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Edin's Hall Broch
Edin's Hall Broch (also Edinshall Broch; Odin's Hall Broch) is a 2nd-century broch near Duns in the Borders of Scotland. It is one of very few brochs found in southern Scotland. It is roughly 28 metres in diameter. Name In the late 18th century this site was called "Wooden's Hall or Castle" ( Woden the chief god from Anglo-Saxon mythology).John R. Baldwin (1985) ''Lothian and the Borders'', page 132. RCAHMS. Its later name change apparently recalls the legend of the three-headed giant The Red Ettin known in tales and ballads. Location Edin's Hall Broch is one of the most southerly broch survivals, which are more typically associated with Northern Scotland. It is 4 miles north of the town of Duns. It stands on the northeast slope of Cockburn Law just above a fairly steep slope down to the Whiteadder Water. The broch stands in the northwest corner an Iron Age hillfort which presumably pre-dates the broch. The hillfort consists of a double rampart and ditches, enclosing an o ...
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Duns, Scottish Borders
Duns is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire. History Early history Duns Law, the original site of the town of Duns, has the remains of an Iron Age hillfort at its summit. Similar structures nearby, such as the structure at Edin's Hall Broch, suggest the area's domestic and defensive use at a very early stage. Middle ages The first written mention of Duns is prior to 1179, when a 'Hugo de Duns' witnessed a charter of Roger d'Eu, of a grant of the benefice of the church of Langton to Kelso Abbey. The town is further mentioned when a 'Robert of Douns' signed the Ragman Roll in 1296. The early settlement was sited on the slopes of Duns Law, close to the original Duns Castle built in 1320 by the Earl of Moray, nephew of Robert the Bruce. The town was frequently attacked by the English in border raids and as they headed north to the Lothians. In 1318 at Duns Park, the Earl of Dunbar, Sir James Douglas, and ...
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Stairs To Nowhere - Geograph
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles. Types of stairs include staircases (also called stairways), ladders, and escalators. Some alternatives to stairs are elevators (also called lifts), stairlifts, inclined moving walkways, and ramps. A stairwell is a vertical shaft or opening that contains a staircase. A flight (of stairs) is an inclined part of a staircase consisting of steps (and their lateral supports if supports are separate from steps). Components and terms A ''stair'', or a ''stairstep'', is one step in a flight of stairs.R.E. Putnam and G.E. Carlson, ''Architectural an ...
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Archaeological Sites In The Scottish Borders
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. It is usually considered an independent academic discipline, but may also be classified as part of anthropology (in North America – the four-field approach), history or geography. Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology is distinct from palaeontology, which is the study of fossil remains. Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for which, by definition, there are no written records. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until ...
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Brochs
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy. Origin and definition The word ''broch'' is derived from Lowland Scots 'brough', meaning (among other things) fort. In the mid-19th century Scottish antiquaries called brochs 'burgs', after Old Norse ', with the same meaning. Place names in Scandinavian Scotland such as Burgawater and Burgan show that Old Norse ' is the older word used for these structures in the north. Brochs are often referred to as '' duns'' in the west. Antiquarians began to use the spelling ''broch'' in the 1870s. A precise definition for the word has proved elusive. Brochs are the most spectacular of a complex class of roundhouse buildings found throughout Atlantic Scotland. The Shetland Amenity Trust lists about 120 sites in Shetland as candidate brochs, while the Ro ...
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Hill Forts In Scotland
Hillforts in Scotland are earthworks, sometimes with wooden or stone enclosures, built on higher ground, which usually include a significant settlement, built within the modern boundaries of Scotland. They were first studied in the eighteenth century and the first serious field research was undertaken in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century there were large numbers of archaeological investigations of specific sites, with an emphasis on establishing a chronology of the forts. Forts have been classified by type and their military and ritual functions have been debated. They were introduced into Scotland during the Bronze Age from around 1000 BCE. The largest group are from the Iron Age, with over 1,000 hillforts, mostly below the Clyde-Forth line, most of which were abandoned during the period of Roman occupation of Britain. There are also large numbers of vitrified forts, which have been subjected to fire, many of which may date to this period and are found across Scot ...
