Our Collections
Archaeology
Orkney is renowned for its spectacular archaeology. The archaeology collection of Orkney Museum is recognised as a nationally significant collection. There are approximately 100,000 artefacts in the collection, spanning over 5000 years of human history from the Mesolithic to the Post-Medieval periods.
On display you can find a cache of stone tools from Isbister Chambered Cairn, Bronze Age metalwork, Pictish symbol stones, and grave goods from the Scar Viking boat burial amongst many other amazing artefacts.
Whalebone Plaque
Whalebone Plaque
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: 750-850AD
Period: Viking
Size: 210mm at widest point, 266m high, 173mm at thickest point
Accession Number: 1992.022.139
Collection Place: Scar, Sanday
Summary:
Whalebone plaque from the Scar Viking boat burial. The Scar boat burial contained the remains of three people: a female, a male and a child. The female was the primary occupant of the grave and had a wealth of grave goods, including the whalebone plaque. She had reached her seventies at the time of her death – quite remarkable for the time.
The plaque was almost certainly made in Norway, between 750-850 AD. The plaque is ornamented. At the top of the plaque, two inward-looking stylized animal heads have been carved. Geometric ornament is carved around the edges of the plaque. The areas between the bands of geometric ornament and curving neck of the animal heads are filled with punched ring-and-dot ornament. It is the work of a highly skilled craftsperson.
Plaques such as this have been interpreted as smoothing boards, for ‘ironing’ small items with a glass linen smoother. This example shows little sign of wear and was probably more valued for its symbolic value rather than functional use.
Around 60 plaques are known from the Viking world – and the Scar plaque is one of the finest examples.
Object description:
In 1985, farmer John Deerness had taken a walk along the beach at Scar, Sanday. He discovered what he thought were human bones sticking out in the sand. He had thought this was the burial of a foreign sailor who had been buried on the beach. When he looked closely, he discovered a small object about the size of a pound coin. His neighbour had thought the object was part of a car battery, but nevertheless John kept it safe.
In 1991, Julie Gibson visited the site and saw rivets in the sand. Julie called in to visit Caroline Deerness, who remembered the object her husband had found and showed it to Julie. Julie identified the find as a lead bullion weight. If the weight found on the beach was associated with the human bones and the rivets – Julie Gibson and Raymond Lamb concluded there could be a Viking boat burial at Scar – a rare find for Scotland… and they were right!
The Scar Viking boat burial was excavated in November 1991.
Ogham inscribed spindle Whorl
Ogham inscribed whorl
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Circa. 700AD
Period: Pictish
Size: 36mm diameter; perf 10mm diam, 11mm thick
Accession Number: 1976.056; SF No 84
Collection Place: Buckquoy, Birsay
Summary: Ogham inscribed spindle-whorl from Buckquoy, Birsay. Ogham is a form of writing with letters formed of groups of short lines across a long “stem-line”. Most are straight, but this is arranged in a circle round the face of a whorl.
The inscription reads BENDDACTANIML, Old Irish “bendact anim L”, meaning “a blessing (bendact) on the soul (anim) of L”.
The spindle whorl is made from limestone. Spindle whorls were used to weight spindles when hand-spinning yarn.
Object description: The whorl was found just outside the door of the main room of the large Pictish house at Buckquoy, Birsay. The site was excavated between 1970-1971. This was a rescue excavation, as the site was being lost to coastal erosion.
Insect Brooch
Insect Brooch
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: 2nd century AD.
Period: Iron Age
Size: Wings: Length 49mm x Width 16mm x depth 1.6mm. Body: Length 34mm x width 11mm x depth 7mm
Accession Number: 1982.202.2347
Collection Place: Howe of Howe, Stromness
Summary: This insect-shaped brooch is made from copper-alloy, with outstretched tinned wings. The iron pin is hinged at the insect’s tail and catches under the front of its body. It has a round head with moulded drooping eyes and a small moulded dot for a nose. The brooch displays evidence of two processes – tinning and enameling.
It probably dates to the 2nd century AD. Brooches shaped like animals or insects were made in Britain, Gaul and Belgica in the early centuries AD, though this one is unusual, because it shows the insect in flight.
Object description: This brooch was found during excavations of the broch settlement at Howe, Stromness. The site was excavated between 1978-1982. The brooch was found in a late phase of occupation of the broch tower.
Peedie Pict
Peedie Pict
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Unknown
Period: Pictish
Size: Height 54mm x width 27mm x depth 24mm
Accession Number: 1989.038
Collection Place: Bu sands, Burray
Pictish Symbol Stone
Pictish Symbol Stone
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: 6th – 8th Century
Period: Pictish
Size: H1100mm x w540mm x 90mm
Accession Number: OM/1655
Collection Place: Burrian, Harray
Summary: Pictish symbol stones are one of Scotland’s most distinctive monuments.
There are two classes of symbol stones – Class I and Class II. Class I symbol stones feature symbols incised on undressed stones - boulders or slabs of rock. They date to between the 6th to 8th centuries AD. Class II stones feature symbols and Christian iconography, carved in relief on dressed stones. Class II stones are thought to date to the 8th and 9th centuries AD.
