National Museum of Scotland: Celts, Picts, Vikings and Anglosaxons

This past September I visited Edinburgh's National Museum (National Museum of Scotland), and I really liked the archaeology and Scottish history collection.  This is probably the museum I've enjoyed the most alongside the British Museum and the Hallstatt museum - It was really well organized and presented, and included a lot of stuff from some of my favourite cultures. I focused on the 'Early Peoples' exhibit, with Celtic, Pict, Viking and Anglosaxon pieces, spanning from around 8000 BC to AD 1100; and the 'Kingdom of the Scots', from 1100 to 1707. 

More info about the pieces either in the signs (click on pics or open in new tab for a bigger size) or linked in descriptions:

• The Galloway Hoard

"Buried at the beginning of the 10th century in Dumfries and Galloway, the Galloway Hoard lay undisturbed for a thousand years before being unearthed by a metal detectorist in September 2014.

This discovery comprises more than 100 objects, including a rich Viking Age hoard of silver jewellery and ingots. It also contains a range of precious metal and jewelled items, including a rare gold ingot, a unique gold bird-shaped pin and a decorated silver-gilt vessel, the only complete lidded vessel of its type ever discovered in Britain and Ireland.

This vessel contains further unusual objects: beads; amulets of glass and rock crystal; a silver penannular brooch; another gold ingot; five Anglo-Saxon disc brooches of a kind not found in Scotland before; and two examples of a new type of quatrefoil brooch. Carefully wrapped in fragile textile bundles are a rock crystal flask or jar and jewelled aestels, pointers used to read and mark places within medieval manuscripts." (Source)

1) 'Early Peoples' (not in chronological order)

• I was lucky to see irl one of my favourite depictions of Brigantia, goddess of the Brigantes (a Britannian tribe) and a warlike version of the Irish goddess Brighid:

"[Brghid's] British and continental counterpart Brigantia seems to have been the Celtic equivalent of the Roman Minerva and the Greek Athena, goddesses with very similar functions and apparently embodying the same concept of elevated state, whether physical or psychological."

(Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighid)

Brigantia, the North British warlike version of the Irish Brighid, worshipped mainly by the Brigantes tribe. was equated by the Romans with warlike, lofty goddesses of their own, such as Minerva, goddess of strategical battle, wisdom and crafts, Bellona, the ancient Roman goddess of war, and Victoria, the personified goddess of victory. Roman reliefs of Brigantia show her in depictions heavily influenced by these Classical goddesses, dressed in a long tunic, armed with helmet, spear and shield and carrying a globe of victory in her left hand. The Romans also equated warlike Gaulish goddesses, such as Epona and Belisama, with Minerva.

• Pictish stones

A female aristocrat, Hilton of Cabdoll:

• St Ninian's Isle treasure:

"This hoard of treasure was discovered during excavations on St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland, in 1958. It consists of 28 silver and silver-gilt objects, all decorated, made during the second half of the eighth century. Most of the objects are considered to be Pictish, which means they would have been made and used in the eastern and northern areas of Scotland.

There are twelve brooches in the treasure. In early historic Scotland, brooches such as these did much more than act as cloak fasteners. The size and quality of the decoration signified the wearer’s status and position in society. The number and quality of the brooches found strengthens the suggestion that the treasure came from an aristocratic household." (Source)

• Deskford carnyx:

"The Deskford carnyx is the head of an Iron Age trumpet. Found in the north-east of Scotland around 1816, it is a masterpiece of early Celtic art, shaped to resemble a wild boar with its upturned snout and decoration mirroring the folds of skin around a boar’s face. It is a complex composite construction, wrought from sheet bronze and brass. This helps us date it, because brass is not native to Scotland: it represents recycled Roman metal. Along with other evidence, this suggests a date between c. AD 80 and 250 for its construction. Today only the head survives: it lacks the erect crest, ears, enamelled eyes, wooden tongue and long cylindrical tube which it once had." (Source)

• Woman's grave, Cnip (875 to 925):

• Anglosaxon loot (1-2); Irish loot/gifts featuring brooches and pins (3-7); Scandinavian personal possessions (8-17):

• Emulating Southern English fashions (2-7) and gift exchanges (8-12):

• Prestige imports (4-10); Irish and Irish-style objects from the 1st millennium AD (11-15)

