Record

Items from a hoard

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Found at Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire

Postcard of Items from a hoard.
000-100-035-858-C
© National Museums Scotland

Items from a hoard

These objects were all found at Monquhitter in Aberdeenshire in a hoard containing 63 objects, mostly natural rocks or fossils, buried in a cairn. They were all probably valued as amulets, and buried sometime between 100 and 300 AD.

The bezel on the left is of glass. The top stone egg is of lithomarge, an exotic stone. The bracelet fragment on the right is made of glass inlaid with bands of yellow paste, and is unique in Scotland. The natural pebble on the bottom right is worn smooth.

The objects in the Monquhitter hoard were clearly carefully selected. Perhaps they were an offering to the spirits of the cairn, or perhaps merely buried there for safekeeping by someone who collected or dealt in charms.


Record details

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Online ID: 000-100-035-858-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.EQ 770
Date: Between 100 and 300 AD
Material: Bauxite; egg-shaped
Glass, amber; with bands of inlaid yellow vitreous paste
Glass, white, with concentric rings of dark and light blue, dark blue centre
Stone, grey, speckled; with two pale grey bands forming a cross; worn smooth
Dimensions: 0.60" x 0.70"
0.75" x 0.60" x 0.20"
1.10" D x 0.38" thick
1.38" x 0.85" x 0.65"
1.94" L
What: Bracelet / portion
Fossil / sea urchin
Object
Pebble
Ring, finger / bezel
Subject: Fossil
Who:
Where: Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Monquhitter, Cairnhill
Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Monquhitter, Cairnhill
Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Monquhitter, Cairnhill
Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Monquhitter, Cairnhill
Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Monquhitter, Cairnhill
Event:
Description: Segment of a bracelet of amber glass with bands of inlaid yellow vitreous paste, from Monquhitter
Glass bezel from a finger ring, white with concentric rings of dark and light blue and a dark blue centre, from Monquhitter
Egg-shaped object of bauxite from Monquhitter
Fossil sea-urchin from Monquhitter
Natural pebble worn smooth, of speckled grey stone with two pale grey bands forming a cross, from Monquhitter
References:
  • Anderson, Joseph. Notices of cists discovered in a cairn at Cairnhill, Parish of Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, and at Doune, Perthshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 36 (1901-2). 
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