Distinctly Scottish Palaeoart: Borealestes Clan Crests

My colleagues and I recently published a new species of mammal from Jurassic Scotland, Borealestes cuillinensis. On the run up to publication I produced a palaeoart reconstruction using traditional methods (pencil, ink, paint), but when I saw the digital reconstructions by Matthew Humpage, I put mine aside in favour of his incredible work.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about my little beasties from Skye. Their evocative names, their discovery, and how these ancient beasts were wound into the rich cultural heritage of the Isle of Skye. Ruminating on all this, I ended up creating what I'm calling Borealestes Clan Crests. 

Borealestes Lucky Star, Clan Crest, by Elsa Panciroli

These palaeoart reconstructions were inspired in part by a mixture of Celtic and Pictish art and carving, and Scottish clan crests (e.g MacDonald, MacIntosh). Below, I’ll take you through the story behind each design. If you'd like a copy of the line-drawings of the images to colour-in (great activity for kids!) get in touch.

Borealestes of the Cuillin, Clan Crest, by Elsa Panciroli

The Borealestes Clan

The core of both images is a classic Celtic knot, seen in multiple sources. It forms a circle with a Pictish emblem at the top centre. The Picts were the people who lived in Scotland prior to the arrival of Gaelic-speaking peoples from Ireland, their culture having been merged into the Celtic and Norse that followed. The Pictish symbol is modelled on those found carved into stones on Skye, for example at Diurinish or Tote. It comprises a crescent with a V-rod through it, a symbol found elsewhere in Scotland as well.

Duirinish Pictish Stone (Source). Note the crescent and V-rod symbol at the top.

It’s not known what this symbol meant to the Picts – the meaning of Pictish carvings is lost to us. But it is thought that many Pictish symbols denoted particular tribes. I’ve used the idea here for the Borealestes ‘tribe’, or clan. I placed a Borealestes lower tooth at the apex of the V points, to show the shape of the lower molar, diagnostic for this genus. Within the crescent are two claw shapes pointing in opposite directions, traced from the actual fossil claw of B. cuillinensis (soon to be published), with a disc between them, symbolising the two species belonging to this genus.

The script around the top of the Celtic knot is based on Gaelic script, with some modifications. Gaelic script is a typeface used for printing Gaelic from the 16^th-18^th Century in Scotland (it survived a little later in Ireland). In the original script, a lower case ‘s’ resembled what in English is an ‘r’. This would have been confusing for modern readers, so I changed it to a smaller version of an upper case ‘S’.

Example of Gaelic Script (Source)

Borealestes serendipitus Crest

The dominant colour for this image is green, which matches the colour used in the paper for the figures of B. serendipitus. The name Borealestes means northern rogue (or brigand), so the dirk (a small Scottish dagger) pays tribute to this. It’s based on a specimen held at National Museums Scotland that came from the Highlands, and dates to the 18^th Century – truly, a time of rogues! The hilt of the original is wooden, but I’ve recreated it in horn.

An 18th Century dirk (small dagger) from the Scottish Highlands (NMS H.LC 63: source)

The wee bandit has the species name B. serendipitus, alluding to the serendipity of this lucky find (although it was not luck, Michael Waldman had done his research before seeking fossils there). To indicate this ‘luck’, I decided to incorporate a ‘lucky star’. I thought that seeing as this was the northern rogue, it’s lucky star would be Polaris, the northern star. It is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. 

Simplified constellations. Polaris is part of Ursa Minor, and can be found by orienting yourself using Ursa Major. (Source: Pintrest)

To honour the good luck of those who found this skeleton, I’ve depicted the constellations as they would have appeared looking directly north from Skye as darkness fell (at around 10pm) on the day the fossil was discovered (the 28^th of May, 1972, the fossil was collected the following year). I did this using a planisphere. The constellations depicted are, left to right: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor (with Polaris the ‘lucky star’), Draco above it, Cepheus, and finally Cygnus.

Behind the constellations, an aurora borealis glows green, signifying again that this is the northern rogue. It is an additional symbol of luck, because you need to be kind of lucky to see this phenomenon!

Borealestes cuillinensis Crest

The dominant colour for this image is blue, which matches the colour used in the paper for the figures of B. cuillinensis. This crest is simpler than the other, and focuses on the species name. The animal is named for the Cuillin, a mountain range on Skye famous for their beauty. These are the peaks in dark blue below this image. I traced the outline of their iconic ridge from my own photographs, taken during fieldwork. The sun is just setting behind them, creating a warm glow on the Western horizon.

Me enjoying the sunset, with the Cuillin mountains behind, above Loch Scavaig. (Photo: my own)