Petrie found this burial in 1908 in Thebes. The artefacts came to Scotland in 1909; a queen and a child, presumably her own. The symbols on the unidentified coffin stop at the point where the person’s name would be given, due to erosion of the plaster dating from thousands of years ago.
Dr. Bill Manley from National Museum of Scotland believes that, thanks to work with a range of other experts, he has discovered the likely identity of the woman. By looking at the shape of the coffin and studying the grave gifts academics have been able to date the burial to around 1550BC. A visit to Egypt in 2003 allowed Manley to use Petrie’s notes and maps to help pinpoint the location of the burial site further, but he failed to find the actual spot. Manley says:
The medieval Lewis Chessmen were hand carved by Norse master craftsmen in Trondheim, then for some reason abandoned in a sand dune on a Scottish island, before being discovered in 1831 and split up and sold to two different museums, in Edinburgh and London. For the first time in over 150 years, pieces from both collections – 30 of them in total – will be reunited in Scotland, in a hotly-anticipated touring exhibition that begins in Edinburgh before visiting Aberdeen Art Gallery (October 7, 2010 – 8 January 2011), Shetland Museum & Archives (January 29, 2011 – March 27, 2011) then finally Museum nan Eilean on the chessmen’s spiritual home of Lewis (April 2011, 15 – September, 12 2011).
Submitted by Sean Williams on Thu, 11/26/2009 - 17:39
Scottish history lovers can get a unique view of their country's heritage at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) - a team of experts has rebuilt a Pictish throne. The wooden giant was created by master furniture maker Adrian McCurdy, who took his lines from ancient stone carvings. Picts ruled Scotland north of the Firth of Clyde from the 4th to 9th century AD. But they are best known for their mysterious rock art, which still baffles experts today.
The throne was commissioned by the museum alongside distillers Glenmorangie. It will go on display next Tuesday (December 1st) at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, before moving to the Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, next year. It will visit a number of locations across the country thereafter. A new book exploring Scotland's ancient past will be published in a book to be published in 2011.
The Royal Museum of Scotland is a large, glass-roofed Neo-Romanesque museum in the old town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was opened in 1888, and in 2007 merged with the adjoining Museum of Scotland to become the National Museum of Scotland complex. Since 2008, it has been closed, subject to the completion of the Royal Museum Project - a £46 million pound refit, funded jointly by the Scottish Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund and private donations. The museum is expected to reopen in 2011.
It's exhibits - numbering over a million - derive from the fields of geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology and art. Highlights range from stuffed African elephants to the Millenium Clock, a whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling, thousands of insects and various ancient Egyptian items, including engraved coffins. It was a state-of-the-art facility when first opened, but has since fallen behind the pace and come to urgently require a major refurbishment.
The Lewis Hnefataflmen: doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as the Lewis Chessmen, does it?
But if what a new paper by a trio of heritage experts is saying is true, the famous 900-year-old set of ivory-carved pieces discovered on a Scottish island in 1831 may not be from a chess set at all, but rather an ancient Viking board game.
As blogged by Sean yesterday, a precious hoard of Iron Age gold treasures worth an estimated £1 million has been discovered by a first-time metal detector enthusiast near Stirling. It was unveiled to the media at an event at the National Museum of Scotland this morning. The collection was described as “the most important hoard of Iron Age gold found in Scotland to date.”
Submitted by Sean Williams on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 15:47
Scotland is to welcome home some of its most iconic relics from the British Museum next May, in a loan deal that sees the famous Lewis Chessmen toured around the country for two years. Yet politicians hailed the move as a 'step sideways', as the BM all but ruled out their permanent repatriation. Members of the Scottish National Party have been claiming a cultural victory this week, as it was confirmed on the weekend that 24 of the BM's 82 charismatic 12th century carvings would be winging their way to four Scottish museums next year. Eleven of the 93 pieces are already on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, six of which will be joining the treasures' first tour in over 14 years.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:38
A date has now been set for the return of some of the Vindolanda Tablets to the museum at Vindolanda in Northumberland, following an announcement this week that the UK's Heritage Lottery Fund is to donate £4 million towards the costs. The date now set for some of the tablets to be housed at the Vindolanda museum is spring 2011 – they will come on loan from the British Museum for a period of five years, after which the loan can be renewed.
The tablets – a collection of 1,600 documents etched on thin wooden boards – represent the earliest forms of written language in Britain. The Latin incriptions were found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in 1973 and include records of the Roman army's expenses as well as personal letters.
The Hilton of Cadboll Stone is a magnificent Pictish carved cross-slab, bearing a Christian cross on one side and hunting scenes on the other. After residing in a chapel near the village of Hilton od Cadboll for centuries, it was removed to Invergordon Castle, then the British Museum in London - provoking a public outcry. It has since been returned, to the National Museum of Scotland.
A replica, hand-carved by artist Barry Grove, has been erected at its original site. Missing pieces of the original discovered by GUARD archaeologists were - after much dispute about what should be done with them - put on display Hilton of Cadboll village hall.
Scottish Minister for Culture Mike Russell is expected to announce today that the Lewis Chessmen – a collection of 93 individually hand-carved walrus-ivory chess pieces dating from the 12th century, found on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 – are to be reunited again. A proportion of the 82-piece set belonging to the British Museum in London will arrive home on loan, to join up with the 11 other artefacts currently held by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. They’ll go on tour around the country in coming months, taking in destinations including Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
Scottish history lovers can get a unique view of their country's heritage at the 
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Scotland is to welcome home 