• Viking sword hilt and other weapons:

• Alphabets: Runes and ogham

• Jewelry and adornments:

• Weapons:

2) 'Kingdom of the Scots' (not in chronological order)

• Queen Mary harp:

"This harp, or clarsach, may have been made in the West Highlands in the 15th century. The woodwork is richly decorated with scroll-work and carvings of animals. (...) This harp was traditionally said to have been given by Mary, Queen of Scots to Beatrix Gardyne of Banchory, while on a hunting trip to Atholl, c. 1563. It is also said to have been adorned at one time with a gold portrait of Mary, which could be the real reason for its association with her. " (Source)

• Pictish stones:

• Scandinavian pieces from Shetland, featuring combs:

• Lewis chess pieces:

"Found on Lewis in 1831, the Lewis Chesspieces are probably the most well-known archaeological find from Scotland. The chesspieces consist of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales' teeth in the form of seated kings and queens, bishops, knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of obelisks.  The hoard is likely to be made up of four chess sets. Eleven pieces are owned by National Museums Scotland and the remaining 82 reside at the British Museum.

Believed to be Scandinavian in origin, the Lewis chesspieces were probably made in Trondheim in Norway during the late 12th and early 13th centuries. At that time, the area in which they were buried was part of the Kingdom of Norway, not Scotland. It is possible that the chesspieces belonged to a merchant travelling from Norway to Ireland, and it seems likely that they were buried for safe keeping en route." (Source)

• Medieval longsowrd (Claymore):

• Cloak rings:

Visiting the Yorkshire Museum

During a September trip in York, I visited the Yorkshire Museum, so today's post is Celtic and Viking -themed, with a bit of female representation and a  female armour review thrown in.

• Celtic

The museum's items were mainly Roman, Viking and Medieval, plus an exhibition about extinct species (and because I was reading the Doctor Who novel The Last Dodo at that moment, seeing dodos and dinosaurs there added a Whovian twist to the museum, which is always welcome :)!).

In the Roman section, there were some Celtic items, featuring the Stanwick Horse Mask, a small bronze model of a horse's head from the Iron Age AD 40-80, and horse harness pieces from the Stanwick hoard, part of a Brigantian chariot from the same period.

I had seen this horse model in more than one book about the Celts, and it was awesome to see this lovely piece in person (even though the glass reflection didn't make for the best pics):

Another thing that I liked about this part of the museum was the fact that the info panel about the Roman invasion and the creation of Eboracum (York) actually critisized the Romans' invasion of Britain and their treatment of the Celtic peoples they invaded ("Most tribal leaders accepted Roman rule in exchange for continued control of their land" ; "They also enjoyed the trappings of Roman society" - loving the sarcasm there ; "ruthless measures by the army" ; "to dominate"). 

All cultures are capable of invading other peoples' territories while being barbaric and power-hungry about it, the Celts are certainly no exception, and we shouldn't think in 'good' vs 'evil' or 'light' vs dark' simplistic terms when it comes to history. But too often do I see the British Celts being portrayed in a rather bad light (the 'barbarians' and 'uncivilized' peoples Romans had to fight against and try to 'coexist' with), instead of telling it like it was: The Romans invading the then indigenous peoples in their let's-build-the-biggest-Empire quest (same as the Celts had done centuries before!) and being pretty barbaric, ruthless and narrow-minded (other invaders actually tried to assimilate with the indigenous peoples a bit, like the Vikings in Ireland) during it all.

• Vikings

Another part of the museum I was excited about was the section about the Vikings, who invaded Anglo-Saxon York in 866 and 867 (because everyone invades everything all the time :/), and renamed it Jorvik when it was given to them as part of the Danelaw.

The items in this part of the museum included weapons, coins, ornaments, buckles, decorated vessels and inscriptions (click for larger pics):

One highlight of the collection is the York helmet, made of iron and copper alloy and dating back to the 8th Century:

Another central item was the Gilling Sword, a two-edged iron sword from the 9th Century:

• Medieval

And because I love swords, here is another interesting one from the Medieval-Norman part of the exhibit, the Cawood Sword, dating from the 12th Century, borderline between the end of the Viking period and the beginning of the Medieval period. This sword is in remarkable condition and has some kind of inscription in the blade which has not yet been deciphered, as it seems.

