PICTISH THRONE BUILT AS PART OF NEW RESEARCH PROJECT

The throne was unveiled at the National Museum of Scotland
A throne built to a design used by the ancient Picts has gone on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The seat was created by master furniture maker Adrian McCurdy who drew inspiration from stone carvings.

It was commissioned by distillers Glenmorangie and National Museums Scotland (NMS).

The Picts dominated Scotland north of the Firth of Clyde from the 4th to the 9th centuries AD.

Their symbol stones continue to intrigue historians.

The throne is part of a wider project investigating Scotland's early history.

NEW FINDINGS

A new archaeological research post at the National Museum of Scotland has been created and new findings on Scotland's ancient past published in a book in 2011.

The throne will go on display first at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 1 December and at the Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, next year. It will be displayed at other sites later.

David Clarke, keeper of archaeology at NMS, said thrones were a symbol of power for the Picts.

He added: "There are no surviving examples of thrones from early historic Scotland and during the process of recreating this piece we've learnt so much about the design, manufacture and use of these thrones.

"It's very exciting to see this type of throne brought to life for the first time in over a thousand years."

NMS collections include the 8th Century Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Stone, which was discovered near Glenmorangie House in Ross-shire.







BAY COULD REVEAL VIKING SECRETS


Vikings began making incursions on Caithness in the 9th Century.
A bay in the far north of Scotland is to be searched by archaeologists in the hope of uncovering Viking artefacts.

Items have been found at opposite ends of Dunnet Bay in Caithness, but the links area have not been thoroughly investigated before.

Test pits will be dug and soil samples analysed by a new, community-owned archaeological research centre.

The base is housed within Castletown Heritage Society's premises in a former farm steading at Castlehill.

Muriel Murray, the society's chairwoman, said the new facility, particularly the jobs it will create, and the proposed search of the bay were exciting developments.

She said: "The middle of the bay is an obvious area to look.

"At the Castletown end of the bay there is a broch and on top of that a Viking bronze brooch and jet pin were found."

Two full-time and one part-time job for local graduates will be created by AOC Archaeology Group at the new Castletown research centre.

They will work on materials from sites excavated nearby and also from throughout the UK.

Staff will use a process called wet sieving and sort archaeological soil samples, document the results and dispatch materials for expert analysis.

Several place names in Caithness reflect its links with Vikings, who began making incursions on the area in the 9th Century.


DUNADD: CAPITAL FORTRESS OF THE KINGDOM OF DALRIADA


DUNADD (the Fort on the River Add) was the capital fortress of the ancient Scottish Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada. In ruins now, it still dominates the surrounding Argyll countryside from its high crag. The land around was originally very boggy and would have made it difficult for an attacking force. The crag itself may well have been an island before the land was reclaimed. Dunadd's high point ensured that folk approaching would have been readily spotted from any direction. As a key stronghold of ancient Scotland, Dunadd attracted visitors from far and wide. This included folk from across the Irish Sea, Angles from the early English kingdoms and merchants from the Continent, bringing luxuries such as wines, spices, pottery and glass.






Both pictures show the approach to an original entrance to Dunadd fort. The gateway now has to be imagined.

Dunadd still has a flat rock with an incised footprint used for the coronation of kings. The candidate would place his foot on the footprint while being inaugurated. The rock also bears a Pictish boar design and an ogam inscription.

In 683 Dunadd was besieged along with another stronghold, Dundurn. Then, in 736, Dunadd was attacked by the Picts. The Annals of Ulster has this: 'Oengus mac Fergus, king of the Picts, laid waste the territory of Dal Riata and seized Dunadd, and burned Creic and bound in chains two sons of Selbach king of Dal Riata, Dungal and Feredach...'

Thormod Morrisson.



ANGLO SAXON INFLUENCE HAS BEEN FOUND AT DUNADD

Alan Lane reports


SAXONS IN THE FIRST SCOTTISH KINGDOM

Dunadd, a fortified hill in Argyll, has traditionally been seen as the capital of the first `Scottish' kingdom in Scotland - known as Dalriada - created when an Irish dynasty transferred their centre of power from Antrim in c AD500.

Some may suppose that Dalriada remained quite distinct from the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms created in England at roughly the same time. Recent work at Dunadd, however, has produced striking evidence of Anglo-Saxon influence at the site, indicating it was a major point of contact between Anglo-Saxons and Scots as early as the 7th century.

