Digital copy of a drawing of three bone artefacts: an antler ring, a tusk, and a jagged edged artefact. The ring and tusk are from Keiss broch and the jagged edged artefact is from Wester broch.

Description Digital copy of a drawing of three bone artefacts: an antler ring, a tusk, and a jagged edged artefact. The ring and tusk are from Keiss broch and the jagged edged artefact is from Wester broch.

Date c. 1895 to 1920

Collection Papers of John Nicolson, antiquarian, Keiss, Caithness, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 876457

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Watercolour of bone objects from Keiss and Wester brochs, Caithness, Highland In 1881, Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907) purchased the estate at Keiss, north-east Caithness. Between 1890 and 1904, he spent the summer months excavating numerous sites in the area including a number of brochs. Two of the brochs, Keiss and Wester, are located on the coast near Keiss. This watercolour by John Nicolson (1843-1934) shows three objects: an antler ring, a tusk, and a strange bone object with a jagged edge. The antler ring is from Keiss broch and may have acted as a ferrule or a collar for a larger object. The bone object with a jagged edge is from Wester broch and may have been used as some form of decorative mount. Nicolson was born in Stemster, John O' Groats and lived at Nybster for most of his life. He was a skilled sculptor and artist with a keen interest in the archaeology of the area and assisted with many of Barry's excavations. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/876457

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap