Ella Paul

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Ella Paul

Assistant Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History

Responsible for: Supporting curatorial activity across the Renaissance and Early Modern History section, with particular responsibility for material acquired through the Treasure Trove process, responding to collections-based enquiries and supervising access to the collections.

Research interests: 17th century maritime archaeological collections; Scottish seal matrices c. 1200-1600; post-medieval numismatics.

E: e.paul@nms.ac.uk

Ella is Assistant Curator of Renaissance and Early Modern History.

Ella joined the department in May 2022, following four years working for the Treasure Trove Unit as a small finds specialist and ten months of voluntary curatorial experience with the Department of Global Arts, Cultures and Design at National Museums Scotland. She holds an undergraduate degree in Ancient and Medieval History and an MSc in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Edinburgh. She has also completed courses in Late Medieval and Renaissance Latin delivered by the Warburg Institute.

She currently works on the Renaissance and Early Modern section’s maritime archaeological material collection, predominantly focusing on assemblages from two 17^th century warships. Ella also holds active research interests in Scottish seal matrices: what they can tell us about personal identity in late medieval and early modern Scotland, and how they fit into wider British and European narratives for the object type. She has presented at the Sigillvm/Society of Antiquaries of London conference ‘Seals and the People of Britain’ (2021) and the Euroseal conference ‘Reflections on sigillographic databases in Europe’ (2022). She has also published on post-medieval coins (1603-1707) found in Scotland.

Read blogs by Ella.

Find out more

Savage, C., Freeman, E. and Paul, E. (2021), ‘A survey of Roman, medieval and post-medieval coin finds from Scotland 2011–15’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 150, pp. 163-186.

Savage, C., Freeman, E. and Paul, E. (2022), ‘A survey of Roman, medieval and post-medieval coin finds from Scotland 2016–20’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Vol 151, pp. 143-174.

Paul, E. B., Knight, M. G. & Cowie, T. G. (2023), ‘Small socketed axeheads from northern Britain: some finds ‘of more than ordinary interest’’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 152:53-82. (Winner of the 2023 R B K Stevenson Award)