• Female representation and stereotypes in the jousting game:

And to finish with this post about the Yorkshire Museum, I'm going to comment on the jousting game at the end of the Medieval section. In this interactive game you, as patron, choose one knight out of four options and purchase for them three items before seeing them joust (and invariably win, it seems xD). Most of the items you could choose are objects from the museum, so the game explained their background to you as you chose them.

Now, what I liked about this game was the female representation. We're used to seeing strict gender roles when it comes to Medieval settings, with active male knights and passive (and beautiful) damsels. However, even though this was the status quo of the time, history  nearly always seems to forget about all the remarkable women. They might have been a minority (thanks, once again, to the patriarchal status quo, which forbade women from doing pretty much everything), but still there they were: Warrior-women, wise-women and loremistresses, leaders and politicians, artists and writers. Gender bias sistematically ignores those existing women and refuses to create new ones in current Medieval (or other time period)-inspired games, films and other media, thus robbing young girls and women from yet another opportunity to identify themselves with an interesting and powerful female character. In fact, when the media (especially films and videogames) do include a Medieval (or historical)-inspired female character, she's usually clad in unrealistic armour and clothing, suggesting that her role as a 'strong female character' - more like 'sexy love interest' in most cases- is a façade and more male-oriented than anything else.  

In this game, however, out of the four knights one is a woman, Lady Eleanor, described as "an excellent horsewoman highly skilled in the use of a bow" (and apparently also highly skilled in the use of other weapons, judging by the pics and animations, where she is seen carrying a spear, sword - if you buy her one - and another weapons). This female knight also appears in a realistic suit of armour, complete with a reasonable shelf-plate in order to acommodate her bust (instead of the more questionable (and dangerous) 'boob plate'); plus reasonable shoe-wear, and no vital areas exposed (neck, collarbone and chest area, midriff, thighs). Her hair being loose is the most unrealistic part of her design, although there were some male knights who also sported flowing locks. She also lacks any kind of sexualized pose or gaze:

Seeing a woman, clad in realistic armour, as an option in an interactive game in a museum was so refreshing. Young girls (and women!) don't have to invariably choose a male character because there's no other option. And what's more, the female character isn't eye candy for anyone, she's wearing a highly realistic suit of armour and standing in a pose that's as active as the poses of the other male characters. Representation is so important.

Not everything is awesome here, though. The description of Lady Eleanor's character includes some questionable stereotypes as well: 

-For starters, she's described as 'beautiful', while the descriptions of the male knights don't comment on their appearance - Women's appearance, and the demand that they be beautiful, are still considered to be essential in all contexts, apparently. 

-She's also described as being 'too proud', another negative connotation that is too often aimed at active women, and another double standard, because many male characters can be active and capable without pride being their downfall, apparently (even though it often is in these kind of tales!).

-The worst part of the description, though, in my opinion, seems to try to undermine this female knight's warrior abilities by feeding people (and potentially a lot of children) the idea that women primarily use their 'feminine guiles' of seduction in order to get the upper hand. While it is sadly true that women have been, and are, forced to use their attractiveness and sex appeal in order to gain power because in this strictly gendered patriarchal society they literally don't have any other means in too many cases...I think it's sexist to assume that even a capable warrior-woman who seems to be allowed to go jousting in this Medieval-based scenario without having to pass as a man is going to use seduction as a weapon simply because she's a woman. It's also pretty unhealthy to teach children this.

-And to finish, the 'skills' section of the description mentions that Lady Eleanor can 'save her energy' because she has 'many servants to cook and clean for her'. This is omitted in the case of all the male characters in the game (but all nobles, and males more than anyone, all had servants to do stuff for them!). Why is it relevant only in her case and how is this a 'skill'? Another of her 'skills' include the fact that people bring her jewellery (and armour) because she's well-known. How is this relevant, especially the jewellery part, when it comes to her jousting skills, and why is it being called a 'skill'? 

 The 'skills' part of this description is seriously flawed, in my opinion, as awesome as the introduction of a realistic female knight is. Her 'skillset' includes people gifting her jewels (and OK, armour), having servants who cook and clean for her, and using her beauty as a weapon :/. This section definitely needs some work, equality-speaking. 

But apart from that, I was very happy to see more female representation in this historical games area :)