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The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh has some
intriguing examples in its collection, including some
real heavy weights that must have taken a huge amount
of energy to rotate. One monster drum-like quern from
the Roman period would surely have required a mule or
an ox to turn it productively. By contrast, there are
also some tiny stones that are thought to be toy querns
for children to play with - a very human perspective
on our remote neighbours.
Photographs, measurements and the grid reference of
the find were sent to the Treasure Trove Advisory Panel
Secretariat at the National Museum and proved to be
of particular interest. Unusually for querns, the fragment
was subsequently requested for evaluation and duly delivered
in person to Stuart Campbell, Assistant Treasure Trove
Administrator in November.
Stuart was especially struck by what he considered
to be an especially small and quite rare example and
explained that such stones are thought to have been
used for preparing herbs or pigments rather than for
grinding grain. The quern was subsequently passed on
to Fraser Hunter, an Iron Age specialist, and his assessment
was that it was from the Scottish Iron Age-approximately
600 BC to the middle of the first millennium AD. Similar
miniature Iron Age querns have also been discovered
in Angus and Fife.
Interestingly, Ian Armit, an Inspector of Ancient Monuments
with Historic Scotland, has thrown further light on
their archaeological importance (Armit
I. 1991), namely their contribution to structural
dating sequences by way of what is known as the 'quern
transition' or the 'quern replacement horizon', these
indicating a technological shift from the earlier saddle
querns to the rotary types around 200 BC. Additionally,
these essentially domestic tools seem on occasion to
have assumed symbolic significance and examples have
been discovered in the walls or floors of round houses
and in potentially transcendent or sacramental settings.
It is worth recalling that Scotland interprets its
archaeological 'treasure' to be all artifacts that might
extend understanding of past cultures - not only precious
materials but also the more common stuff made of stone,
wood, bone, ceramics, glass and so forth. This is a
more explicit application of the spirit and intention
of UK law on what are known as portable antiquities.
In practice, what it means for Scotland is that all
ownerless finds - bona vacantia to use the still
relevant Latin term - are, in the first instance, the
property of the Crown (in effect the State) and should
be declared when discovered.
The quern was claimed as Treasure Trove by the Crown
and in July this year and its finder received £30
for an item that will have its home in Inverness Museum.
Members of NOSAS may be interested to know that the
Crown Office has very recently decided to present finders
with certificates acknowledging their contributions
to cultural heritage and such a document - complete
with the seal of the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer
- is now in the possession of the present writer!
Norman Gibson
Reference
Armit I. 1991. The Atlantic Scottish Iron Age: five
levels of chronology,190-195. Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland.
The website for the Advisory Panel is www.treasuretrove.org.uk
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