Public help needed in solving the riddle of the stone heads.

Two mysterious bodiless male and female heads have been discovered in Holyrood Park.

One came to light following the partial draining of St Margaret’s Loch while the other turned up on grassland near Spring gardens.

There are few clues as to their exact age or origins.

Historic Scotland experts believe that the larger-than life male head could be up to 200 years old and perhaps belonged to a garden statue at a large Edinburgh house.

Another theory is that it could have been an apprentice piece, possibly even having been created in a mason’s yard at the castle.

The second head is female, smaller and could be from a garden ornament.

The public are now being asked if they can solve the riddle of where they came from.

Peter Yeoman, Historic Scotland senior archaeologist, said: “The male carving has distinctive rustic tooling and may be from a statue of a faun or similar mythical creature.

“But we don’t know where it came from and are not yet certain of its age.

“While the style of the second carving is quite different, it is certainly an unusual coincidence for two stone heads to turn up in the park.

“If anyone has any ideas we would be fascinated to hear from them.”

The larger head is also heavy and it may have taken two people to get it into the water.

Large amounts of plant growth and erosion suggest it had been in the loch for a considerable number of years.

The carving was brought to the attention of Historic Scotland staff by a member of the public during drainage work to look for possible causes of the lead poisoning that recently affected the swan population.

A third disembodied head has been discovered at another Historic Scotland site.

This was a ceramic head with bulging eyes and a scar which has been compared to the famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch.

It was found on the river bank close to the New Abbey Corn Mill near Dumfries.

Initial examination suggests it may have belonged to a puppet or toy and could be up to 300 years old.

Once again, though, the exact age, purpose and origin are currently unclear.

• Anyone with suggestions about the origins of the Holyrood Park head can write to Peter Yeoman, Care of Media and Marketing, Historic Scotland, Room 4.5, Longmore House,. Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1SH.
  
  
• Holyrood Park is in the care of Historic Scotland and is free for the public to enter.
  
  
• The park is a rich archaeological site - some grand houses did stand adjacent to the royal palace grounds, where the bowling club now stands about 750m from St Margaret’s Loch. These were demolished in the 19th century.
  
  
• The drainage operation did not identify anything likely to have caused the poisoning of the swans.