Winter Lecture Series: Destruction and Deposition at Duddingston Loch

In 1778, an assemblage of Bronze Age metalwork was dredged from the depths of Duddingston Loch.

This assemblage included swords and spearheads that had been burnt, bent and broken 3000 years ago before it was sunk in the loch.Previously thought to represent a pile of ‘scrap’, re-analysis of this material is revealing how and why it was damaged and deposited, as well as what it mean to prehistoric communities.Matthew Knight is Senior Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, specialising in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Scotland.

He is particularly fascinated by the ways people in the past treated and buried their material culture and has published widely on this topic.

He has recently curated the exhibition “Scotland’s First Warriors” at the National Museum of Scotland, which explores the nature of prehistoric conflict and violence in Scotland and its impact on communities.The talk will be held at Holyrood Park Education Centre, 1 Queen’s Drive, Edinburgh EH8 8HG.