Falkirk's Tartan

Описание: Museums are about objects and what these objects tell us about past ways of life. Geoff Bailey, archaeologist and curator, introduces the new exhibition at Callendar House.

In 1933 some council workmen were digging sand from a large quarry adjacent to Bellsmeadow in Falkirk when, at a depth of 7ft, one of them hit a ceramic pot with his spade. Silver coins cascaded out of the vessel and it soon became apparent that they had discovered a hoard of Roman coins – the largest in Scotland.
The coins range in date from the Roman republic to the early third century, from c. 83BC to 230AD, a range of 313 years. The thing that they have in common is a high silver content.
The orange earthenware jar in which the coins were found is a common storage pot from inside the Empire, but the method of sealing the neck was unusual. Here a piece of woven woollen textile had been preserved because of the sterilising nature of the corrosion of the silver alloy and upon examination this was found to be a tartan – the earliest so far found in Scotland. In this clip, Geoff tells us more about this Falkirk Tartan and the circumstances around its find.

In this exhibition he tells the three and half thousand year history of Falkirk and its area in just two handfuls of objects – well 10½ to be exact. It is a personal choice and someone else undertaking the task would undoubtedly make a different selection. What would you choose? Exhibition opens 26th January until 4th May 2019.