The evidence was contained in metalworking deposits, which preserve moulds for casting gold, silver and copper alloy objects - penannular brooches, buckles, pins and more complex items. Among the moulds are objects for which strong Anglo-Saxon parallels can be advanced. The most interesting are bird-headed penannular brooches which can be closely paralleled by annular brooches from Yorkshire. Likewise moulds for silver buckles seem likely to be modelled on Anglo-Saxon types and can be closely matched in Kent.

This copying of Anglo-Saxon forms and decoration, but transformed in a Celtic milieu, was predicted by scholars such as Françoise Henry as long ago as 1965 and was seen as part of the process by which the Hiberno-Saxon art style was created. The art of the great illuminated manuscripts - the Books of Durrow, Lindisfarne, Kells, and so on - is agreed to contain Celtic and Anglo-Saxon elements. Less well understood, however, is where the earliest manuscripts were made, and what the relative contributions of the two artistic traditions were. Was it in Northumbria under Irish tutelage? Was it largely a Northumbrian initiative? Or was it in Ireland where Françoise Henry felt suitable artistic creative spirit resided? The issue has caused bitter argument and at times has taken on a modern political dimension related to issues of Irish nationhood and perceived English arrogance.

The Dunadd moulds now demonstrate that key elements in this process of artistic fusion were taking place in Scottish Dalriada. Fragments of metalwork show that high status Anglo-Saxon items - gold and garnet jewellery and zoomorphic stamped bronzes - were being used alongside Celtic items such as trumpet spiral decorated discs and penannular brooches. The combination of radiocarbon dates, datable imported ceramics and metalwork suggest that this process was taking place in the 7th century, though exactly when is difficult to say.

Among the moulds are fragments of big penannular brooches related to the (probably Irish) Tara and (perhaps Scottish) Hunterston pseudo-penannular forms - the two richest examples of early medieval brooches known from the British Isles. The scholar Robert Stevenson has argued that Hunterston shows the process whereby Anglo-Saxon Style 2 was adopted into an essentially Celtic brooch type. It is unknown where Hunterston was made, but at Dunadd we seem to be seeing the same process.

How did Anglo-Saxon objects reach Argyll? Seventh century aristocrats and clerics were highly mobile. Warbands, exiles, and monks moved widely throughout the British Isles. Several Northumbrian princes spent time in exile in Dalriada and in Ireland. Lindisfarne was founded by monks from Iona and much of the successful conversion of England was undertaken by Irish and Scottish personnel. The objects at Dunadd may have come there as gifts or as booty, or worn by warriors or princes. What seems clear is that objects such as these helped to stimulate a transformation in the art of the whole of the British Isles. The Book of Durrow, for instance, the finest surviving early Hiberno-Saxon manuscript, shows Anglo-Saxon, Pictish and Celtic influence. It may have been created at Iona, the great monastic centre of the Columban confederation, which is only 35 miles from Dunadd.

As a key royal site, probably the place where the kings of Dalriada were inaugurated, Dunadd will have had close links with Iona as well as royal and aristocratic visitors from throughout Britain and Ireland. In a society without towns, traders probably came direct to the royal centre. Among the continental imports of pottery, glass, beads, and dyes at Dunadd, a small yellow fragment indicates that the Mediterranean colorant orpiment, which is used in the Book of Durrow, may have reached Iona from Dunadd.

Dunadd may not have been unique. Other sites in other areas will have participated in the creation of this international art style, but Dunadd is one of the very few places where we can see such artistic fusion in the making.

Dr Alan Lane is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Wales, Cardiff. His work at Dunadd was funded by Historic Scotland.



CELTIC GOLD TORCS FOUND IN STIRLINGSHIRE






An Iron Age treasure hoard unearthed by a metal-detecting amateur has been unveiled.

The four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m.

They were discovered in September by "first-time" metal-detector enthusiast David Booth in a field in Stirlingshire.

The find is the most important hoard of Iron Age gold in Scotland to date.


Mr Booth told BBC Scotland: "I was almost stunned.


The Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel will value the items

"I had an idea it was very valuable and rare stuff and it was the first thing I'd ever found really so it was really unbelievable.

"I basically parked the car up and got the metal detector out and picked a direction to set off and about seven steps later there it was. It was the first thing I came across."

And he admitted he did not understand the importance of his find.

He added: "I knew it was jewellery and I knew it was old but I didn't know the age of it."

The items were unveiled at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel will value the latest discovery.

Under Scots law, the Crown can claim any archaeological objects found in Scotland.

LARGEST HOARD

Finders have no ownership rights and must report any objects to the Treasure Trove Unit.

But Mr Booth, who refused to speculate on the value of his find, might receive a reward equal to the value of the jewellery.

Metal detectorist Terry Herbert unearthed the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found in a Staffordshire field in July.

