Professor Siân Jones, University of Stirling

8pm

School 1, St Salvator’s Quadrangle

St Andrews University Archaeology Society

The uninhabited Isle of Staffa is renowned for its striking geology and the iconic Fingal’s Cave. It has occupied a prominent position in the popular and artistic imagination since the late 18th century, when it became a focus for Romantic tourism inspiring works of music, art and literature by some of Europe’s most important cultural figures. However, there is a surprising dearth of scholarly research and what little exists focuses on the island’s striking geology and associated cultural representations. There have been very few studies of the island’s archaeology, landscape history and materiality. The inter-disciplinary Historical Archaeology Research Project on Staffa (HARPS) has deployed archaeological research, 3D visualisation and acoustic modelling to investigate the rich history of human engagement. In this lecture Sian Jones will discuss the preliminary results of this collaborative research project, involving Glasgow School of Art, the National Trust for Scotland, the University of Stirling and the University of Glasgow.