Beads

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These beads, of amber and serpentine, were found in a woman's grave at Carn nan Bharraich on Oronsay in the Inner Hebrides. She was buried between 850 and 900 with objects either brought or imported from Scandinavia and others from the British Isles.

Amber bead from Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll

Amber was a valuable material, used for expensive jewellery by both Pictish and Scandinavian craftsmen. Most amber was probably imported from the Baltic region. Amber beads appear in Viking graves of both men and women.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-190-004-066-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.FC 188
• Date: Between 850 and 900
  
• Material: Amber
  Serpentine / bronze
  Bead
  Bead / bronze / fragment
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Bead
  Bead / bronze / fragment
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Oronsay, Carn a Bhorich
  Scotland, Argyll, Oronsay, Carn a Bhorich
  
• Event:
• Description: Serpentine bead and bronze fragments from Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, p 114. 
  • Grieg, Sigurd. Viking Antiquities in Scotland (=Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Part II, ed. by Haakon Shetelig). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1940, p 45. 
• Translations:
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