E34 Barrel
DateLate 14th Century
Object NameBarrel
Mediumwood
ClassificationsArchaeology Excavated
LocationOn Display - Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Object numberABDMS034265
About MeThe twelve staves used to make this barrel were all fashioned from slow-grown, radially-split oak from the Baltic. Tool marks on the wood indicates that the wood was shaped using a cooper's broad axe.
The staves of the barrel were dated by dendrochronology (tree-ring dating). The oak tree was probably felled early in the second half of the 14th century AD. The number and variety of redundant holes in the staves indicates that the barrel had had a long life, possibly as much as half a century, before its final use in the Gallowgate. The barrel was, therefore, probably inserted into the ground no earlier than the first quarter of the 15th century AD.
Casks and barrels are made to standard sizes. This example is closest in terms of size to a hogshead cask which measures 0.575m in diameter and 0.9375m in height.
13th - 14th Century
14th - 15th Century
14th - 15th Century
13th - 14th Century
14th Century
12th - 13th Century
13th - 14th Century
late 14th Century
15 February 1858
13th - 14th Century
13th - 14th Century
