The Duddingston Loch Hoard, currently held by

National Museums Scotland National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland. NMS is one of the country's National Collections, ...

(NMS), comprises Late Bronze Age weapons and other objects which were found in

Duddingston Loch Duddingston Loch is a lake, or freshwater loch, in Edinburgh. It is one of the last two remaining natural lochs within the city, the other being Lochend Loch. It is situated to the south of Holyrood Park and lies southwest of the village of Dudd ...

in Edinburgh when workers were dredging for marl in 1778. The bronze objects were found along with human bones and animal horns. The

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

was originally dispersed between

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, Sir Alexander Dick, who owned the loch,

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

, and the Museum of the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

(now NMS). The donation to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland included spearheads, swords, a rapier, and a bucket handle. More swords and one further spearhead were acquired by the museum in 1935. These had been in the collection of Sir Walter Scott. The spearheads and swords are broken and/or bent, and some have been burnt and partially melted. Types include

Ewart Park Ewart is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Ewart Adamson (1882–1945), Scottish screenwriter * Ewart Astill (1888–1948), English Test cricketer * Ewart Brown (born 1946), Premier of Bermuda * ...

swords, plain and lunate spearheads, barbed and lunate spearheads, and a ring with staple from a bucket. The hoard dates to around 1000–800 BC. A Scottish parallel for the treatment of the metalwork at Duddingston Loch is found in the Peelhill Hoard from

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

, in the collections of

Glasgow Museums Glasgow Museums is the group of museums and galleries owned by the City of Glasgow, Scotland. They hold about 1.6 million objects including over 60,000 art works, over 200,000 items in the human history collections, over 21,000 items relating to ...

. Research is ongoing regarding why the bronze objects from Duddingston Loch were treated in such a way as to render them unusable, looking at why these particular types of objects were selected for deposition in the loch, and questioning the motivation for this. File:A selection of the bent, burnt and broken weapons from the Late Bronze Age assemblage from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh.jpg, The Late Bronze Age Hoard from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh File:The Late Bronze Age assemblage of weapons dredged from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh.jpg, A selection of objects from the Late Bronze Age Hoard from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh File:A selection of the burnt and broken spearheads from the late Bronze age assemblage from Duddingston Loch.jpg, Spearheads and spearhead fragments from the Late Bronze Age Hoard from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh File:A complete but bent sword deposited in Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh.jpg, A damaged sword from the Late Bronze Age Hoard from Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh

References

{{reflist Bronze Age Scotland Archaeological artifacts