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Archaeology Notes
Event ID 730989
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/730989
NX88SE 8 c. 867 843 or c. 913 866.
NX c. 867 843 or NX c. 913 866. A carved stone head of Celtic type, reputedly from either the neighbourhood of Dunscore or Auldgirth, formerly in the collection of Major Mersyth of Dumfries, was deposited in Dumfries Museum in 1971 (Acc No: 1971/50).
It is an oval water-worn boulder of diorite, 12" x 8", and may well have come from a shrine. Finally, a rather more primitive head (formerly in the collection of Major Mersyth of Dumfries and reputedly from either the neighbourhood of Dunscore or Auldgirth) was deposited in Dumfries Museum in 1971 (Accession no: 1971/50). It is an ovoid water-worn boulder of diorite measuring 12 by 8 ins. (305 by 203mm). This has a rounded base which has been utilised by the sculptor so that, with the least amount of coarse pecking and chiselling, a strongly-featured face, with thick nose and heavily-lidded eyes, has been made to emerge from the stone. It sits naturally looking upwards at an angle of about 45 degrees. With graded lighting it would look most impressive in some primitive shrine, and this may well have been the intention.
Dumfries Museum 1971; W Dodds 1972.
Field investigation in 1973 failed to locate the exact find spot of this head.
Visited by OS (BS) 20 November 1973.
