Dr Katherine Forsyth

  • Reader (Celtic & Gaelic)

Research interests

My interests lie in the history and culture of the Celtic-speaking peoples in the first millennium AD, with a particular focus on text as material culture. My interest in the uses of literacy and in the technology of writing led to a collaborative project on the Book of Deer, Scotland’s oldest manuscript (published 2008). Although I have also published on aspects of Pictish studies and on sculpture in Scotland, the main focus of my research has always been epigraphy, particularly inscriptions in the ogham alphabet. I have conducted field-work on inscriptions in Scotland, south-west Ireland, south-west England, the Isle of Man and Brittany. In addition, I have a developing interest in the integration of texts and material culture as evidence for everyday life, currently manifest in a collaborative interdisciplinary study of Celtic board-games.

Current research projects

The application of 3D digital technology (laser-scanning and printing) to the study of Early Medieval sculpture (in collaboration with the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation)

New work on Whithorn and its Early Medieval sculptured stones (supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Historic Scotland)

Ogham inscriptions of the Isle of Man (supported by the Centre for Manx Studies, Douglas)

The origin, nature and significance of board-games in Celtic Britain and Ireland (in collaboration with Mark Hall, Perth Museum)

 


Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2019 | 2016 | 2015 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2001 | 2000 | 1998 | 1997 | 1995
Number of items: 39.

2019

Forsyth, K. (2019) Handpins and puzzlelocks: some eighth-century literary evidence for Late Roman material culture in Ireland. In: Ljung, C., Andreasson Sjögren, A., Berg, I., Engström, E., Hållans Stenholm, A.-M., Jonsson, K., Klevnäs, A., Qviström, L. and Zachrisson, T. (eds.) Tidens landskap. En vänbok till Anders Andrén. Nordic Academic Press: Lund, pp. 24-26. ISBN 9789188909121

2016

Forsyth, K. and Thickpenny, C. (2016) The rock carvings. In: Toolis, R. and Bowles, C. (eds.) The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: the Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 83-102. ISBN 9781785703119

Foster, S., Forsyth, K., Jeffrey, S. and Buckham, S. (2016) Future thinking on carved stones. History Scotland, 16(6), pp. 8-10.

Foster, S., Forsyth, K. , Jeffrey, S. and Buckham, S. (2016) Scottish Archaeological Research Framework: Future Thinking on Carved Stones. [Website]

2015

Thomas, C. and Forsyth, K. (2015) An ogam inscription from Paul, West Penwith. Cornish Archaeology, 54, pp. 205-217.

2012

Forsyth, K. (2012) Book of Deer. In: Hourihane, C. (ed.) The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art. Oxford University Press: New York. ISBN 9780195395365

Barrowman, R.C. and Forsyth, K. (2012) An Ogham-inscribed slab from St Ninian’s Isle, found in 1876. In: The Chapel and Burial Ground on St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland. Excavations Past and Present. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs (32). Society for Medieval Archaology: London, UK. ISBN 9781907975462

2011

Hall, M. A. and Forsyth, K. (2011) Roman rules? The introduction of board games to Britain and Ireland. Antiquity, 85(330), pp. 1325-1338. (doi:10.1017/S0003598X00062086)

2009

Forsyth, K. (2009) The Latinus Stone: Whithorn's earliest Christian monument. In: Murray, J. (ed.) St Ninian and the Earliest Christianity in Scotland: papers from the conference held by the Friends of the Whithorn Trust in Whithorn on September 15th, 2007. Series: BAR British series (483). Archaeopress, pp. 19-41. ISBN 9781407304281

Forsyth, K. and Driscoll, S.T. (2009) Symbols of power in Ireland and Scotland, 8th-10th century. Territorio Sociedad y Poder: Revista de Estudios Medievales, 2, pp. 31-66.

2008

Forsyth, K. (Ed.) (2008) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin. ISBN 9781851825691

Broun, D. (2008) The property records in the Book of Deer as a source for early Scottish society. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland, pp. 313-360. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K. and Driscoll, S. (2008) Symbols of power in Ireland and Scotland 8th-10th century. In: Symposium Internacional Poder y Simbología en Europa, siglos VIII-X, Oviedo, Spain, 22-27 September 2008,

Forsyth, K. (2008) The stones of Deer. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K., Broun, D. and Clancy, T. (2008) The property records: text and translation. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, pp. 131-144. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K. and Tedeschi, C. (2008) The inscribed slates. In: Lowe, C. (ed.) Inchmarnock: An Early Historic Island Monastery and its Archaeological Landscape. Series: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Edinburgh, pp. 128-153. ISBN 9780903903370

Taylor, S. (2008) The toponymic landscape of the Gaelic notes in the Book of Deer. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland, pp. 275-308. ISBN 9781851825691

2007

Forsyth, K. (2007) An ogham-inscribed plaque from Bornais, South Uist. In: Ballin-Smith, B., Taylor, S. and Williams, G. (eds.) West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300: a Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Barbara E. Crawford. Series: The Northern World (31). Brill: Leiden, pp. 460-477. ISBN 9789004158931

2006

Forsyth, K. (2006) Inscriptions in the Celtic world (2) early medieval. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, pp. 970-972. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Ogam inscriptions and primitive Irish. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbera, California, USA, pp. 1390-1393. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Pictish language and documents. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbera, California, USA, pp. 1444-1446. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Picts. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, pp. 1446-1448. ISBN 9781851094400

2005

Driscoll, S.T. , O'Grady, O. and Forsyth, K. (2005) The Govan School revisited: searching for meaning in the early medieval sculpture of Strathclyde. In: Foster, S.M. and Cross, M. (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series (23). Historic Scotland: Scotland, pp. 135-158. ISBN 9781904350743

Forsyth, K. (2005) HIC MEMORIA PERPETUA: the inscribed stones of sub-Roman southern Scotland. In: Foster, S.M. and Cross, M. (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the Twenty-First Century. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series (23). Historic Scotland: Scotland, pp. 113-134. ISBN 9781904350743

Forsyth, K. (2005) Origins: Scotland to 1100. In: Wormald, J. (ed.) Scotland: a History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-37. ISBN 9780198206156

2004

Driscoll, S.T. and Forsyth, K. (2004) The late Iron Age and early historic period. Scottish Archaeological Journal, 26(1-2), pp. 4-20. (doi:10.3366/saj.2004.26.1-2.4)

2003

Will, R.S., Forsyth, K. , Clancy, T.O. and Charles-Edwards, G. (2003) An eighth-century inscribed cross-slab in Dull, Perthshire. Scottish Archaeological Journal, 25(1), pp. 57-71. (doi:10.3366/saj.2003.25.1.57)

2001

Higgitt, J., Forsyth, K. and Parsons, D. N. eds. (2001) Roman, Runes and Oghan: Medieval Inscriptions in the Insular World and on the Continent. Shaun Tyas: Donington, Lincs. ISBN 9781900289443

Forsyth, K. (2001) Early Christian monuments of Scotland. In: Lynch, M. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England, pp. 426-427. ISBN 9780192116963

Forsyth, K. (2001) Languages of Scotland, pre-1100. In: Lynch, M. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England, pp. 377-378. ISBN 9780192116963

Okasha, E. and Forsyth, K. (2001) Early Christian inscriptions of Munster: a corpus of the inscribed stones. Cork University Press: Cork. ISBN 9781859181706

2000

Forsyth, K. (2000) The Historica Regum Anglorum and a lost Pictish source. In: Taylor, S. (ed.) Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, 500-1287: Studies in the Early Sources of Scottish History Presented to M.O. Anderson on the occasion of her Ninetieth Birthday. Series: Medieval Studies. Four Courts Press, pp. 19-34. ISBN 9781851825165

Forsyth, K. (2000) Appendix 1: The ogham inscription at Dunadd. In: Lane, A. and Campbell, E. (eds.) Dunadd: An Early Dalriadic Capital. Series: Cardiff studies in archaeology (4). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 264-272. ISBN 9781842170243

Hall, M., Forsyth, K. , Henderson, I., Scott, I., Trench-Jellicoe, R. and Watson, A. (2000) Of making and meanings: towards a cultural biography of the Crieff Burgh cross, Strathearn, Perthshire. Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal, 6, pp. 154-188.

1998

Forsyth, K. (1998) Literacy in Pictland. In: Pryce, H. (ed.) Literacy in medieval Celtic societies. Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-61. ISBN 0521570395

1997

Forsyth, K. (1997) Language in Pictland : the case against 'non-Indo-European Pictish'. Series: Studia Hameliana, 2. De Keltiche Draak. ISBN 9080278556

1995

Forsyth, K. (1995) Some thoughts on Pictish symbols as a formal writing system. In: Henderson, I. and Henry, D. (eds.) The Worm, the Germ and the Thorn: Pictish and Related Studies Presented to Isabel Henderson. Pinkfoot Press, pp. 85-98. ISBN 1874012172

Forsyth, K. (1995) Language in Pictland: spoken and written. In: Nicoll, E.H. and Forsyth, K. (eds.) A Pictish panorama: the story of the Picts. Pinkfoot Press, pp. 7-10. ISBN 1874012105

Forsyth, K. (1995) The inscriptions on the Dupplin Cross. In: Bourke, C. (ed.) From the Isles of the North: Early Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain. HMSO: Belfast, pp. 237-244. ISBN 9780337112010

This list was generated on Sun Oct 20 23:12:22 2019 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Edited Books | Conference Proceedings | Website
Number of items: 39.

Articles

Foster, S., Forsyth, K., Jeffrey, S. and Buckham, S. (2016) Future thinking on carved stones. History Scotland, 16(6), pp. 8-10.

Thomas, C. and Forsyth, K. (2015) An ogam inscription from Paul, West Penwith. Cornish Archaeology, 54, pp. 205-217.

Hall, M. A. and Forsyth, K. (2011) Roman rules? The introduction of board games to Britain and Ireland. Antiquity, 85(330), pp. 1325-1338. (doi:10.1017/S0003598X00062086)

Forsyth, K. and Driscoll, S.T. (2009) Symbols of power in Ireland and Scotland, 8th-10th century. Territorio Sociedad y Poder: Revista de Estudios Medievales, 2, pp. 31-66.

Driscoll, S.T. and Forsyth, K. (2004) The late Iron Age and early historic period. Scottish Archaeological Journal, 26(1-2), pp. 4-20. (doi:10.3366/saj.2004.26.1-2.4)

Will, R.S., Forsyth, K. , Clancy, T.O. and Charles-Edwards, G. (2003) An eighth-century inscribed cross-slab in Dull, Perthshire. Scottish Archaeological Journal, 25(1), pp. 57-71. (doi:10.3366/saj.2003.25.1.57)

Hall, M., Forsyth, K. , Henderson, I., Scott, I., Trench-Jellicoe, R. and Watson, A. (2000) Of making and meanings: towards a cultural biography of the Crieff Burgh cross, Strathearn, Perthshire. Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal, 6, pp. 154-188.

Books

Higgitt, J., Forsyth, K. and Parsons, D. N. eds. (2001) Roman, Runes and Oghan: Medieval Inscriptions in the Insular World and on the Continent. Shaun Tyas: Donington, Lincs. ISBN 9781900289443

Okasha, E. and Forsyth, K. (2001) Early Christian inscriptions of Munster: a corpus of the inscribed stones. Cork University Press: Cork. ISBN 9781859181706

Forsyth, K. (1997) Language in Pictland : the case against 'non-Indo-European Pictish'. Series: Studia Hameliana, 2. De Keltiche Draak. ISBN 9080278556

Book Sections

Forsyth, K. (2019) Handpins and puzzlelocks: some eighth-century literary evidence for Late Roman material culture in Ireland. In: Ljung, C., Andreasson Sjögren, A., Berg, I., Engström, E., Hållans Stenholm, A.-M., Jonsson, K., Klevnäs, A., Qviström, L. and Zachrisson, T. (eds.) Tidens landskap. En vänbok till Anders Andrén. Nordic Academic Press: Lund, pp. 24-26. ISBN 9789188909121

Forsyth, K. and Thickpenny, C. (2016) The rock carvings. In: Toolis, R. and Bowles, C. (eds.) The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: the Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway. Oxbow: Oxford, pp. 83-102. ISBN 9781785703119

Forsyth, K. (2012) Book of Deer. In: Hourihane, C. (ed.) The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art. Oxford University Press: New York. ISBN 9780195395365

Barrowman, R.C. and Forsyth, K. (2012) An Ogham-inscribed slab from St Ninian’s Isle, found in 1876. In: The Chapel and Burial Ground on St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland. Excavations Past and Present. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs (32). Society for Medieval Archaology: London, UK. ISBN 9781907975462

Forsyth, K. (2009) The Latinus Stone: Whithorn's earliest Christian monument. In: Murray, J. (ed.) St Ninian and the Earliest Christianity in Scotland: papers from the conference held by the Friends of the Whithorn Trust in Whithorn on September 15th, 2007. Series: BAR British series (483). Archaeopress, pp. 19-41. ISBN 9781407304281

Broun, D. (2008) The property records in the Book of Deer as a source for early Scottish society. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland, pp. 313-360. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K. (2008) The stones of Deer. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K., Broun, D. and Clancy, T. (2008) The property records: text and translation. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, pp. 131-144. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K. and Tedeschi, C. (2008) The inscribed slates. In: Lowe, C. (ed.) Inchmarnock: An Early Historic Island Monastery and its Archaeological Landscape. Series: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland: Edinburgh, pp. 128-153. ISBN 9780903903370

Taylor, S. (2008) The toponymic landscape of the Gaelic notes in the Book of Deer. In: Forsyth, K. (ed.) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin, Ireland, pp. 275-308. ISBN 9781851825691

Forsyth, K. (2007) An ogham-inscribed plaque from Bornais, South Uist. In: Ballin-Smith, B., Taylor, S. and Williams, G. (eds.) West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300: a Festschrift in Honour of Dr. Barbara E. Crawford. Series: The Northern World (31). Brill: Leiden, pp. 460-477. ISBN 9789004158931

Forsyth, K. (2006) Inscriptions in the Celtic world (2) early medieval. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, pp. 970-972. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Ogam inscriptions and primitive Irish. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbera, California, USA, pp. 1390-1393. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Pictish language and documents. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbera, California, USA, pp. 1444-1446. ISBN 9781851094400

Forsyth, K. (2006) Picts. In: Koch, J.T. (ed.) Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, pp. 1446-1448. ISBN 9781851094400

Driscoll, S.T. , O'Grady, O. and Forsyth, K. (2005) The Govan School revisited: searching for meaning in the early medieval sculpture of Strathclyde. In: Foster, S.M. and Cross, M. (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series (23). Historic Scotland: Scotland, pp. 135-158. ISBN 9781904350743

Forsyth, K. (2005) HIC MEMORIA PERPETUA: the inscribed stones of sub-Roman southern Scotland. In: Foster, S.M. and Cross, M. (eds.) Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the Twenty-First Century. Series: Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series (23). Historic Scotland: Scotland, pp. 113-134. ISBN 9781904350743

Forsyth, K. (2005) Origins: Scotland to 1100. In: Wormald, J. (ed.) Scotland: a History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-37. ISBN 9780198206156

