Archaeology Notes

Event ID 696320

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/696320

NR49NW 14 4008 9764.

(NR 3993 9783) A 9th-10th century Viking boat-burial was discovered at Kiloran Bay in 1882 and excavated in that year and the following by Sir M McNeill and W Galloway.

It appears to have consisted of a boat inverted over an irregularly rectangular stone setting, which enclosed a male burial accompanied by grave goods and a horse. The whole structure was covered by a mound of sand.

Only rivets and clinker-nails remained of the boat, but the stone setting 15' x 10' and set slightly into the sand, was complete and consisted of rough schist slabs, two of which, one at each end, bore crude incised crosses. The human skeleton lay crouched on its left side, with a set of scales (with weights made from enamelled ornaments of Irish origin) lying between the knees and skull, and various weapons and ornaments, etc of iron and bronze lay nearby. They included bronze mountings probably for horse harness.

After the excavation three Anglo-Saxon stycas of the mid-9th century were found within the enclosure and may provide an approximate date for the deposition although Schetelig preferred an early 10th century date. The scale-weights and the cross-marked stones may represent Irish Christian influence.

The finds were presented to the Royal Scottish Museum, but are now on loan to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS Accession nos: L.1924.1-27; L.1966.18-26).

J Anderson 1907; S Greig 1940; S Grieve 1923; Information from W Galloway's Notes.