Tool

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This bone tool in the shape of a wedge was found at Birsay on Orkney. It belongs to the Viking settlement at Birsay, dating between 850 and 1000. Its function is unknown.

The top of the tool is cut and pierced to form a ring. The body is pierced laterally by an oval-shaped bar which has been neatly cut off. A round hole similarly goes through the object.

The Vikings colonised the Northern Isles - Orkney and Shetland - from around 800. Birsay was an important Pictish settlement, and continued to be a Scandinavian one, with some degree of overlap.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-040-607-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.HB 283
• Date: Between 850 and 1000
  
• Material: Bone; in form of wedge; top forming ring; pierced laterally by oval-shaped bar, neatly cut off; perforation
  Tool / wedge
  
• Dimensions: 120 mm L
  
• What: Tool / wedge
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
  
• Event:
• Description: Bone tool in the form of a wedge, from Birsay, Orkney
  
• References:
  • Curle, C.L. Pictish and Norse finds from the Brough of Birsay 1934-74. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1982, pp 75-6. 
• Translations:
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