The haul of about 1,000 items was officially declared to be treasure by a coroner.

Thousands of people queued to see the gold when it went on show in Birmingham.

The treasure is currently being valued in London.


CROFTER FINDS A VIKING ANCHOR ON THE ISLE OF SKYE

Thurs 3rd December 2009




The anchor was found near Sleat on the Isle of Skye
A crofter has uncovered what is believed to be a Viking anchor while digging a drain on the Isle of Skye.

Graeme Mackenzie, 47, made the find after hiring an excavator to open the drain on rough pastureland 50yds (48m) from his home near Sleat.

Rain had partly washed away the bottom of the drain and exposed a corroded 4in (10cm) iron spike.

Mr Mackenzie levered it out and was "stunned" as the ancient anchor gradually emerged.

The Treasure Trove Unit at the National Museums of Scotland said the anchor will probably be claimed by the Crown.

Measuring 4ft high and a similar distance from tip to tip, the artefact is undergoing dating and metallurgical testing.

Preliminary results showed it is at least of medieval, possibly Viking, origin and could be about 1,000 years old.

If proved to be Viking, the find would be further evidence that many Norse raiders never returned to their native land, choosing instead to settle on Skye and many other places along Scotland's northwestern seaboard.

As far as I know Treasure Trove Scotland in Edinburgh, will eventually contact me and tell me if I'm due any financial reward. But I'm not ordering the Ferrari just yet

Graeme Mackenzie
Crofter
Mr Mackenzie said: "Where it was lying, is only 100 yards above the high water mark.

"We are on a raised beach, so the land has been rising since Viking times.

"Maybe then the tide came right up to the point where I found it.

"The anchor was 2ft under the peat. I hauled it out not realising what was at the end of it - but luckily it came out in one piece.

"When I gave it a hose down it was obvious what it was. It looks very like a pick, only with a metal handle.

"The top of the shaft was missing, because it was so badly corroded. I assume it would have had an eye at the top, but that's gone."

Growing potatoes

He added: "I stumbled on it quite by chance, I wasn't looking for anything. I just wanted to drain the land so I can grow potatoes there next year.

"When I dug it up I immediately knew it was old. I used to be a skipper and I therefore have some knowledge on anchors.

"And this one felt different. The metalwork is totally different from the modern anchors. It felt like a blacksmith had hammered it.

"On the internet I saw a picture of a Viking anchor and it looked exactly the same as mine.

"As far as I know Treasure Trove Scotland in Edinburgh, will eventually contact me and tell me if I'm due any financial reward. But I'm not ordering the Ferrari just yet.

"I'm not expecting anything. I don't think I can retire early."

In a report to the Museum of the Isles, a spokesman for the Treasure Trove Unit at the National Museums of Scotland said: "At the moment our working presumption is that the anchor is at least medieval".




Vikings 'were warned to avoid Scotland'
Scotland is full of dangerous natives who speak an incomprehensible language and the is weather awful. That was the verdict of a series of 13th century Viking travel guides that warned voyagers to visit at their peril.

THE TELEGRAPH Published: 9:41AM BST 20 Sep 2009

The medieval chronicles, set down on yellowed calf vellum eight centuries ago, describe Scotland - or Skotland, as it was known - as an unwelcome and inhospitable country offering rewards only to the bold.

"Icelanders who want to practise robbery are advised to go there," says one saga. "But it may cost them their life."

Another saga tells the story of Icelandic merchants who sailed into a west coast sea loch where they met 13 ships bristling with what they called "Vikings" - more an occupation than a nationality - but were actually natives.

A Scot identified in the saga as Grjotgard, a kinsman of Melkolf, king of Scotland (Malcolm II), told them: "You have two choices. You can go ashore and we will take all your property, or we'll attack you and kill every man we lay our hands on." The merchants were terrified, the saga says, but presumably lived to tell their tale.

"Icelanders who want to practise robbery are advised to go there," says one saga. "But it may cost them their life."

Another saga tells the story of Icelandic merchants who sailed into a west coast sea loch where they met 13 ships bristling with what they called "Vikings" - more an occupation than a nationality - but were actually natives.

A Scot identified in the saga as Grjotgard, a kinsman of Melkolf, king of Scotland (Malcolm II), told them: "You have two choices. You can go ashore and we will take all your property, or we'll attack you and kill every man we lay our hands on." The merchants were terrified, the saga says, but presumably lived to tell their tale.

