1,721,300 research outputs found
Introduction: A hundred years of studying a Roman frontier post
No full textJames Curle's excavation of the Roman frontier fort of Newstead, ancient Trimontium, near Melrose in the Scottish Borders, was a landmark in Roman frontier studies culminating with his book, published in 1911.
This volume was conceived as a celebration, looking back to Curle and his work, and looking forward to how the picture is changing.
With contributions from a range of experts, it is constructed around five main themes:
- early work on the site, culminating with Curle
- the fort complex
- the finds
- the setting, especially links to the local population
- the afterlife of the excavations, in terms of their continuing impact
The impact of Rome, c. AD 50-250
No full textThe real and imagined legacy of the ancient Celts has shaped modern identities across the British Isles and retains a powerful hold over the popular imagination. Furthermore, Celtic art is one of Europe’s great artistic traditions, with the skills of Celtic craftspeople standing alongside the best of the ancient and medieval worlds. But who were the Celts? Recent research and new archaeological discoveries are continuing to transform our understanding of the idea of the Celts – a subject involving much controversy and academic debate since the late 1990s. Drawing on the latest scholarship, the authors explore how the Celts have been defined differently from ancient times to the modern day, by people with different perspectives and agendas. They look, too, at what is meant by Celtic art, from its origins c.500 BC in western Europe, through its transformations and revivals in the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, to its rediscovery in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Over 250 remarkable objects have been selected from the collections of the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland and other key European museums to richly illustrate the narrative and highlight the artistic accomplishments of craftspeople through the centuries. Here are iconic, intricately decorated masterpieces as well as less well-known fixtures and fittings; items of warfare and adornment; the ceremonial and the utilitarian
Hillfort and hacksilber: Traprain Law in the late Roman Iron Age and early prehistoric period
No full textCraft in context: artefact production in later prehistoric Scotland
No full textHow did Scotland relate to wider European patterns in later prehistory? This key topic is addressed by the papers in this volume, which review recent work on the Scottish later Bronze Age and Iron Age in the light of its neighbours. Authors use the explosion of recent data to investigate settlements and domestic architecture, art, craft, beliefs and environmental change. Comparative studies from southern Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Atlantic France, Ireland and northern England provide perspectives which feed into much larger topics, such as the changing balance of Atlantic versus Continental connections, how societies responded to climate change, and how significant an issue this was. There are fresh insights into models of later prehistoric society, the nature of craft production, changing land use and settlement patterns
Introduction [Scotland in later prehistoric Europe]
No full textHow did Scotland relate to wider European patterns in later prehistory? This key topic is addressed by the papers in this volume, which review recent work on the Scottish later Bronze Age and Iron Age in the light of its neighbours. Authors use the explosion of recent data to investigate settlements and domestic architecture, art, craft, beliefs and environmental change. Comparative studies from southern Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Atlantic France, Ireland and northern England provide perspectives which feed into much larger topics, such as the changing balance of Atlantic versus Continental connections, how societies responded to climate change, and how significant an issue this was. There are fresh insights into models of later prehistoric society, the nature of craft production, changing land use and settlement patterns
Powerful objects: the uses of art in the Iron Age
No full textThe real and imagined legacy of the ancient Celts has shaped modern identities across the British Isles and retains a powerful hold over the popular imagination. Furthermore, Celtic art is one of Europe’s great artistic traditions, with the skills of Celtic craftspeople standing alongside the best of the ancient and medieval worlds. But who were the Celts? Recent research and new archaeological discoveries are continuing to transform our understanding of the idea of the Celts – a subject involving much controversy and academic debate since the late 1990s. Drawing on the latest scholarship, the authors explore how the Celts have been defined differently from ancient times to the modern day, by people with different perspectives and agendas. They look, too, at what is meant by Celtic art, from its origins c.500 BC in western Europe, through its transformations and revivals in the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, to its rediscovery in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Over 250 remarkable objects have been selected from the collections of the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland and other key European museums to richly illustrate the narrative and highlight the artistic accomplishments of craftspeople through the centuries. Here are iconic, intricately decorated masterpieces as well as less well-known fixtures and fittings; items of warfare and adornment; the ceremonial and the utilitarian
Late Roman Silver: The Traprain Treasure in Context
