Four decorated antler mounts and a stone 'egg' amulet from Bu Sands, Burray, Orkney

Abstract

Four decorated antler mounts found at Bu Sands in 1990 are described. Relevant parallels are studied, from which a Roman or early Anglo--Saxon date is proposed, with manufacture in southern Britain. Consideration of the evidence for Orcadian contacts at this time suggests a late Roman date is most likely and that the mounts ornamented a box which arrived in Orkney as a prestige gift in the third or fourth century AD. An Appendix (331--3) describes a find of a stone `egg' amulet of the first few centuries AD from the same site and discusses similar amulets.