Brooches

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These brass oval brooches were found eroding out of the sand hills at Reay in Caithness, together with other objects typical of those found in Norse pagan graves. They probably came from a woman's grave dating from between 900 and 1000.

This picture shows the brooches from the sides. It clearly shows the way the outermost, openwork shell with its protruding knobs sat on the inner shell. This inner shell was divided into panels around the outside and decorated with interlace patterns.

Oval brooches are a very distinctive form of Viking ornament. Few are found after 1000, in part due to changing dress fashions and in part due to conversion to Christianity, which resulted in no grave goods buried with the body.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-762-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 335
• Date: Between 900 and 1000
  
• Material: Bronze; oval; bowl-shaped; formed of two convex plates; ornamented with interlaced zoomorphic design; traces of gilding still remaining; pin missing
  Bronze; oval; bowl-shaped; formed of two convex plates; similar to X.IL 334 but slightly different ornamentation
  Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Dimensions: 4.31" L x 2.88" W
  4.38" L x 2.63" W
  
• What: Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Caithness, Reay
  Scotland, Caithness, Reay
  
• Event:
• Description: Oval bronze brooch formed of two convex plates ornamented with interlaced zoomorphic design, traces of gilding remaining, with faint textile remains around pin fastener, from Reay, Caithness
  Oval bowl-shaped bronze brooch formed of two convex plates with ornamentation slightly different to X.IL 334, from Reay, Caithness
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 125-6. 
  • 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. 10-1. 
• Translations:
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