In this online event, three short presentations will be given by guest speakers on the new display, new fiction and new research questions of the Stone of Destiny (also known as the Stone of Scone). 

Guest Speakers
 

Sally Foster FSAScot is Professor in Heritage and Conservation at the University of Stirling and a former Trustee and a long-term Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Her interdisciplinary research explores questions around authenticity, value and significance in a heritage and museum context. Her most recent book is My Life as a Replica: St John's Cross, Iona, written with Stirling colleague Sian Jones. The findings from this project led to the co-production of the cross-sectoral New Futures for Replicas: Principles and Guidance for Museums and Heritage.

Sally's talk will introduce her exciting new finding about the Stone of Destiny, specifically what happens if we focus on the untold story of its fragmentation and life of these fragments since 1838, but particularly 1950/51. Her discoveries arose in the context of a research project, Authenticity’s Child: Contemporary Meanings and Future Destinies for the Stone of Scone, funded by the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust.


Dr Mark A Hall FSAScot is a Collections Officer at Perth Museum (Culture Perth & Kinross), with particular responsibility for archaeology and world cultures collections. He has been instrumental in the redisplay of the collections in the new Museum and is curatorial lead for Perth in the curation of the Stone, in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). He is widely published particularly on medieval material culture and is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Stirling University and a long-term Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 

Returning, Reinterpreting, Re-engaging: Mark’s contribution to the online event will look at the Stone as a centrepiece for the new Perth Museum, which opened to the public on 31 March 2024. Since then, the museum has welcomed around 250,000 visitors through the doors; of those, 75,000 booked to see the Stone. Mark will run through the process for creating the new display and its interpretive approach, contributing to Sally’s project and share some of the visitor feedback. 
 

David Maule FSAScot has had a career in English Language Teaching, at first overseas and later at Edinburgh College. He has written numerous books for learners of English and since retirement has followed his interest in Scottish history. David is the author of The Mysterious Case of the Stone of Destiny: A Scottish Historical Detective Whodunnit! published by Tippermuir Books in March 2024.

In his presentation David will pose the question: Is the stone which Edward I removed from Scone in 1296 and is now in the Perth Museum the original enthronement stone of the kings of Scots – or did person or persons unknown appropriate this and send him homewards with a substitute? 


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