Artefact Format: Photograph

Ace or Joker

Ace or Joker  Card Game

Only a little bit different from other card games and a little bit the same, with slate in the middle of the cards and wood around (the edges).  When you play you try to get the highest number.

Hunt Down

Hunt Down  Idea for Virtual Reality Game

Build a Pictish Fort and upgrade it to get stronger.  Horses and carts are transportation.  Weapons were used to fight battles against other teams.  You choose symbols when you level up.  Features age appropriate settings.

Pictish Cards

Pictish Cards  Card Game 2-6 players

Place all the cards around with the picture not showing.  You take it in turns to flip over tow cards.  If you get it wrong, turn it back over again but if you get it right you get to keep them.  The player with the most cards wins.

Guess The Word

Guess The Word  Board Game

1.No cheating   2.Try to find the word   3.Take turns   4.Everyone scores a point   5.The first word gets five points   6.Roll the dice   7.Look at the symbol (if you roll a 6 you get another go)

Retrieve The KIng

Retrieve The King  Idea for Virtual Reality Game

The King (Rhynie Man) is captured.  Warriors are sent to rescue him.  On their way, they come across many obstacles and eventually get to the castle and have to encounter the dragon, but save the king in the end.

The Journey

The Journey  Idea for Virtual Reality Game

A game of skill…it is unique because of its style and game play.  Battle the Bandorinites on  a mission to save Rhynie Man.

Pictish Run

Pictish Run  Idea for Virtual Reality Game

You can create your character but it has to be Pictish.  You can choose what your face looks like and what your clothes are, what your name is and if you are royal or poor.  You can go all over the island to collect clothes, gems and stars and also upgrade characters and the island, and get more houses and weapons.

Rhynie Adventure

Rhynie Adventure  Board Game

You get 15 lives at the start, play until you lose all your lives while encountering Fox Spirit, Evil Cat Guardian, Old Man Who Talks To You and many more Rhynie characters.

Pictish Codebreaker

Pictish Codebreaker  Digital game idea

You are part of a Pictish tribe.  You receive a scroll but it has been damaged on the way.  Some of the symbols have bits missing and it is muddled up.  Complete the levels and the codes then learn how to survive in Pictish times.  You learn to survive in Pictish times by watching short tutorials.  Good luck.

 

Postcard of Mary Lobban

 Rhynie Online Facebook Page, February 14, 2015:  Posted by Ian Murray
“…very good example of the well known Rhynie postcard from a friend of Mary Lobban coming in to Rhynie with her load of peats. In George Troup’s book Walking Backwards in Rhynie he gives her home as being The Raws O’ Noth …cannot find any record of her being there but there was Lobban’s at Lochrie (down below Milton of Noth near the Bogie ), interesting to know if anyone has any knowledge of Mary.”

Photograph Carole Shirreffs’ Father

Carole Shirreffs moved to Rhynie in Nov 2015, partly because of Rhynie’s connection to archaeology and wild cats.

“My dad, Robert Macknee, was born 1914 in Aberdeen.  His business in Aberdeen was DJ Campbell, originally sub-post office , and corsetry – his father’s business, which moved from Holborn junction to Holborn Street.  He sold tweeds and tartans and was the only franchise for Pringles at the time.  He was very well known by the ladies of Aberdeen!
He was related to William Wallace, family records going back to 1008.
My father passed away in April 1977.
This photograph was taken in 1934.  My dad, then aged 20, is second from the left on the back row.
I visited the same  location in Orkney (in the photograph) in 2006 and the landscape hadn’t changed at all.”

Vintage Garden Syringe Sprayer

This item was brought to us by Margaret Petrie (nee Hay), born in Rhynie in Nicol hospital.  She was given the object around 1980.
“It belonged to my grandfather, Andrew Smith, from Rothiemay.  He was a gardener, and used it to water plants.  He called it a ‘skiter’, I would say it is easily 100 plus years old”.  Made of brass.
Wording says ‘Best Quality G& W PURSER Manufacturers’.

