New history project draws on medieval techniques
The Stories on Skins project is creating medieval-style imagery to tell Gaelic legends
At a glance
Four manuscript pages are being made to mark Tarbat Discovery Centre's 25th anniversary
The museum sits on the site of an early medieval monastery in Portmahomack
Medieval techniques will be used to create the pages
They are to be used as the centrepiece for a series of events next year
- Published
A history project is using medieval techniques to produce four manuscript pages describing Gaelic origin legends.
Tarbat Discovery Centre in Portmahomack has secured Lottery funding for the work, and associated school and community outreach activities.
The Stories on Skins project is drawing on 8th Century methods, including making medieval ink and also producing parchment from animal hide.
The public will be invited to grow woad, a plant that produces a blue pigment used as a dye.
Lottery funding has been secured for the new project
Tools and techniques dating back to medieval times are being used
Tarbat Discovery Centre sits on the site of an early medieval monastery and is home to Pictish carvings and artefacts excavated from the site between 1995 and 2006.
These excavations also found evidence early medieval manuscripts were likely made by monks at the monastery.
Some scholars think that the Book of Kells, external - an important illuminated manuscript produced about 800 AD and containing extravagant, complex imagery - may have been created at Tarbat.
The four new manuscript pages will form the centrepiece of a series of events that will be held to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary next year.
The complex design phase of creating the imagery for the manuscripts
Early medieval manuscripts were likely made by monks at the monastery
Grinding a mineral called orpiment for yellow pigment
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- Published15 October 2020
