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A Fragmented Masterpiece: Recovering the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish Cross-Slab
Keywords:
Pictish, Art history, Cross-slab, Archaeology, Fragments, Heritage, Insular art, Sculpture, Biography, Ethnography, Replicas, Excavation, Class, Identity, Nation, Social values
Location(s):
Hilton of Cadboll, Highlands, Scotland, UK
Period(s):
Early Middle Ages; Late eighth century; Twelfth century; Seventeenth century; Nineteenth century; Twentieth century; Twenty-first century
Synopsis
Around AD 800, a superbly carved cross-slab was erected at Hilton of Cadboll in north-east Scotland. The major part of the stone now stands in the National Museum of Scotland, and the story of what happened to it in the intervening centuries is told here. Excavations at Hilton of Cadboll in 1998 and 2001 revealed not only fragments of the missing original carved face but also the lower portion of the stone still set into the ground, and this has allowed the art history of this magnificent Pictish monument to be assessed more fully than ever before.
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The ‘Pictish’ cross-slab from Hilton of Cadboll is one of the glories of the early Middle Ages. This comprehensive – art historical, theological, archaeological, historical and scientific – monumental biography locates its birth in the ecclesiastical structures and religious beliefs of late 8th-century Scotland.
– John Moreland, Medieval Archaeology (volume 54)
There could perhaps also have been more extensive coverage of the context in terms of the Early Historic political geography […] but none of this detracts from the epic nature of the volume and its important contribution to our understanding of this most complex and important fragmented masterpiece.
– Alice Blackwell, Scottish Archaeological Journal (volume 31.2)
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Chapters
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Front matter
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1 | The project
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2 | ‘the work of a genuine artist’a review of the art-historical literature on the slab from Hilton of Cadboll up to 1998
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3 | The archaeological investigations
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4 | The cataloguing of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab
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5 | The art-historical context of the Hilton of Cadboll cross-slab
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6 | Recovering the biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Pictish cross-slab
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7 | Artefact and environmental studies
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8 | Conclusions
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Appendix 1 | Hilton of Cadbollassessment and project design 1998
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Appendix 2 | An incised horse’s head at Jessie Port, Hilton of Cadboll, Ross and Cromarty
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Glossary
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Bibliography
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Index
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