Search

Explore our places, collections and stories

Scottish History and Archaeology department

You are here Home > Collections and research > Collections departments > Scottish History and Archaeology department
Our archaeological and Scottish collections cover Scottish material culture from the earliest times to the present day.

Our Early Prehistory collections encompass Europe north of the Alps and span at least 50,000 years, ranging from the Palaeolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. Most of the items are from Scotland and date to between the eighth and the first millennium BC; they include objects of stone, pottery, bone, antler and wood.

Iron Age, Roman and Early Historic collections cover the period from c.800BC – AD1100, the formative centuries of Scotland as a nation.

The wide-ranging material in our Scottish history collections includes military, numismatics and social history. It is the largest collection of its kind anywhere and aims to be a comprehensive record of the life, times and achievements of the people of Scotland at home and abroad.

Scottish History and Archaeology department

Stuart Allan

Dr Stuart Allan: Keeper

Responsible for: The Department of Scottish History and Archaeology, its staff, projects and collections.
Research interests: Collecting, material culture and Scottish traditional identities, the Scottish military tradition in the British armed forces; the material culture of the highland revival of the late 18th and early 19th century; the cultural symbolism of weapons; military collectors and collecting practices; the culture of irregular warfare; the material culture of popular patriotism during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Email: s.allan@nms.ac.uk 
Fraser Hunter

Dr Fraser Hunter: Principal Curator of Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology

Responsible for: The Prehistory section, Iron Age and Roman collections.
Research interests: Iron Age and Roman material culture; decorative metalwork and Celtic art; jet and related materials; interactions between Rome and the indigenous population.
Email: f.hunter@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Fraser Hunter here.
Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark

Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark: Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic collections. 
Research interests: Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic material culture, especially lithics; the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition; mobility and  temporality of settlement in prehistory; deposition practices and structured deposition; rock art and associated artefact assemblages, the post-medieval gun flint industry in Britain.
Email: h.anderson-whymark@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark here.
Matthew Knight

Dr Matthew Knight: Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Chalcolithic and Bronze Age collections
Research interests: the production, use and deposition of Bronze Age material culture particularly metalwork; the deliberate destruction of Bronze Age objects; the relationship between memory and material culture in prehistory.
Email: m.knight@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Matthew Knight here.
Jim Wilson

Jim Wilson: Assistant Curator, Early Prehistory

Responsible for: Co-ordinating and supervising access to the Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology collections by visiting scholars, students and TV crews; maintenance of our displays in the Early People Gallery at National Museum of Scotland; facilitating temporary loan requests from borrowing museums for exhibitions.
Email: jim.wilson@nms.ac.uk
Gemma Cruickshanks

Dr Gemma Cruickshanks: Post-Excavation Officer

Responsible for: Post-excavation projects – coordinating specialist work and writing reports.
Research interests: Material culture c.1000 BC – AD 1000, particularly the development of ironworking and iron objects throughout this period.
Email: g.cruickshanks@nms.ac.uk

You can find our more about Post-excavation service here.
Martin Goldberg

Dr Martin Goldberg: Principal Curator of Medieval Archaeology and History

Responsible for: Early Historic and Viking collections.
Research interests: Material culture in Northern Britain from Later Prehistory to the Early Historic period; silver – use and manufacture from Roman to Viking period; material culture approaches to the holistic study of ancient religion and ritual practice.
Email: m.goldberg@nms.ac.uk
 Dr Alice Blackwell  

Dr Alice Blackwell: Senior Curator, Medieval Archaeology & History

Dr Alice Blackwell is currently on maternity leave

Responsible for: Late medieval collections.
Research interests: Early to late medieval material culture, including Anglo-Saxon archaeology; the archaeological interpretation of stray finds; the use of heraldry in material culture; the medieval in contemporary society.
Email: a.blackwell@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Alice Blackwell here.
 Craig Angus

