Grave goods from Culduthel, Inverness, Inverness-shire

This ceramic pot, archery equipment, fire steel and amber bead were found in a cist burial at Culduthel at Inverness in Inverness-shire. The burial was clearly that of an important man, whose grave goods proclaimed his status as an archer and warrior.

The archery equipment consists of a stone wrist guard with metal rivets, a bone belt-ring and eight barbed and tanged flint arrowheads. Along with exotic objects, the man was buried with a flint strike-a-light, which would have been used to start fires by striking it against a rock to create sparks. The pot probably held an offering of food or drink.

Around 2500 BC, a new archery kit was adopted in Scotland from continental Europe, along with prestige items such as the domestic horse and decorated drinking pots. A new type of bow, short and curving, was used as well as new accessories such as these.

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