explains how collecting...Scobie, Laura
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2022
Blog post
Visiting the ancient dead: Pictish reuse of a Bronze Age grave at Golspie, Highland
This blog is from a series produced as part of the AHRC funded Boundary Objects Project , a partnership between Historic Environment Scotland , National Museums Scotland and the Universities of Manchester and Reading. We often think of the graves of the dead lying undisturbed and untouched until they are...Knight, Matthew G ; Maldonado, Adrián
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2022
Exhibition audio-visual guide
The Silver Casket
The Mary, Queen of Scots Casket is one of Scotland’s most cherished treasures, thanks to its long-standing association with the controversial queen. Take a closer look at this extremely rare work of early French silver and its associations with Mary, Queen of Scots presented by Dr Anna Groundwater, Principal Curator...Groundwater, Anna
Gold and Silver , Story , Kings and Queens, and Scottish History and Archaeology
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2022
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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2022
Blog post
Jurassic World Dominion: Bringing dinosaurs to life
Jurassic Park‘s impact is undeniable. And not just on pop culture: the ‘Jurassic Park effect’ inspired an increase in public interest in palaeontology, funding for research and the development of new technology. With Jurassic World Dominion arriving in cinemas, the long run of the iconic film series comes to an...Dornan, Russell ; Brusatte, Stephen
Prehistory, Palaeontology , Natural Sciences , Dinosaurs , Fossils , and Geology
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2022
Lecture
Textiles of the Galloway Hoard
Join Dr Susanna Harris and Dr Alexandra Makin, as they call in to Kirkcudbright Galleries to tell us all about the new, fascinating discoveries from 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...Harris, Susanna ; Makin, Alexandra
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2022
Lecture
Unnwrapping the Galloway Hoard: first research update
Join Dr Martin Goldberg, Principal Curator of Medieval Archaeology & History at the National Museum of Scotland, as he calls in to Kirkcudbright Galleries to tell you all about the new, fascinating discoveries from the Galloway Hoard. Buried at the beginning of the 10th century in Dumfries and Galloway, the...Goldberg, Martin
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2022
Book chapter
A re-discovered early Roman-era mummy shroud from the Rhind tomb at Thebes
The first Science for Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technologies conference was held under the auspices of His Excellency Pr. Khaled el-Enany at the Manial Palace Museum in Cairo, from 4 to 6 November 2017. Its aim was to provide a venue at which specialists in the application of physical and...Maitland, Margaret ; Ross, Jennifer ; Troalen, Lore
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2022
Blog post
Park Life
Carys Wilkins, assistant curator in Modern & Contemporary Design at the National Museums Scotland, explores how the pandemic has influenced furniture design, in particular the park bench & in turn the museum’s acquisitions programme.Wilkins, Carys
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2022
Lecture
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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2022
Blog post
Breaking the Ice: When Hugh MacDiarmid met Yevgeny Yevtushenko
In October 1962, the world stood on the edge of an abyss as the United States and the Soviet Union prepared for nuclear war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Five months earlier, the charismatic Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko broke the political pack ice of the Cold War...Gledhill, Jim
Russia , Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Hugh MacDiarmid , Poets , Poetry , Cold War , and USSR
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2022
Lecture
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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2022
Video
Museum Screen Time: expert reacts to the Viking Age in Pop Culture
Watch Galloway Hoard Researcher and Early Medieval archaeologist Dr Adrián Maldonado as he reacts to depictions of the Viking Age in movies, TV and video games. Did vikings really burn their dead in boats on the water? How stark was the divide between vikings, Picts and Britons? And what's up...Maldonado, Adrián
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2022
Lecture
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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2022
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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2022
Blog post
GeoCASe 2.0 and the evolution of data from physical specimen to the digital
As Principal Curator of the National Museums Scotland’s (NMS) 200 year old ‘Earth System collection, a collection of 70000 minerals, rocks and meteorites, one of my responsibilities is to ensure the collection puts its best foot forward into the Digital Era. So for the past few years, I have lead...Walcott, Rachel
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2022
Blog post
Embroidered crucifixion
Thanks to a generous donation from benefactor Leslie Durst, we have acquired an exquisite seventeenth-century embroidery with a surprising history of secret Catholic devotion. This small panel embodies entwined stories of religious faith, skilled workmanship, and the mythology of a doomed Queen. Senior Curator of Historic Textiles Helen Wyld reveals...Wyld, Helen
Embroidery , Global Arts Cultures And Design , New Acquisitions , and Textiles
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2022
Blog post
Collecting Collections: Brooches
Museums aren’t alone when it comes to collecting objects. Personal collecting, usually more rooted in identity or passion, can offer a glimpse into who people are and what makes them tick. Digital Media Content Manager Russell Dornan reflects on his brooch collection, what it says about his identity and shares...Dornan, Duncan
Collecting , LGBTQIA+, Collections , Jewellery , Brooch , LGBT History Month , and Global Arts Cultures And Design
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2022
Book chapter
The King and I: Commemorating the privilege of royal statue dedication in Ramesside Deir El-Medina
It is generally understood that in ancient Egyptian statuary, “a private person is never sculpted together with the king”. However, an unusual small limestone statue in the collections of National Museums Scotland contradicts this understanding, depicting a man kneeling to offer a statue of a king (NMS A.1956.139). Clearly Ramesside...Maitland, Margaret
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2022
Journal article
Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens
Determining when animal populations have experienced stress in the past is fundamental to understanding how risk factors drive contemporary and future species' responses to environmental change. For insects, quantifying stress and associating it with environmental factors has been challenging due to a paucity of time-series data and because detectable population-level... -
2022
Book
Fragments of the Bronze Age: the destruction and deposition of metalwork in South-West Britain and its wider context
The destruction and deposition of metalwork is a widely recognised phenomenon across Bronze Age Europe. Weapons were decommissioned and thrown into rivers; axes were fragmented and piled in hoards; and ornaments were crushed, contorted and placed in certain landscapes. Interpretation of this material is often considered in terms of whether...Knight, Matthew G
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2022
Lecture
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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2022
Conference paper (unpublished)
The Caquetoire Legacy
Deriving from a sixteenth century French type, this distinctive form of Scottish chair flourished throughout the seventeenth century. It was revived in authentic facsimile during the nineteenth century and continued in form and spirit to shape a range of modern variants. The speakers will address national and regional identity as...Jackson, Stephen
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2022
Lecture
Secrets in the stores - an overlooked Iron Age burial from Baledgarno
Fraser Hunter from National Museums Scotland talks about a polished stone disc from The McManus' collection which was discovered in a Tomb at Baledgarno Gravel Pit, and discusses its origins and usage in Iron Age Scotland.Hunter, Fraser
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2022
Book
Radar in Scotland 1938–46
With histories of each individual station, this book shows how the radar chain operated, how the radar information was processed and used for the air defence of Scotland, and what it was like to live and work on these mostly very remote sites. Featuring many unpublished photographs taken during the...Brown, Ian
Second World War, Radar, Military history, and Military aircraft
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2022
Journal article
A skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland illuminates an earlier origin of large pterosaurs
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve flight1,2 and include the largest flying animals in Earth history.3,4 While some of the last-surviving species were the size of airplanes, pterosaurs were long thought to be restricted to small body sizes (wingspans ca. <1.8–1.6 m) from their Triassic origins through the Jurassic,...Jagielska, Natalia ; O’Sullivan, Michael ; Funston, Gregory F ; Butler, Ian B ; Challands, Thomas J …
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2022
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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2022
Blog post
A great slaughter: The extinction of the Carolina parakeet
The Carolina parakeet is the poster bird for our Audubon’s Birds of America exhibition. Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Biology, Zena Timmons, explores the decline of this bird species, information revealed by our specimens and how an extinct species can be recreated through taxidermy.Timmons, Zena
Taxidermy, Natural Sciences, Exhibitions, Birds, Conservation, and Audubon
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2022
Blog post
On the edge: COP 15 and disappearing species
With COP 15 taking place in China this month, Principal Curator of Vertebrates Andrew Kitchener explores the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Thought to be extinct, but with potential sightings still reported, this bird is just one of many species we’re at risk of losing forever.Kitchener, Andrew C
Conservation , Birds , Natural Sciences , Audubon , and Natural World
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2022
Blog post
Paper conservation: bringing Birds of America back to life
The book Birds of America is famous for its huge size. Over 40 large bird illustrations are on display in our exhibition, and each one requires care. Assistant Paper Conservator Kiri Douglas talks us through the conservation process and some of the challenges she facedDouglas, Kiri
Audubon , Paper Conservation, Birds , Conservation , and Natural Sciences
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2022
Journal article
Discrimination of the sister hedgehog species Erinaceus concolor and E. roumanicus (Erinaceomorpha: Mammalia): a geometric morphometric approach
This study investigates skull variation between the two closely related hedgehog species, Erinaceus concolor and E. roumanicus by using geometric morphometric analyses based on 2-dimensional landmarks. For this purpose, a total of 68 specimens were evaluated: 54 E. concolor and 14 E. roumanicus. The results of PCA, ANOVA and MANOVA...Demirtaş, Sadik ; Gündüz, Islam ; Herman, Jeremy S
dorsal cranium, Erinaceus, mandible, geometric morphometric, Turkey, and shape variation
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2022
Blog post
A stitch in time: 300 years of visible mending
Does your favourite jumper have a hole in it? Seems a shame to get rid of a lovely piece of clothing because of a little tear, right? How about mending it! Senior Curator of Historic Textiles Helen Wyld talks us through some of the historic repairs in our textiles collection....Wyld, Helen
Textiles, Art And Design , Sewing , and Embroidery
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2022
Blog post
An elite education: discovery of an ancient Athenian ephebic list
A stone monument with an ancient Greek inscription in the collections of National Museums Scotland was recently discovered to be a previously unknown, unpublished Athenian ephebic list. Principal Curator Margaret Maitland and the Attic Inscriptions in UK Collections project team explain the significance of this find, and what it tells...Maitland, Margaret
World Cultures, Archaeology , Ancient Greece , and Research
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