Stone tools, ring, beads and whorl

These stone objects were found at the broch at Virkie at Dunrossness in Shetland. They consist of a two coarse stone tools with a pounding or grinding function, a slate bead, a steatite bead or whorl, a bronze ring and a stone spindle whorl. They date from between 200 BC and 400 AD.

The finds are typical of those found on settlement sites of the time. The spindle whorl would have been hung at the end of a spindle to act as a fly wheel when spinning wool.

Early people in Scotland knew how to identify different types of stone and they understood the properties of each. Some types of stones were suitable for heavy-duty uses, such as hammers, while others for more delicate objects. Steatite outcrops on Shetland, and was an easily carved stone.

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