Arthur’s Seat coffins

E317197

Arthur’s Seat coffins are a mysterious set of miniature 19th-century wooden coffins containing dressed figurines, discovered on Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat and widely speculated to be linked to ritual, memorial, or criminal events.

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Label Occurrences
Arthur’s Seat coffins canonical 1

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Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf archaeological artifact
historical mystery
miniature coffin set
associatedWith Arthur’s Seat
Edinburgh folklore
Scottish history
country United Kingdom
culturalSignificance subject of speculation and legend
currentCity Edinburgh
currentLocation National Museum of Scotland
dateOfCreation early 19th century
discoveredBy a group of boys hunting for rabbits
discoveredIn 1836
discoveredOn Arthur’s Seat
surface form: Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh
exhibitedAt National Museum of Scotland
foundIn a small cave or recess on Arthur’s Seat
hasClothingDetail figurines dressed in custom-made clothes
hasCondition partially damaged set
hasCraftsmanship hand-carved wooden figures
hasDocumentation museum catalogues
newspaper reports from the 19th century
hasGenderRepresentation mostly male figurines
hasInfluenceOn popular culture depictions of Scottish mysteries
hasInterpretation folk magic items
linked to criminal events
mementos of the dead
memorial objects
possible representation of murder victims
ritual objects
hasMediaType physical object
hasPart dressed figurines
miniature wooden coffins
hasResearchStatus unresolved mystery
hasUncertainPurpose true
locatedIn Arthur’s Seat
Edinburgh
Scotland
material wood
notableFor miniature dressed figures in coffins
mysterious origin
unknown maker
numberOfOriginalCoffins 17
numberOfSurvivingCoffins 8
partOf Scottish archaeological record
timePeriod 19th century

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

National Museum of Scotland notableExhibit Arthur’s Seat coffins