Dugald MacInnes - Master mosaicist co-writes Archaeology book

Dugald MacInnes is one of our most fascinating artists. As an internationally-acclaimed Scottish artist Dugald is well known for his poetic use of stone and natural materials. His work communicates his passion for geology and archaeology and his love for the Scottish landscape. Dugald specialises in expressive mosaic using mainly Scottish slate on the themes of Scottish archaeology and geology. Standing stones, rock-art, igneous intrusions, folding and faulting in rock formations.

Not only does Dugald hold an art degree after studying mosaics under George Garson at Glasgow School of art, but he also has a degree in geology and is a certified field archaeologist. His slate mosaics encapsulates all three of his passions, and now he has co-authored a book!

In the Glen of the Dark Goddess A history and archaeology of Upper Glen Lochay, Killin. 

This is a story of the upper part of a small Scottish glen, a ‘glen within a glen’ separated from the lower portion by a narrow gorge.

It is an account of its archaeology from prehistory to the twentieth century with highlights from the Neolithic including rock art and a long cairn; from the Bronze Age hut circles and from the Iron age a fine example of a round house.

Later archaeology includes the remains of post medieval settlement, improvements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the Breadalbane Hydro Electric Scheme of the 1950s.

It is also a tale of the ordinary people who lived and eked out an existence in the glen: Browns, Campbells, Camerons, Fergusons, MacArthurs, MacCallums,  MacDiarmids, MacDonalds, MacGregors, MacIans, MacKerchars, MacMartins, MacNabs, MacNaughtons, MacVeans, Menzies, Robertsons, Stewarts or Stuarts and a host of other family names.

The authors, amateur archaeologists and historians, have helped in recording  the archaeology of the glen spanning a period of nearly thirty years and spent two decades researching archival material.

It is hoped that the book will be of interest not only locally and to those with historical connections to the area, but also to a wider audience, particularly those fascinated by the history of the day-to-day lives of the people of Scotland.