Brooch (front)

Add to album

This brass oval brooch was found in a burial from the Viking age cemetery at Pierowall on Westray in Orkney. It dates from the 9th century.

The oval brooch was cast in a single piece, and richly decorated in relief. It is missing a number of raised knobs which would have attached at the rivet holes. It is also damaged around the edges.

Oval brooches are a very distinctive form of jewellery worn by Viking women in pairs to fasten the straps of a pinafore. They were mass produced in Scandinavia and widely copied. A number of the female graves from Pierowall contained such brooches.

Record details

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.

• Online ID: 000-000-099-729-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: Kiloran Bay Viking Burial (multimedia essay)
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IL 197
• Date: 9th century
  Between 800 and 900
  
• Material: Oval; bowl-shaped
  Brooch
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Brooch
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Westray, Pierowall
  
• Event:
• Description: Oval tortoise brooch with textile imprints on the reverse, from Pierowall, Westray, 9th century
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 129-34. 
• Translations:
• Related Records: