Scanned image of a watercolour of a sherd of Roman Samian ware pottery recovered during Sir Francis Tress Barry's excavations at Keiss broch.

Description Scanned image of a watercolour of a sherd of Roman Samian ware pottery recovered during Sir Francis Tress Barry's excavations at Keiss broch.

Date c. 1890 to 1893

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

Catalogue Number SC 876636

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Watercolour of Roman Samian Ware pottery from Keiss broch, Caithness, Highland Keiss broch lies on the coast to the north of the harbour at Keiss in north-east Caithness. It is one of a number of archaeological sites excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907) between 1890 and 1904 and can still be visited today. This watercolour by John Nicolson (1843-1934) shows a piece of Roman Samian pottery that was discovered during Barry's excavations at Keiss broch between 1890-3. Roman pottery is rare in northern mainland Scotland. Its occurrence at Keiss indicates that the inhabitants had access to prestigious goods from the south. It may have been a gift or exchanged for local goods. 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.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap