It's hard to decide which photos I should upload from the ones I took at the museum. Although I don't like the way the objects were displayed a lot (I may be old-fashioned but I prefer a chronological order; that way my time can be much more concentrated on the time periods I really like and not spent hunting down objects from the Neolithic period thru 5 exhibition halls). Anyway, I thought I show you what is really unique to Scottisch prehistory, starting with the Neolithic.
This is one of the many and enigmatic carved stone balls:
Isn't it beautiful?
Next is the Iron Age. Edinburgh hosts one of the rare actually preserved Carnyx heads, the Deskford Carnyx. The only others are one in Ireland and a couple in a hoard in France. Although they are often depicted on coins etc. finds are few. And here it is, the Deskford Carnyx:
Should you wonder how it sounded like, please visit John Kenny's webpage on myspace.com: http://www.myspace.com/carnyxco and listen for example to 'The voice of the Carnyx'. It is quite certain that it was never used as a musical instrument (after all it is an instrument of warfare) but it is still fun and you can read some interesting things about its history and reconstruction on his other webpage http://www.carnyxscotland.co.uk/index.htm.
A last thing that is unique to Scottish prehistory is the Pictish period. They produced these marvellous stone stelae:
Although they were made in a basically Christian period they more than often depict pagan motifs. Look at a close-up:
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