Amphora replica

Dr Gordon Noble brought this replica of an Amphora to Rhynie during the archaeological dig of Aug/Sept 2017. This is the type of Amphora the Picts would have enjoyed wine from the Mediterranean in.
Fia Cooper, a visiting artist from Canada, coated the inside of the amphora with beeswax in preparation for its use during the Light Festival held by the Craw Stane on 26/08/17

Bore Sample

George and Judy Beasley of Rhynie brought in this bore sample that they were given, and the debate is out as to whether it is Rhynie chert as they have been told.  What do you think?

 

 

1968 Puffin Reader’s Diary

Christine Sell is a retired teacher from Huntly and she brought in her Puffin diary to Rhynie on 24/8/17.
Christine explained “I was living in Aylesbury at the time. I managed to write in it daily, but many of the entries are quite mundane. Every day I woke up! I also recorded that I went to school and what I had for dinner. I wrote other diaries but this is the only one I have kept – I think because of the simplicity and innocence of it!”.

 

 

Mackay Of Uganda

In a house at the south end of The Square is the birthplace of Alexander Mackay. A little known missionary in his native country but in Uganda he is revered. Born in Rhynie in 1849 to a deeply religious and highly literate family, he went on to study engineering. He arrived in Africa in 1878 as an engineer missionary and immediately set to work to cut a road from the coast 230 miles inland to Mpwapwa. He worked pragmatically and tirelessly, learning the local language, overcoming many adversities and winning the respect of the communities he served. He developed a tentative friendship with King Mtesa of Buganda but subsequently had difficulties with his successor King Mwanger who persecuted the early Ugandan church and martyred some of Mackays disciples. Mackay died from malarial fever in 1890. He was in Uganda for 14 years, not once returning to his native Scotland. Debbi found this etched image online.

 

Poison Bottle

This is a poison bottle found by Pam and Paul Manning and was dug up at their house at Hillhead in the 1970’s. ‘We don’t know what the poison was but there may have been a murder at Hillhead.’ The bottle had remained in the house since it was found.

Postcard of Jubilee Day

This image is of the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary in May 1935. George died in 1936 to be succeeded by his son Edward Vlll who abdicated less than a year later and was suceeded by George Vl, the present queen’s father.

Rhynie has always enjoyed a celebration and made the effort to make them community affairs.

Tap O’ Noth Hill Fort

 

This is a photograph of the 2017 summer excavation of the top of The Tap (as it is affectionately known). The Tap O’ Noth is the second highest Iron Age Hill Fort in Scotland (outflanked by Ben Griam Beg in Sutherland) and is certainly one of the best preserved. It is approximately 2500 years old and would have been contemporary with the founding and rise of Rome. The fort itself is some 21ha it’s outer rampart consists of boulders but it is the inner rampart which bares the more impressive walls. Parts of the inner fort are heavily vitrified which means the stones were fused under intense heat. The base of the structure would have been at least 4m thick and the walls would have stood about 4m high. There is a strong possibility that a wooden structure would have sat on top of the walls. It would have been an impressive and imposing site, visible from a large part of Aberdeenshire.

In 2017 archaeologists started a program of investigation of the fort. One of their aims is to establish its possible continuation of use by the Pictish population 1000 years after it was built.  

 

https://canmore.org.uk/site/17169/tap-o-noth

 

Bishop’s Weed (Ground Elder)

 

Ground Elder is sometimes referred to as bishop’s weed or goutweed and is commonly found in woodland and verges.  It originally comes from the continent, possibly from the Romans and is best eaten as a green before it produces its crown of delicate white flower.  As well as offering a nice carrot and parsley flavour to your meals, its diuretic properties give relief from gout.  Although highly invasive, we feel that if you can’t beat it, eat it.

Raspberries

 

 

Raspberries line nearly every road in Rhynie, which means you are guaranteed a snack wherever you choose to walk in August.  We have red and yellow varieties, the later we consider a Rhynie delicacy with their peach and banana flavours, offering a tropical note to the Rhynie wild food palate. The medicinal properties of the leaves and berries are associated with childbirth and pregnancy but the abundance of minerals in them and the natural sweetness they provide make them good for everyone. Toss in a fruit salad, make jam, or simply eat them directly from the roadside.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn, or May-tree, is plentiful along the roadsides and verges of Rhynie, often used as hedging along fields.  Although named after the month it blooms, the sweet and musky scented blossom flowers in June in Rhynie, and the flowers can be used to flavour cordials. The red berries can be harvested in the autumn, cooked and sieved, and made into a ketchup. The berries, high in pectin, also make an excellent jelly if mixed with other fruits to add flavour.

