Coffin cover (fragment)

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This fragment of a birch bark coffin cover was found in peat at Dalrigh near Oban in Argyll, covering a dugout tree trunk coffin. It is unique in Scotland, and a rare survival of an object made from birch bark. It dates from between 2040 and 1740 BC.

The coffin cover was made from sheets of bark stripped from birch trees and sewn together.

Birch bark is a useful material for making covers and containers. It can be pulled off the tree in long strips and can be sewn. Bronze Age burials in tree-trunk coffins are very rare in Scotland, but several are known from northern England.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-035-764-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.EQ 192
• Date: 2040 - 1740 B.C.
  Between 2040 and 1740 BC
  
• Material: Wood, birch bark; made of pieces sewn together
  Body cover, coffin / fragment
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Body cover, coffin / fragment
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Oban
  
• Event:
• Description: Fragment of sewn birch bark body cover from a timber coffin, from Oban, Argyll, 2040 - 1740 B.C.
  
• References:
  • Mapleton, R.J. Notice of the discovery of an old canoe in a peat-bog at Oban. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 13 (1878-9), pp 336-8. 
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