The Thinking behind the Design: Archaeology in the new Museum of Scotland

Abstract

Most people will be aware by now that Scotland's old National Museum of Antiquities in Queen Street re-opened in December 1998 in a new building in Chambers Street. This is a modern, purpose-built structure added on to the Victorian Royal Museum of Scotland. Many may also be aware that the nature of the archaeological exhibits has been fundamentally changed (though not that of the post-medieval ones: Megaw & Megaw 2000). What has happened to the old National Museum of Antiquities is as follows. The traditional story of prehistoric and early historic Scotland, from post-glacial hunter-gatherers to the post-Roman migrations of Vikings, Scots and Angles, has gone. One cannot easily reconstruct the story of the nation's prehistoric past from what is now on view in the basement floor in the new wing unless there is a much more detailed and comprehensive guide to the new displays than that now available (Calder 1998). There are numerous thematic displays giving fascinating insights into different economic and technological activities in the past. On starting this assessment I intended first to ask how effective is the new scheme in its own