Brooches

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These two brass oval brooches were found in a wealthy Norse woman's grave at Westness on Rousay in Orkney. She died in childbirth and was buried with a range of expensive objects. This picture shows the back of the brooches.

The brooches are concave at the back. The brooch on the left still preserves its iron pin. The brooch on the right has a fragment of its iron pin and the remains of two cloth loops. The textile impressions are quite clear on this one.

There was a wealthy Norse settlement at Westness. Excavations have uncovered graves containing a range of valuable objects, many, like this one, either imported from Scandinavia or carried over as a personal possession.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-749-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 729
• Date: Between 850 and 900
  
• Material: Bronze; tortoise brooches; type Rygh 649; a, with iron pin inside; b, lacking pin, c, part of iron pin from b, with remains of two cloth loops
  Brooch
  
• Dimensions: 4.30" x 2.15"
  
• What: Brooch
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Rousay, Westness
  
• Event:
• Description: Pair of bronze tortoise brooches, one with iron pin inside, the other lacking pin, with pin fragment with remains of two cloth loops, from Westness, Orkney
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, p 136. 
  • Ritchie, Anna. Viking Scotland London: B.T. Batsford Ltd/Historic Scotland, 1993, p 50.
• Translations:
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