Brooches

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This pair of brass oval brooches was found at Lamba Ness on Sanday in Orkney together with a lignite bangle, amber bead, bronze ringed pin and burnt bones. The grave goods are typical of those placed in Norse women's graves.

Like many oval brooches of the period, these were made from two shells. The outermost shell, pictured here, was an openwork pattern and had projecting knobs. The edges of the brooches are damaged, and the brooch on the right is more heavily worn.

Oval brooches are a very distinctive form of Viking ornament, worn by women in pairs on their shoulders to hold up a pinafore. They were mass produced in Scandinavia and widely copied.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-752-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 348
• Date: 10th century
  10th century
  Between 800 and 950
  
• Material: Oval; bowl-shaped; formed of two convex plates
  Oval; bowl-shaped; formed of two convex plates
  Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Dimensions: 100 mm L x 68 mm W
  108 mm L x 68 mm W
  
• What: Brooch
  Brooch
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Sanday
  Scotland, Orkney, Sanday
  
• Event:
• Description: Oval brooch formed of two convex plates, with tiny textile fragment under the pin, from Sanday, Orkney, 10th century
  Oval brooch formed of two convex plates, from Sanday, Orkney, 10th century
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 56-7. 
  • 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. 86-8. 
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