Photographic copy of a watercolour of bone and stone artefacts.

Description Photographic copy of a watercolour of bone and stone artefacts.

Date c. 1895 to 1920

Catalogue Number SC 876527

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Watercolour of bone and stone objects from Keiss broch, Caithness, Highland Keiss broch lies on the coast to the north of Keiss in north-east Caithness. Samuel Laing carried out the first excavations at the site in 1864. Later, Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907), who purchased the Keiss estate in 1881, excavated the rest of the site between 1890-3. Keiss broch was one of a number of broch sites excavated by Barry between 1890 and 1904. This watercolour by John Nicolson (1843-1934) illustrates a stone and three bone objects. Unfortunately, the paper has been cut, removing part of the drawing of a bone object. The stone object was probably used as a lamp, or possibly as a cup. Beside this is a bone point or borer used for leatherworking. The other bone object is a knife. 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/876527

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap