On recent Scandinavian Grave-finds from the Island of Oronsay, and from Reay, Caithness, with Notes on the Development and Chronology of the Oval Brooch of the Viking Time

Abstract

A detailed account of the objects recovered from Carn nan Bharraich clearly state that the objects including brooches, shears and a probable dress fastener must have been buried with a female. The oval brooches in particular are definitively Viking. A skeleton at Reay was buried with a pair of oval brooches, a bridle-bit of iron, a\r\nbronze pin and buckle, a spindle-whorl of stone, an iron buckle and a small cross of the same metal. The oval brooches from both burials belong to a distinct group but differ markedly in the form of decoration and it is argued in chronology. with the help of Scandinavian studies, the writer attempts to show the gradual process by which such ornaments were gradually evolved, and to deal with the chronology of those found in Scotland.