Craig Angus: Assistant Curator, Medieval Archaeology and History

Responsible for: Graphic and digital imaging for media/publication; co-ordinating department loans and department photographic requests; maintenance of our displays in National Museum of Scotland; support to all curators from Early Prehistory and Later Prehistory sections whenever object movement is required.
Email: c.angus@nms.ac.uk
 Dr Adrian Maldonado  

Dr Adrián Maldonado: Glenmorangie Research Fellow

Responsible for: Undertaking and promoting research on early medieval Scotland as part of the Glenmorangie Research Project Phase 4: Creating Scotland, which began in March 2018. This covers objects from the National Collection dated 9-12th centuries AD. Adrián contributes to outreach and research relating to early medieval Scotland more broadly, in support of the Medieval Archaeology section.
Research interests: early medieval Scotland, the Viking Age, early Christianity, the archaeology of death and burial, medievalism in pop culture.
Email: a.maldonado@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about the Glenmorangie Research Project here.
 

Dr Anna Groundwater: Principal Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: the Renaissance and Early Modern section’s collections of the material culture and history of Scotland from c.1450-1750. This encompasses the Scottish Renaissance, applied arts, Scottish weaponry, early modern history, society and culture. Most notably the collections include material relating to Mary, Queen of Scots material; Scotland’s post-Reformation religious and ecclesiastical history, including the Covenanters; the Union of the Crowns, the Darien Project, and the Anglo-Scottish union of 1707; clarsachs; and Scottish carved woodwork. This section has particular responsibility for Kingdom of the Scots and Scotland Transformed, on Levels 1-3 of the Scotland galleries.
Research interests: the material culture of Renaissance and Early Modern Scotland; the blood feud; networks and communities; Anglo-Scottish relations; public and participatory history; mapping the early modern world; travel writing; cultural exchange and transmission; object biography.
Email: a.groundwater@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Anna Groundwater here.
 Lyndsay McGill  

Lyndsay McGill: Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: Collection from the early Stuart kings to the Enlightenment including: applied arts, numismatics, horology as well as objects surrounding Mary Queen of Scots, the Jacobites and the Scottish church post 1560.
Research interests: Silver and jewellery, Scottish goldsmiths, clocks and their makers, the history and insignia of the Order of the Thistle pre 1750 and the relationship of material culture with the historic interior.
Email: l.mcgill@nms.ac.uk
 Jackie Moran  

Jackie Moran: Assistant Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: Supporting the work of the Renaissance and Early Modern History section; co-ordinating and supervising access to the Renaissance and Early Modern collections; maintenance of the displays on Levels 0-3 in the Scotland galleries of the National Museum of Scotland; facilitating outward loans to borrowing museums for exhibitions
Email: j.moran@nms.ac.uk
 David Forsyth  

David Forsyth: Principal Curator of Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: the management and overall curation of the section’s collections and curators which cover the material culture and history of Scotland from 1750 to the present day. This encompasses the Enlightenment, industrialisation, the Scots abroad, social and political developments and our rural life and military collections. This section has particular responsibility for the collections on display on Levels 4-6 of the Scotland galleries of the National Museum of Scotland. The section’s collections can also be seen at the National War Museum, Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride.
Research interests: The material culture of: Jacobitism, the Scottish diaspora, faith in Scotland and expressions of Scottish national identity through objects.
Email: d.forsyth@nms.ac.uk
Dorothy Kidd

Dorothy Kidd: Senior Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Social History collections from 1750 to the present including: domestic and community life; sport and leisure; vernacular furniture; building materials, fixtures and fittings; areas of the traditional craft and trade collections and artefacts relating to business and finance. Also responsible for the maintenance of the Scottish Life Archive’s search facility.
Research interests: 20th-century collecting and documentation, and in particular collaborative recording and collecting with other institutions and organisations; oral history; archival storage and documentation.
Email: d.kidd@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dorothy Kidd here.
 

Dr Sarah Laurenson: Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Contemporary collecting, with a focus on objects that reflect political, social and cultural developments in Scotland over the last 10 years, and jewellery from 1750 to the present day.
Research interests: Collecting and collectors; culture, identity and industry in Scotland’s islands; the jewellery craft in Scotland from the eighteenth century to the present day; the impact of changing perceptions of Scotland’s landscape on material culture; and the historical development of skill.
Email: s.laurenson@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about Dr Sarah Laurenson here.
Dr Calum Robertson

Dr Calum Robertson: Curator, Modern and Military History

Responsible for: Scottish history collections covering the period c.1830 to c.1918; military collections from c.1750 to the present; oversight of the bagpiping collections.
Research interests: Museums and philosophy, and philosophy in museums; objects, identity and Scotland’s minority faith communities; concepts of diaspora; the development of genealogical practices; the histories of Scottish clan societies and associations; the Scottish soldier in Europe, 1945-2015.
Email: ca.robertson@nms.ac.uk
Vicky Brown

Vicky Brown: Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Supporting curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern & Contemporary History Section, with an emphasis on those collections from c.1918 to the present day. Vicky also works with our military history collections at the National War Museum at Edinburgh Castle.
Email: v.brown@nms.ac.uk
   

Ailsa Hutton, Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary History

Responsible for: Supporting all curatorial activity across the Scottish Modern & Cotemporary History Section, with an emphasis on those collections from 1750 to c.1918. 
Email: a.hutton@nms.ac.uk
 Nicole Hartwell  

Dr Nicole Hartwell: Postdoctoral Researcher

Responsible for: Research associated with the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project ‘Baggage and Belonging: Military Collections and the British Empire, 1750-1900’ examining the diverse nature of objects collected by members of the British armed forces across the Empire in the 19th century.
Research interests: The material culture of conflict; collecting practices of the British armed forces; the arms and armour of India, Africa and the Middle East; the military, cultural and intellectual history of the British Empire.
Email: n.hartwell@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about the Baggage and Belonging project here.
Rosanne Waine

Rosanne Waine: Postdoctoral Researcher

Responsible for: Research associated with ‘Reclaiming Romance: highland dress and the material culture of the Highland Revival, c.1750- c.1900’, a four-year project funded by the William Grant Foundation. The aim of this project is to survey and reinterpret the tartan and Highland dress collections held by National Museums Scotland, interrogating aspects such as materials, dating, appropriate categorisation, and past ownership.
Research interests: The cultural history of textiles in Scotland; the commercial history of tartan; the ‘revival’ of Highland dress in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the material culture of Jacobitism, with a focus on dress and personal adornment; patriotic identities in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Email: r.waine@nms.ac.uk

You can find out more about the Reclaiming Romance project here.
 

Treasure Trove
 Emily Freeman

Emily Freeman: Treasure Trove Manager

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.
Research interests: Numismatics, the Romans in Scotland and the impact of metal detecting on museum collections.
Email: e.freeman@nms.ac.uk
Tel: 0131 247 4025
 Ella Paul

Ella Paul: Treasure Trove Officer

Responsible for: Daily running of the Treasure Trove Unit operation, outreach.
Research interests: The value of unprovenanced antiquities in museum collections; Scotland’s Bronze and Iron Age material culture; classical Greek history and archaeology.
Email: e.paul@nms.ac.uk
Tel: 0131 247 4082

You can find out more about Ella Paul here.

More information on Treasure Trove can be found here.

In this section

Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark
Dr Alice Blackwell
Dr Anna Groundwater
Dr Fraser Hunter
Dorothy Kidd
Dr Matthew Knight
Dr Sarah Laurenson
Ella Paul

Find out more

Scottish History and Archaeology galleries
Scottish History and Archaeology collections
Treasure Trove
Post-excavation analysis
Contact

Laura Kondrataite
Departmental Administrator
Tel: 0131 247 4217
SHA.enquiries@nms.ac.uk

Back to top

We’re reopening our museums

After nearly five months of closure, we’re almost ready to welcome visitors back to our museums. We've made some changes to make sure everyone has a safe and enjoyable visit, including online booking and new safety measures.

Find out more about reopening