Carved bone pin

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This bone pin was found at Foshigarry on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It was used as a dress pin or as a hairpin, sometime between 600 and 1000.

The pin was carved from a longbone of a cow or red deer. The head is thin and decorated with chevrons.

Bone pins are fairly common finds from Pictish sites, occurring in a range of sizes and decoration. In general, the same basic head shapes appear at widely distant Pictish sites in the Northern and Western Isles, although this one is without parallels.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-038-654-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.GNA 159
• Date: Between 600 and 1000
  
• Material: Bone; flat spatulate head
  Pin
  
• Dimensions: 2.53" L
  
• What: Pin
  
• Subject:
• Who: Beveridge Collection
  
• Where: Scotland, Inverness-shire, North Uist, Foshigarry
  
• Event:
• Description: Bone pin with a flat spatulate head, from Foshigarry, North Uist
  
• References:
  • Hallén, Ywonne. The use of bone and antler at Foshigarry and Bac Mhic Connain, two Iron Age sites on North Uist, Western Isles. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 124 (1994), pp 189-231, esp. pp 210, 213. 
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