Elderflower

Elderflower generally flowers in July in Rhynie, and its frothy inflorescence means one thing…elderflower champagne.  Gathered sweet scented bunches of flower heads contain a natural wild yeast, that when soaked in sugarwater and lemon, ferments to a delicious summer sipper.  In the autumn, the small deep purple berries can be cooked and sieved to make jams and marinades.  Lady Elder’s permission must be sought before taking her tasty offerings.

Wild Rose

Wild Roses offer fragrant flowers for infusing cordials and then in the autumn, the rose hips from the rosebush provide a natural source of vitamin c.  Otherwise known as itchicoos, children hoping to prank their friends would unleash the itchy seeds from inside a rosehip down the unsuspecting back of a victim.  Once cooked and sieved, rosehips also make an excellent base for ketchup, and their jammy flesh can be used as a tomato substitute, just make sure to not eat the seeds.

Nettles

Nettles were legendarily brought to Britain by the Romans to help invigorate their tired legs, but nettles were likely already here so the Rhynie Picts may have enjoyed a cup of nettle tea. High in minerals, nettles are a tasty alternative to spinach when carefully picked and cooked before flowering.  After flowering, the seeds can be collected, dried and used as a nutritious seasoning to sprinkle on savoury dishes to supposedly aid the adrenal system.

Vetch

Vetch is abundant in the verges and makes an excellent garnish to dishes.  It has a pea-like flavour, and the flowers and leaves are edible in smaller amounts, making it a perfect addition to a summer salad.  The purple flowers not only look and taste great, but men…try chewing one up, spitting it into the palm of your hand, and shaking hands with the woman whom you wish to control.

Dandelions

Dandelions can be found everywhere.  Once called “wet the bed”, dandelions are a diuretic.  The bright yellow flowers and greens can be used in salads as the leaves contain a wide variety of essential minerals. The sticky sap can be collected to make a latex rubber, and the root can be roasted and ground up as a coffee substitute. Once it has gone to seed, wishes can be made by blowing it into the wind…a general all rounder.

Gorse

Gorse is found dotted all over the Rhynie countryside; in fields, along roads and rivers, and on the high hillsides.  It flowers “when kissing is in season” and so you know kissing is permissible when you smell the lovely aroma of vanilla and coconut wafting through the air.  Gorse is a great flavouring for gorse, coconut  and vanilla cordial, or for adding to cakes for a yellow confetti effect.  A symbol of fertility, wear a sprig of gorse on your wedding dress if you are hoping for a large brood.

Gooseberries

Gooseberries grow in the hedgerows and are picked when they have sweetened in July and August in Rhynie.  They can be collected with elderflowers to make a delicious curd, or used to explain the facts of life to children by telling them they were born under a gooseberry bush.

Rowan

Rowan is a member of the ash family and provides blossoms in the spring and orange-red berries in the autumn.  Both blossoms and berries have notes of bitter orange and almond, and the small immature flower buds can be infused to give an amaretto like flavour.  The berries should be cooked and sieved as they contain an inedible stone, but once cooked it has a woody bitterness that makes an excellent jelly for savoury foods.  Its high vitamin c level and super antioxidants help explain why it protects against “evil, the devil, witches, death and disease”.  A super food indeed. 

Sweet Cicely

Sweet Cicely can be found in verges around Rhynie and after flowering, the crunchy young seeds taste like licorice sweets, providing a delicious treat when walking in early summer.  If one is “old, dull and without courage” rhubarb and cicely “rejoiceth and comforteth the heart and increaseth lust and strength”.  As good an excuse to make a crumble as any.  Good juiced with rhubarb as a cordial, Cicely also makes a gorgeously scented cut flower for the table.

Hazelnut

Hazelnuts can be found in the wooded areas of Rhynie and can be picked and roasted for pestos, or perhaps to make your own chocolate hazelnut spread.  Evidence of hazelnut processing on Colonsay has been radio carbon dated to the Mesolithic. Historically, a type of hazelmead has been mentioned in early Irish literature, and reports of a potent hazel brew was known for having psychotropic effects on those who drank it…but maybe they were just nuts.