Brooches

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These two brass oval brooches and a bronze trefoil brooch were found in a Scandinavian woman's grave at Clibberswick on Unst in Shetland, together with some glass beads and a plain silver arm-ring which are now lost.

The oval brooches are of a type manufactured in the 8th and 9th centuries. Both are worn, and one has been repaired. The decoration on the trefoil brooch is in the so-called Borre style, which seems to have developed in Scandinavia around the mid 9th century.

Oval brooches are a very distinctive form of ornament, worn by Viking women in pairs to fasten the straps of a pinafore. They were mass produced in Scandinavia and widely copied. The trefoil brooch was used to fasten a cloak or shawl.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-733-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 224
• Date: 9th century
  9th century
  9th century
  Between 850 and 900
  
• Material: Bronze; trefoil shape
  Oval; bowl-shaped; textile imprint on reverse
  Oval; bowl-shaped; textile remains around pin
  Brooch
  Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Brooch
  Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Subject:
• Who: Lerwick Collection
  Lerwick Collection
  Lerwick Collection
  
• Where: Scotland, Shetland, Unst, Haroldswick, Clibberswick
  Scotland, Shetland, Unst, Haroldswick, Clibberswick
  Scotland, Shetland, Unst, Haroldswick, Clibberswick
  
• Event:
• Description: Oval brooch with textile remains around pin, from Clibberswick, Shetland, 9th century
  Oval brooch with textile imprint on reverse, from Clibberswick, Shetland, 9th century
  Bronze trefoil brooch from Clibberswick, Shetland, 9th century
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 64, 153-4. 
  • 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. 103-5. 
• Translations:
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