The chronicles have been interpreted by Gisli Sigurdsson, a historian at Reykjavik University, who believes the sagas - part fiction, part fact - reveal how the ancient Norse were far from the fearless pirates of legend.
As the Norsemen became as keen on trade as marauding, they were particularly nervous about sailing up the west coast sea lochs they referred to as the "Scottish fjords".

The Norse Viking age peaked between the 9th and 12th centuries, when Scandinavian seafarers conquered new lands, settling Orkney, Shetland, Iceland and Greenland, and establishing colonies in Scotland, England, Ireland, France, North America and Russia.

The Icelandic sagas, written in the 13th century but based on earlier oral stories, were often used as route guides for raiders, traders, crusaders and explorers, effectively a road map of medieval Europe and the Middle East. They have proved remarkably accurate, even helping archaeologists to pinpoint the remains of a Norse village in Newfoundland.

Orkney is described as a handy base camp for pillaging Scotland. But the Norse had other bases too, some of which would feature high up in a modern guide for tourists. If you are planning to raid Scotland, one saga reads, you could do worse than base yourself in Fort Skardaborg. That's today's Scarborough.

Mr Sigurdsson believes the Norse Vikings were particularly nervous about the Gaels of Ireland and west Scotland.

Orkney historian Tom Muir said: "They picked weak targets, like monasteries. Some of the monasteries were basically unguarded banks of cash with a sign above them saying 'free money'. The truth is that there were raids both ways and that the Norse had every reason to fear their Celtic neighbours. There are well-documented accounts of Gaelic-speaking Lewismen raiding Orkney."

The Norse eventually lost their hold in Scotland. But Celts and the Vikings must ultimately have started to get along. DNA evidence suggests many Scots and Icelanders interbred and settled in both countries.



KULTURHISTORISK MUSEUM UNIVERSITETET I OSLO

A Runic Fragment from Orkney


In July 2001 Christopher Gee and a companion were walking near Breckness House, west of Stromness, Orkney (National Grid Reference HY 225093), when they came upon a fragment of sandstone with the remains of a runic inscription. It was passed on to the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall (entry no. 1203). The stone was among a pile from a dyke (a dry-stone wall) that had fallen down some years earlier. This was presumably a secondary use, and we know nothing of the stone's primary context. Breckness House, now in ruins, was a seventeenth-century structure which replaced a former building. Close by is what is left of a broch (a local type of fortress), which shows that the land was occupied from early times. Ordnance Survey maps record a chapel and a burial ground just south of the house; there is thus a possible ecclesiastical context for the stone.

The fragment is broken on all sides. What remains is c. 14 × 6 × 9 cm. The runes were cut casually across its face without framing lines. Tops of all surviving graphs are lost. Such bases as remain are not in precise alignment, so it is hard to reconstruct damaged forms. There are remains of seven letters: —?ş??br???—. Rune 1 is a fragmentary vertical and bow which, from comparison with rune 4, b, must have been ş. Runes 2 and 3 are now plain verticals (thus ii), but the distance between them suggests there was a right-hand branch to 2 or a left-hand one to 3, now lost. In fact, a very faint line slopes from top right to bottom left (thus ki or it) but it is most likely this is a casual scratch. Rune 4 is a clear b, in part double-cut. Rune 5 is a badly formed r. Rune 6 is a problem. It has a vertical with two branches sloping upwards to the right: f. But the lower branch also appears to continue downward to the left of the vertical, which, if intended, could imply a bind rune a^f or æ^f (or theoretically the reverse f^a, f^æ). Yet the relatively short distance between rune 5 and the vertical of rune 6 may indicate that this line is an accidental overcut. Rune 7 is badly damaged but appears to be the remains of u or less likely r (of a different form from rune 5). There is no way of knowing what may have been lost at beginning and end of this sequence.



With all these uncertainties it is unlikely that this new Orkney discovery (OR 20) will provide more than an additional find spot on a distribution map. Likely readings for runes 1-5 are şiibr, şkibr, şitbr. Accepting runes 6 and 7 as f and u we get the sequences şiibrfu, şkibrfu, şitbrfu. Taking rune 6 as the bind rune a^f or æ^f we have the further complexities şiibra^fu, şkibra^fu, şitbra^fu, şiibræ^fu, şkibræ^fu, şitbræ^fu, and double this number if we admit the possibilities f^a, f^æ. With the perhaps unlikely identification of rune 7 as r there comes a further set of sequences. None of these suggestions makes immediate sense, so we content ourselves with the longest of long shots: the inscription is the remains of a memorial slab text lak]şi ibr fu[kl 'placed over Fugl', though the spelling ibr for yfir needs a deal of justifying.


M. P. Barnes, University College London
R. I. Page, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge