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On Thursday 26 June, (National Museums Scotland) will give the lecture ‘Celtic art in Roman Britain, AD 1-200’ as part of the 2025. In his lecture, Hunter will discuss the complexity of Celtic Art and its interaction with the Roman world.

Celtic Art

Celtic art is complex. We think we know it when we see it, but defining what it was and how it developed are surprisingly difficult. Different versions exploded at times of contact and change. Britain in the Roman period provides an excellent example.

Celtic art did not die with conquest: it sprang into new life, first as a reaction to Rome and then as a way to deal with this novel Roman world. People’s lives and visual worlds were transformed by this meeting of different cultures. Style and technology allow us to trace a complex story of interaction and adaptation.

About Fraser Hunter

Fraser Hunter is principal curator of Iron Age and Roman collections. He holds both his undergraduate degree and PhD from the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Bradford, and has worked at the National Museum of Scotland since 1991. His research focuses on Iron Age material culture and decorative metalwork, as well as the impact of the Roman world on the peoples of Scotland in its Empire-wide context.

A key strand of his research is excavation work, both his own and the results of others through the department’s post-excavation service. A vital element is investigating Treasure Trove discoveries in the field to provide a context for stray finds, for example at Birnie (Moray) where a scatter of Roman coins was found, and at Blair Drummond, the findspot of an Iron Age gold torc hoard.