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Berwickshire
Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of the Borders region, with most of the historic county becoming part of the lower-tier Berwickshire district. Berwickshire district was abolished in 1996, when all the districts in the Borders region merged to become the Scottish Borders council area. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the time of the county's formation in the twelfth century, but became part of England in 1482 after several centuries of swapping back and forth between the two kingdoms. After the loss of Berwick, Duns and Greenlaw both served as county town at different periods. The low-lying part of Berwickshire between the Tweed and the Lammermuirs is known as "the Merse", from an old Scots w ...
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Oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters are in the superfamily Ostreoidea. Some types of oysters are commonly consumed (cooked or raw), and in some locales are regarded as a delicacy. Some types of pearl oysters are harvested for the pearl produced within the mantle. Windowpane oysters are harvested for their translucent shells, which are used to make various kinds of decorative objects. Etymology The word ''oyster'' comes from Old French , and first appeared in English during the 14th century. The French derived from the Latin , the feminine form of , which is the latinisation of the Ancient Greek () 'oyster'. Compare () 'bone'. Types True oysters True oysters are members of the family Ostreidae. This family includes the edible oysters, which mainly bel ...
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Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia of New Jersey'', Rutgers University Press, . Amber is used in jewelry and has been used as a healing agent in folk medicine. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions. Amber occurring in coal seams is also called resinite, and the term ''ambrite'' is applied to that found specifically within New Zealand coal seams. Etymology The English word ''amber'' derives from Arabic (ultimately from Middle Persian ''ambar'') via Middle Latin ''ambar'' and Middle French ''ambre''. The word was adopted in Middle English in the 14th centu ...
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Jet (lignite)
Jet is a type of lignite, the lowest rank of coal, and is a gemstone. Unlike many gemstones, jet is not a mineral, but is rather a mineraloid. It is derived from wood that has changed under extreme pressure. The English noun ''jet'' derives from the French word for the same material, (modern French ), ultimately referring to the ancient town of Gagae. Jet is either black or dark brown, but may contain pyrite inclusions which are of brassy colour and metallic lustre. The adjective " jet-black", meaning as dark a black as possible, derives from this material. Origin Jet is a product of decomposition of wood from millions of years ago, commonly the wood of trees of the family Araucariaceae. Jet is found in two forms, hard and soft. Hard jet is the result of carbon compression and salt water; soft jet may be the result of carbon compression and fresh water. Despite the name they both occupy the same area of the Mohs scale with the difference being that soft jet is more likely ...
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Spindle Whorl
A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. Historically, whorls have been made of materials like amber, antler, bone, ceramic, coral, glass, stone, metal (iron, lead, lead alloy), and wood ( oak). Local sourced materials have been also used, such as chalk, limestone, mudstone, sandstone, slate, lydite and soapstone. Gallery File:Spindle Whorl (Sulsultin), 19th century, 05.588.7382.jpg, ''Spindle Whorl (Sulsultin)'', Chemainus, Coast Salish (Native American), 19th century, Brooklyn Museum File:Przęślik 0211.jpg, Whorl (12th or 13th century) found in Poland File:1017_-_Keramikos_Museum,_Athens_-_Spindle-whirls,_10th_century_BC_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall'Orto,_Nov_12.jpg, Ancient Greek spindle whorls, 10th century BC, Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens File:Muisca spindle whorl.jpg, Muisca spindle whorl (500AD – 1500AD). Archaeology Museum, Sogamoso, Colombia File:Object from the exhibition We c ...
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National Museum Of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, renamed in 1904, and for the period between 1985 and the merger named the Royal Museum of Scotland or simply the Royal Museum), with international collections covering science and technology, natural history, and world cultures. The two connected buildings stand beside each other on Chambers Street, by the intersection with the George IV Bridge, in central Edinburgh. The museum is part of National Museums Scotland. Admission is free. The two buildings retain distinctive characters: the Museum of Scotland is housed in a modern building opened in 1998, while the former Royal Museum building was begun in 1861 and partially opened in 1866, with a Victorian Venetian Renaissance facade and a ...
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