Our Goddess is a replica of the mysterious Ballachulish Goddess; a life-sized figure of a girl with quartzite pebble eyes, carved from a single piece of alder. She was found near the shores of Loch Leven under around 6ft of peat during building work in November 1880, and has since been radiocarbon dated to around 600BC, making her over 2 and a half thousand years old and belonging to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. Judging by her good condition, she hadn't spent long above ground before being buried, but unfortunately once she was removed from the peat she dried out and the wood warped and cracked.

The figure is unique in Scotland. Though similar figures have been found elsewhere in the UK and Europe (thought to represent supernatural beings), she is the only one of her kind here and is the oldest human figure found in Scotland. So what did she represent? A pagan idol? A self-representation of Bronze-Age people? Cailleach Bheithir, the hag goddess of winds and storms? An ancient goddess of fertility? Or a goddess of the water, granting safe passage to prehistoric travellers crossing the loch? You can read more about her on our blog: https://www.glencoemuseum.com/post/the-mystery-of-the-ballachulish-goddess

The original Ballachulish Goddess is on display in the National Museum of Scotland. Our replica represents what the Goddess may have looked like when she was first carved over 2,500 years ago!

Were excited to offer a Ballachulish Goddess keyring with every adoption of this object; a unique item to our Museum!

The minimum donation to adopt this object is £20. Your adoption will last for two years.

After clicking Donate, please enter this amount before continuing. Donations less than this amount will still count towards our fundraising but will be considered a donation rather than an adoption.

From June 2023 anyone donating £50 or over will be recognised through their very own leaf on the redeveloped Museum's Tree of Sponsors!

When making your donation, you must tick the box that says; “I’m happy for Glencoe Folk Museum to keep in touch with me by email” so we can send you the digital adoption pack. Otherwise, we won’t know your contact details.

Please be assured that we will not send you further marketing materials unrelated to your adoption and you can opt out at any time.