History Scotland

Explore centuries of Scottish history and archaeology with fascinating features on topics from all branches and periods of Scottish history and archaeology, written by leading historians, archaeologists and museum curators. With news on the latest research, opinion, expert reviews and spotlights on the country's most significant historical archives, this lavishly-illustrated magazine has everything you need to explore Scotland's rich past.

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Welcome...

3,000-year-old logboat enters new Perth Museum after unique conser vation treatment

See Scotland through the eyes of an 18th-century travel writer • The work of naturalist, author and writer Thomas Pennant is now available to members of the public digitally, thanks to a new collaborative research project

THOUSANDS ENJOY A SUMMER OF ARCHAEOLOGY ACROSS SCOTLAND • Scotland Digs 2023 promoted more than 20 free archaeology events, from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway, helping to attract over 15,000 people to take part in archaeology activities

ENIGMATIC PREHISTORIC ROCK art unearthed in Kilmartin Glen • A collaborative project between Kilmartin Museum and Archaeology Scotland will shed new light on Scotland’s prehistoric rock art in the Kilmartin Glen area

THE REBELLIOUS WOMEN OF COIGACH • Throughout history, women have generally been silent. However, during the time of clearance in the highlands, the women were far from silent, often playing a leading role in the resistance to eviction, writes Lynn Fraser of Coigach Heritage

Annie Grey and Marjory Kennedy-Fraser: professional women singers in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras • In comparing the lives of two renowned professional singers, Dr Karen E. McAulay illustrates the realities of female performers’ lives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reminding us that women could, and did, carve out highly successful musical careers

...THE FALL OF JAMES III • History Scotland’s consultant editor, Dr Allan Kennedy, looks into the unravelling of James III’s regime in the 1480s, culminating in his mysterious death during or shortly after the battle of Sauchieburn (1488)

The Persecution of Jean Lands: making a Scottish history comic • Dr Allan Kennedy reports on his recent project to create a Scottish history comic, the fruits of which – a standalone publication entitled The Persecution of Jean Lands – is now available through History Scotland

HANDSHAKES IN A PANDEMIC • In 1918-19, thousands of POWs returned from captivity through the port of Leith, which put on a lavish and much-admired show to welcome the returnees – apparently unconcerned about any possibility of spreading the then-raging Spanish flu. Sandy Mullay explores.

Coin hoard gives an insight into life in a highland community before the Glencoe massacre • Archaeologists have revealed that a hoard of coins buried in a small pot, recently discovered in Glencoe, paints a picture of life for a highland clan chief and his household in the mid-17th century

SCOTLAND’S EARLIEST CHRISTMASES • Dr Thomas Christie and Dr Murray Cook share their research on the festive season in centuries gone by

THE EMOTIONS OF A CALVINIST IN EARLY MODERN SCOTLAND • Scots, so the stereotype goes, are not terribly forthcoming in discussing their emotions. Yet, as Dr John McCallum shows, self-writings like those of the postReformation minister James Melville can in fact provide significant insights into how early modern people experienced and articulated their emotional lives.

Making places: Scotland’s jewellery craft in the age of industry • Sarah Laurenson shares examples of beautiful jewellery created during the ‘age of industry’ and invites us to imagine the lives of the craftspeople behind these exquisite pieces, using their skills and...