Gardens, Libraries and Museums

The Anglo-Saxon cross at Hackness, North Yorkshire is an exceptional monument. Despite its present fragmentary condition, the Hackness stone provides a unique opportunity to examine a monument’s patrons, audience and cultural heritage through inscriptions. Writing and the spectacle of language played a key role in the monument’s programme, and inscription panels survive on each face. To add to the enigmatic nature of this cross, the inscriptions are carved in four different scripts: Latin, Anglo-Saxon runes, hahal runes and a ‘cryptic’ script resembling ogham. By examining the legible Latin text it is possible to study the patrons and who the monument was erected for (a certain abbess Oedilburga). Hackness was a daughter-house of Whitby and was founded c. 680 by St Hilda. Whitby was an early centre of learning and a politicised monastery with international connections. The style of ornament, orthography of the Latin letters and the sheer variety of scripts represented on the Hackness Stone make an important statement about the tradition and ambitions of this monastic community and familia. In this paper the inscriptions will also be analysed collectively to explore the concept of ‘writing as image’. The non-Latin inscriptions suggest that this cross was intended to impress both a local and foreign, specifically Irish, audience. Finally, this paper will consider how the dimensions of the cross conditioned audience experience, and how to fully appreciate the inscription panels the audience would have had to physically interact with the monument.

Books have never simply been functional objects or means of storing and transmitting information. In the early medieval period, books might assume the status of religious symbols and even receive veneration as sacred relics. Close examination of books and associated paraphernalia, such as book satchels, in early medieval Insular sculpture-work indicates that there were common motifs, but also distinct cultural and regional motifs. In Pictish sculpture, for example, book-satchels are found on monuments from Papil, Bressay, St Madoes, St Vigeans and Elgin. Book-satchels are also found on Northumbrian sculpture, but their wearers are depicted differently, and these portrayals reflect contemporary, Northumbrian literary references to the function of books in religious procession. This presentation will examine books and book satchels in Pictish, Northumbrian and Irish sculpture, comparing the sculptural and written evidence to uncover the cultural and social significance of the ‘book’, and the place it held in the early medieval Insular artistic imagination.

The axe-wielding and / or beast-headed human figures in Pictish sculpture-such as the Rhynie Man or the axe-brandishing centaur and men locked in combat on the Glamis Manse stone-continue to fascinate audiences, but their original significance is only now being recognised. Axe-or club-brandishing figures on Class I monuments share notable connections with those on Pictish Christian sculpture, suggesting that they had a long-lasting significance in Pictish culture. The placement of these unusual weapon-wielding figures on cross-slabs share marked similarities with artistic representations of pre-Christian deities in neighbouring cultures, particularly with the mixed pagan and Christian iconography of Scandinavian sculpture in Britain and the Isle of Man. Such comparative material suggests that these figures in Pictish sculpture represent pagan Pictish gods.

Recent research into the representation of pre-Christian mythology in early medieval sculpture, the identification of a pagan Pictish motif, and new archaeological discoveries suggest novel ways of interpreting and understanding these figures and their chronology. On Pictish cross-slabs and sculptured panels, such figures are usually not found in isolation, but instead form part of a carefully planned artistic programme, incorporating multiple deities or otherworldly beings from what was clearly a well-known narrative in pre-Christian Pictish religion. The frequent association of this iconographic narrative with a cross, in comparison with the assimilated pagan and Christian iconography and literature of neighbouring cultures, may indicate that this visual narrative represents the pre-Christian Pictish tradition of the apocalypse.

Analysis of the similar iconography on cross-slabs and panels that portray these figures thus indicates that a narrative sequence from pre-Christian Pictish religion has been assimilated into a new Christian context, and that the Picts, like the Scandinavian settlers, had an artistic culture that looked for parallels between pagan and Christian iconography, and used these parallels in meaningful combinations.

15th January 2020

Recent analysis of the axe-wielding and / or beast-headed human figures in Pictish sculpture suggests that they represent Pictish gods. Depictions of these Pictish deities are found on both early incised Pictish stones (Class I) and later relief-carved monuments (Class II, III), traversing the Conversion Period. How early is this tradition in Pictish art, and what was the function of a carved god on Class I monuments? On cross-slabs and later sculpture these figures are usually associated with otherworldly beasts. Although this mythical imagery is generally presented in a non-linear fashion, much of it is repetitive, suggesting that these gods and otherworldly beasts represented well-known mythological narratives in Pictish culture, and that this mythology continued to circulate in the oral culture of the Picts into the Christian period. How do the Pictish mythological narratives, as depicted in sculpture, compare with the mythological traditions of neighbouring cultures?