Forsyth, K. (2001) Early Christian monuments of Scotland. In: Lynch, M. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England, pp. 426-427. ISBN 9780192116963

Forsyth, K. (2001) Languages of Scotland, pre-1100. In: Lynch, M. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England, pp. 377-378. ISBN 9780192116963

Forsyth, K. (2000) The Historica Regum Anglorum and a lost Pictish source. In: Taylor, S. (ed.) Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, 500-1287: Studies in the Early Sources of Scottish History Presented to M.O. Anderson on the occasion of her Ninetieth Birthday. Series: Medieval Studies. Four Courts Press, pp. 19-34. ISBN 9781851825165

Forsyth, K. (2000) Appendix 1: The ogham inscription at Dunadd. In: Lane, A. and Campbell, E. (eds.) Dunadd: An Early Dalriadic Capital. Series: Cardiff studies in archaeology (4). Oxbow Books: Oxford, pp. 264-272. ISBN 9781842170243

Forsyth, K. (1998) Literacy in Pictland. In: Pryce, H. (ed.) Literacy in medieval Celtic societies. Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-61. ISBN 0521570395

Forsyth, K. (1995) Some thoughts on Pictish symbols as a formal writing system. In: Henderson, I. and Henry, D. (eds.) The Worm, the Germ and the Thorn: Pictish and Related Studies Presented to Isabel Henderson. Pinkfoot Press, pp. 85-98. ISBN 1874012172

Forsyth, K. (1995) Language in Pictland: spoken and written. In: Nicoll, E.H. and Forsyth, K. (eds.) A Pictish panorama: the story of the Picts. Pinkfoot Press, pp. 7-10. ISBN 1874012105

Forsyth, K. (1995) The inscriptions on the Dupplin Cross. In: Bourke, C. (ed.) From the Isles of the North: Early Medieval Art in Ireland and Britain. HMSO: Belfast, pp. 237-244. ISBN 9780337112010

Edited Books

Forsyth, K. (Ed.) (2008) Studies on the Book of Deer. Four Courts Press: Dublin. ISBN 9781851825691

Conference Proceedings

Forsyth, K. and Driscoll, S. (2008) Symbols of power in Ireland and Scotland 8th-10th century. In: Symposium Internacional Poder y Simbología en Europa, siglos VIII-X, Oviedo, Spain, 22-27 September 2008,

Website

Foster, S., Forsyth, K. , Jeffrey, S. and Buckham, S. (2016) Scottish Archaeological Research Framework: Future Thinking on Carved Stones. [Website]

This list was generated on Sun Oct 20 23:12:22 2019 BST.

Grants

AHRC Research Leave (Whithorn Project, 2008)

Centre for Manx Studies (support for fieldwork, summer 2006)

Consultant to Historic Scotland, Headland Archaeology, GUARD, Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation

 


Supervision

Guto Rhys     ‘The Pictish Language' (PhD, AHRC funded)

Laura McIntyre        ‘The social organization of domestic space in early Medieval Britain and Ireland’ (MRes)

 

I would be happy to accept research students in any of my research areas, especially epigraphy, literacy and sculpture.


Teaching

Celtic Civilisation 1A: The Ancient Celts (Level 1 – Convener)

Celtic Civilisation 1B: The Celts in the Early Middle Ages (Level 1 - Contributor)

Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies (Honours – Convener)

Celtic Art in Context (tbc) (Honours - Convener)

Dissertation course (Honours - Convener)

The Picts and the Creation of Alba (Honours - Contributor)

MLitt in Medieval Scottish Studies (Contributor)

MLitt in Celtic Studies (Contributor)


Additional Information

Chair of the National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland (an independent body founded in 1993 consisting primarily of representative members of national organisations and government bodies which works to promote co-ordinated approaches to the care, recording and study of carved stones of all periods. Http://www.carvedstones.org)

 


Dr. Katherine Forsyth

Celtic & Gaelic, School of Humanities, 3 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ,