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This lead weight is one of seven weights found in a man's grave at Kiloran Bay on Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides. He was buried with a range of Scandinavian weapons and tools. He was probably a trader as well as a warrior.

The weight has an unusual shape, with four projecting knobs at each corner, perhaps intended to hold a mount as on the other weights in the set. Alternatively, the weight perhaps stood on the knobs. It is the lightest of the seven, and weighs 12.9 grams.

Although the Kiloran Bay weights are all presumably part of one set, there is no obvious weight standard which links all the finds. In part this may be due to their condition. When buried they may not have been perfect, and they have suffered corrosion.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-705-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: Kiloran Bay Viking Burial (multimedia essay)
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IL 780
• Date: 9th century
  Between 875 and 925
  
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• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Colonsay, Kiloran Bay
  
• Event:
• Description: Lead weight decorated on one side with a stamped circle ornament from a Viking grave found at Kiloran Bay, Colonsay, Argyll, 9th century
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, J. Viking artefacts. A select catalogue. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1980, no. 307. 
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 118-22. 
  • Grieg, Sigurd. Viking Antiquities in Scotland (=Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Part II, ed. by Haakon Shetelig). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1940, pp 48-61, esp. p 53. 
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