This paper explores the early evidence for pre-Christian religion and ritual in Pictland, comparing the contexts of Class I monuments with carved deities with the material culture of Iron Age Celtic and Romano-Celtic religious sites. Specific mythological motifs found on Christian Pictish sculpture are compared with examples from Celtic mythology and Indo-European mythology more generally. Such a comparison highlights extensive points of overlap between pre-Christian belief in Pictland and Indo-European mythology more broadly, and demonstrates the immense significance of the Pictish sculptural material in providing a means for reconstructing an otherwise lost belief system.

In the grounds of Newton House near Insch in Aberdeenshire are two Pictish monuments. One is an inscribed stone that also has an incised Pictish mirror symbol, and the other is a Pictish symbol stone with a notched double-disc above a serpent and z-rod symbol. The inscribed stone, commonly referred to as the Newton Stone, has an ogham inscription on one edge that continues onto an added stemline, and on the top front is a unique horizontal, six-line alphabetic inscription. This article examines the documentary record for these two monuments, which were moved from their original location in the 18th and 19th centuries respectively. Through analysis of the documentary evidence, and in comparison with the local geology, the area of the original findspot of the Newton Stone and associated symbol stone is identified. The original landscape of these stones is compared with the topographical features of other Pictish monuments, particularly those in Donside. This comparison reveals that the topographical and liminal features in the original vicinity of the Newton Stone and symbol stone correspond with the wider pattern of the siting of Pictish symbol stones and Pictish cemeteries, and the association between a potentially Pictish-age settlement and these monuments may be suggested through examination of local place-names.

This article re-evaluates the two inscriptions and the mirror symbol on the Newton Stone. The ogham is unusual in that it is read from the top rather than the bottom. The alphabetic inscription is intended to be read with, or to supplement, the ogham inscription. Close analysis demonstrates that the alphabetic inscription was painted onto the stone prior to carving. The carver may have followed an exemplum for the alphabetic inscription, possibly written on a wax tablet. Examination of the alphabetic script demonstrates that it is most closely related to informal scripts of the Late Antique period. The inscription is written in the Pictish language, and the stone probably dates to the 6th or early 7th century. The placement of the inscriptions and the mirror symbol may indicate that the two inscriptions were used in place of Pictish symbols.

Prehistory is a period that is generally unfamiliar to the public and consequently museums play an essential role in presenting the period, yet it is not frequently represented in British museums. This lack of representation affects our earliest deep history the most due to the lack of aesthetic material, organic remains and associated context that characterizes most museum's Palaeolithic collections. Paradoxically the Palaeolithic is given the least amount of display space in museums comparative to later time periods, despite the innumerable behavioural and anatomical changes occurring during this vast time period. The lack of Palaeolithic displays in museums gives visitors the impression that this period is not important or relevant to them. Such invisibility is further exacerbated by the reductive and simplistic narratives used to present this period in the museums that do display Palaeolithic material. This poster aims to highlight some of these narratives, the stereotypes they convey and the influence of such displays on visitor perceptions by undertaking a review of 74 prehistory displays from a range of types and sizes of museum across the British Isles.

Prehistory comprises millions of years and encompasses a diverse range of social, cultural, economic and technological practices. Despite its widespread public popularity, understanding of the chronology and developments of this vast expanse of human history is frequently anachronistic. Here, the author uses the results of museum visitor questionnaires and tracking surveys to assess public preconceptions of prehistory and engagements with museum displays. In addition, the article documents and explores 173 prehistory displays in museums in England, identifying trends in representation. The results point to some significant representational disparities affecting the display of prehistory and highlights some opportunities for reimagining museum prehistory displays.

Prehistory museum displays represent a vital medium through which the complex narratives of early human history are communicated to the public. These narratives, however, are not neutral and are subject to a variety of factors such as: institutional mission, curatorial preferences, funding and history of collections. This paper seeks to understand what narratives museums currently convey by providing an evaluation of contemporary prehistory displays in England. The evaluation operates at both a macro and micro-scale to facilitate the interpretation of broad trends influencing the presentation of prehistory, as well as capturing 'fine-grain' detail about how these displays influence visitor engagements. This paper is based upon a combined visual analysis of 173 prehistory displays across England and visitor-based evaluation of 300 visitors at 6 different museums: The British Museum, The Stonehenge Visitor Centre, North Lincolnshire Museum, Torquay Museum, Weston Park Museum and the Great North Museum. The combined visual and visitor-based evaluation reveals representational disparities between how early prehistoric periods are communicated compared to later prehistoric periods, and the effectiveness of interactive and audiovisual interpretation for engaging visitors with narratives about their earliest past. How these trends relate more widely to prehistory museum displays in Europe is reflected upon in the discussion and the paper concludes with some evidence-based recommendations for effectively communicating prehistory within museum displays.