Sickle blade

This iron sickle blade was found in a Norse woman's grave at Westness on Rousay in Orkney. She died in childbirth and was buried with a range of ornaments and tools, many of high quality, sometime between 850 and 900.

The blade is well preserved, although the tip is missing. The tang would have fitted into a wooden handle.

Some objects in Viking burials are specific to men's or women's graves. Others, however, like sickles, are found in both. Sickles were used to harvest corn and plant fibres, but small examples are also known, perhaps for cutting plants for daily cooking.

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