Summary

Fragmentary sheet of tin bronze, six pieces, decorated with engraved ornament, found in a cist burial at Machrins, Colonsay, 850 - 950 AD

Accession Number

X.HR 1561

Other references

Original description

Bronze: 6 pieces from 1 object: Fragmentary sheet of thin bronze decorated with engraved ornament forming the hind-quarters of two animals with a background of oblique hatching. At the time of the burial this piece had been on the front of an organic object attached by a small rivet. A thin edging/backing strip indicates that the organic material (leather ??) would have been c 2mm thick. A cast bronze boss with a perforated tang had been inserted into an oval hole which cut across the decoration, and when in place the base of the boss would have further obscured the decoration. The original sheet may have been part of a pail binding; it had clearly been re-used, perhaps as a belt ornament. Metal: sheet: tin bronze, surface tinned after engraving; rivet and boss: tin bronze. (Lab nos: FO 135 - 137). [Grid ref] NR 3579 9330. Ritchie, J N G 1981, SF 33, fig 6. Updated from SCRAN full data set. [Scran caption] These pieces of tinned bronze sheet were found in a cist burial at Machrins on Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides. The complete body did not survive, but was probably that of a woman who was also buried with a knife, pin, nail and a small dog. The bronze sheet was reused, though it is too fragmentary to be certain of its original and subsequent uses. Originally it may have formed part of the binding on a pail. The ribbon animal decoration suggests that it was manufactured in the British Isles. Date: Between 850 and 950. Material: Bronze, tin.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Cnoc nan Gall, Machrins, Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland, Northern Europe

Acquisition

Acquisition date

Not recorded

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Not recorded

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image