Bangle of lignite

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This lignite bangle was found in a Viking woman's grave near Lamba Ness (Lamaness) on Sanday in Orkney. She was buried with a pair of Scandinavian oval brooches, this bangle and an amber bead, sometime between 800 and 950.

The bangle is made of lignite, a material resembling jet. In Scandinavia and Britain, the only source of jet, a much prized material for objects, was in Yorkshire. Imitations of jet objects were made in cannel coal and lignite from Scotland.

The Vikings colonised the Northern and Western Isles from around 800. They linked Scotland into a vast trading network. Viking traders were probably responsible for objects made on the Scottish mainland, such as this one, reaching the Northern Isles.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-043-829-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IL 349
• Date: Between 800 and 950
  
• Material: Jet; plano-convex in section
  Bangle
  
• Dimensions: 64 mm interior D
  
• What: Bangle
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Sanday, Cross and Burness, Lamba Ness
  
• Event:
• Description: Jet bangle from Lamaness, Sanday
  
• References:
  • 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 86-8. 
• Translations:
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