The Glen Affric Tartan: Decoding a Unique Survivor

ABOUT THE LECTURE

What to expect

Peter Eslea MacDonald, will explore the discovery, analysis and reconstruction of a piece of tartan found in a peat bog in Glen Affric in the north-west highlands over forty years ago. Several colours with multiple stripes of different sizes can be seen in the fragment confirming that it corresponds to what people would think of as tartan.

Painstaking scientific research identified the colours involved, and subsequent Carbon14 testing dated the piece to circa 1500-1600 AD, making it the oldest known surviving specimen of a true tartan in Scotland. In Scotland, surviving examples of old textiles are rare as the soil is not conducive to their survival.