No full textThe Traprain Law treasure from east Lothian in south-east Scotland is the most dramatic hoard of late Roman Hacksilber yet found. The interpretation of these bent, broken and crushed silver fragments has long been debated. Were they loot broken up by uncultured barbarians, or some form of diplomatic gift? This volume places the phenomenon in the wider context of late Roman silver use, considers Britain either side of the frontier in the late fourth and fifth century, and then expands across the Roman world, analysing topics such as the role of late Roman silver vessels and the nature of donatives and diplomatic gifts to people inside and outside the empire. A series of authors debate the enigmatic and peculiarly British habit of clipping late Roman silver coins, and present new data. A synthesis of Roman Hacksilber provides fresh insights into its roles, while important yet relatively unknown hoards and groups of material from Britain and the continent are presented. Comparative perspectives on Hacksilber in other periods provide a wider context, and the ultimate role of such silver in Britain and Ireland, re-melted into local prestige goods, is considered. The authors provide fresh insights into the Traprain hoard and bring together a challenging series of perspectives on the nature of late Roman society and economy, and its relationship to the barbarian world
‘Coal money’ from Portpatrick (south-west Scotland): reconstructing an Early Medieval craft centre from antiquarian finds
No full textLate 19th and 20th-century finds of debris from shale bangle manufacture at Portpatrick in south-west Scotland occasioned considerable interest at the time. The early discoveries were found in grave-digging, giving rise to folk traditions of the material as ‘coal money’ placed with the departed, but these were soon dismissed by antiquaries. Surviving material is split among at least seven different museums and has seen no recent study. This paper synthesises the finds to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of the making of bangles by removing a central core, and a secondary process of reworking these cores. The extensive secondary use arose because the material was imported, and thus had an enhanced value. The technique of core removal is unusual in Scotland, and wider study identifies a regional cluster around the Firth of Clyde in the Early Medieval period. The technique is widely attested in Ireland at the same time, and it is argued the technology spread from there as part of wider Irish influences. Taken with other strands of evidence, this suggests that a significant Early Medieval centre lies under the modern village of Portpatrick, a site well-placed for Irish connections as it provides the traditional harbour at one end of the shortest sea route to Irelan
Preface to Late Roman silver: the Traprain treasure in context
No full textThe Traprain Law treasure from east Lothian in south-east Scotland is the most dramatic hoard of late Roman Hacksilber yet found. The interpretation of these bent, broken and crushed silver fragments has long been debated. Were they loot broken up by uncultured barbarians, or some form of diplomatic gift? This volume places the phenomenon in the wider context of late Roman silver use, considers Britain either side of the frontier in the late fourth and fifth century, and then expands across the Roman world, analysing topics such as the role of late Roman silver vessels and the nature of donatives and diplomatic gifts to people inside and outside the empire. A series of authors debate the enigmatic and peculiarly British habit of clipping late Roman silver coins, and present new data. A synthesis of Roman Hacksilber provides fresh insights into its roles, while important yet relatively unknown hoards and groups of material from Britain and the continent are presented. Comparative perspectives on Hacksilber in other periods provide a wider context, and the ultimate role of such silver in Britain and Ireland, re-melted into local prestige goods, is considered. The authors provide fresh insights into the Traprain hoard and bring together a challenging series of perspectives on the nature of late Roman society and economy, and its relationship to the barbarian world
A connected Europe, c.500-150 BC
No full textThe real and imagined legacy of the ancient Celts has shaped modern identities across the British Isles and retains a powerful hold over the popular imagination. Furthermore, Celtic art is one of Europe’s great artistic traditions, with the skills of Celtic craftspeople standing alongside the best of the ancient and medieval worlds. But who were the Celts? Recent research and new archaeological discoveries are continuing to transform our understanding of the idea of the Celts – a subject involving much controversy and academic debate since the late 1990s. Drawing on the latest scholarship, the authors explore how the Celts have been defined differently from ancient times to the modern day, by people with different perspectives and agendas. They look, too, at what is meant by Celtic art, from its origins c.500 BC in western Europe, through its transformations and revivals in the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, to its rediscovery in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Over 250 remarkable objects have been selected from the collections of the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland and other key European museums to richly illustrate the narrative and highlight the artistic accomplishments of craftspeople through the centuries. Here are iconic, intricately decorated masterpieces as well as less well-known fixtures and fittings; items of warfare and adornment; the ceremonial and the utilitarian
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