Ebook: Able Minds and Practiced Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century

This book presents essays that exemplify key themes including the interdependence of conservation, research and access; the need for a 21st-century inventory of the medieval sculpture; the breadth and value of the wide range of the research tools; and conservation issue.

This publication is the outcome of the 'Able Minds and Practised Hands' seminar organised by Historic Scotland (the seminar sponsors), the Society for Medieval Archaeology and the National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland. This took place at The Hub, Edinburgh, on 3-4 April 2003, where it was attended by more than 180 people from all over the British Isles. Marking the centenary of the publication of Scotland’s first and only corpus of early medieval sculpture, Allen and Anderson’s 'Early Christian Monuments of Scotland', the more detailed rationale behind this event is described in the introductory paper. John Higgitt’s concluding contribution builds on what was the key and unifying outcome of the presentations and discussions at the seminar, the need for a 21st-century corpus.