The Burrian Symbol Stone is a Class I symbol stone bearing eagle, crescent and V-rod and mirror symbols.
Object description: It was found in 1936 and thought to have been part of the broch at the Knowe of Burrian, Harray.
Bronze Axehead
Bronze Axehead
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: c. 1500-800 BC
Period: Bronze Age
Size: Length 91mm, Head height 56mm, Body height 35mm, breadth 25mm. Socket: Height 35mm, width 27mm
Accession Number: 2007.020
Collection Place: Hobbister, Oprhir
Summary: Late Bronze Age copper alloy socketed axehead. This find is one of less than 20 finds of Bronze Age metalwork from Orkney. The axehead is bag-shaped with multiple ridges and grooves round mouth
Object description: Found in a cut peat at Hobbister, Orphir in 2006. The axehead was claimed by the Crown as Treasure Trove and allocated to Orkney Museum
St Magnus Reliquary
St Magnus Reliquary
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Possibly 12th Century
Period: Medieval
Size: Length 730mm x height 180mm x breadth 260mm
Accession Number: 2017.009
Collection Place: St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall
Summary: A wooden box containing a skull and bones was found in the cathedral in March 1919 during extensive renovation work. The remains were believed the be the relics of St Magnus. The bones were reinterred in St Magnus Cathedral, where they remain today.
The relics were held in this reliquary box made of Norwegian pine, which possibly dates to the 12th century.
Object description: Earl Magnus was murdered by a blow to the head on the island of Egilsay in c.1117 at a meeting arranged to broker a truce with his rival Earl Hakon. He was sanctified twenty years after his death and it was around this time that his remains were taken from the Christchurch in Birsay and moved to Kirkwall – first to the Church of St Olaf, and then to the cathedral built to honour him.
Point of Cott Whale Teeth Beads
Teeth Beads
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date:
Period: Neolithic
Accession Number: 1997.31
Collection Place: Point of Cott, Westray
Carved Stone Ball
Carved Stone Ball
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Circa. 3200-2200 BC
Period: Neolithic
Size: 88mm x 86.1mm x 77.4m
Accession Number: 1978.L25
Collection Place: Holm Hill, Orkney
Four Decorated Antler Mounts
Four Decorated Antler Mounts
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Unknown
Period: Iron Age
Size: Small 22mmx22mmx2mm, Large 77mmx23mmx2mm
Accession Number: 1993.007.1-4
Collection Place: Bu sands, Burray
Summary: Four decorated mounts made of antler – three small square mounts and one long rectangular mount. The mounts were probably used to decorate a box which would have arrived in Orkney as a prestige gift in the third of fourth century AD. They may have come to Orkney from late Roman period England and are evidence of Orkney’s wide-ranging contacts.
The mounts all bear incised decoration, including ring-and-dot motifs. The long rectangular mount bears the ring-and-dot motif, as well as a ‘running wave’ motif.
Object description: Found in 1990 by two holidaymakers while walking on the beach at Bu Sands, Burray. The mounts were claimed by the Crown as Treasure Trove and were allocated to Orkney Museum.
Equal-Armed Brooch from the Scar Viking Boat Burial
Equal-armed brooch from the Scar Viking boat burial
Museum Location: Orkney Museum
Date: Circa. 750-850AD
Period: Viking
Size: 134mm long, 34mm at narrowest, 51 at widest
Accession Number: 1992.22.141
Collection Place: Scar, Sanday
Summary: Equal-armed brooch from the Scar Viking boat burial. The Scar brooch is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian metalwork to be found in a grave in Scotland. The equal-armed brooch is also known as a ‘Troms type’ (a brooch type named by scholar Jan Peterson, as at the time of his writing (1928) most of the known examples had been found in the Troms district in northern Norway, although it is now known that they were manufactured at Birka in Sweden). There are only two other known examples of fragmentary Troms-type brooches from the British Isles.
The brooch is made from copper alloy and is mercury-gilded, giving it the appearance of gold. It is a highly decorated brooch, featuring characteristically early Viking art styles. The decorative motifs used on the Scar brooch straddle two different Viking art styles: the Oseberg style, and the Borre style. A feature of the Oseberg style is the ‘gripping beast’ motif. A feature of the Borre style is the ‘ring-chain’ motif. Both are seen on this brooch.
The brooch was one of the personal possessions of the woman buried at Scar, and it was probably already of some antiquity when it went into the grave.
Object description:
In 1985, farmer John Deerness had taken a walk along the beach at Scar, Sanday. He discovered what he thought were human bones sticking out in the sand. He had thought this was the burial of a foreign sailor who had been buried on the beach. When he looked closely, he discovered a small object about the size of a pound coin. His neighbour had thought the object was part of a car battery, but nevertheless John kept it safe.
In 1991, Julie Gibson visited the site and saw rivets in the sand. Julie called in to visit Caroline Deerness, who remembered the object her husband had found and showed it to Julie. Julie identified the find as a lead bullion weight. If the weight found on the beach was associated with the human bones and the rivets – Julie Gibson and Raymond Lamb concluded there could be a Viking boat burial at Scar – a rare find for Scotland… and they were right!
The Scar Viking boat burial was excavated in November 1991.