Scanned image of drawing of thirteen artefacts, primarily of bone or horn, but also of stone and ceramic; annotated with descriptions and in some cases, measurements.

Description Scanned image of drawing of thirteen artefacts, primarily of bone or horn, but also of stone and ceramic; annotated with descriptions and in some cases, measurements.

Date 1890 to 1904

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

Catalogue Number SC 876714

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Drawing of bone, stone and clay objects from brochs, Caithness, Highland Between 1890 and 1904, Sir Francis Tress Barry (1825-1907) excavated a number of sites in Caithness, including brochs. After purchasing the Keiss estate in 1881, Barry investigated several sites relying on local people to carry out the work. One such local was John Nicolson (1843-1934) who produced this sketch. This drawing shows numerous objects discovered during broch excavations. On the left are antler handles for iron tools, a bobbin, a stone knife, a stone polisher and a horn whistle. On the right, a fish vertebrae that was probably used as a gaming piece, a piece of stone of unknown function, a bone spoon, a bone button, a pottery fragment and a crucible. Nicolson produced hundreds of drawings and watercolours of sites and objects uncovered during a series of late 19th-/early 20th-century excavations in north-east Caithness. The drawings shown here were sketches for watercolours produced by Nicolson. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/876714

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap