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Gigha, East Tarbert Bay
Grave (Viking)(Possible), Balance (Bronze)(Viking)
Site Name Gigha, East Tarbert Bay
Classification Grave (Viking)(Possible), Balance (Bronze)(Viking)
Alternative Name(s) East Tarbet Bay
Canmore ID 38596
Site Number NR65SE 11
NGR NR 6567 5201
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/38596
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Gigha And Cara
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR65SE 11 6567 5201
(NR 6567 5201) (OS 6" map annotated by C M Piggott, September 1948) A Viking Burial (probable).
Anderson (1939) records the finding of a bronze balance and weights "in a sand pit, a few yards from the beach, at the south end of the east bay at Tarbert", and quotes a description given to him by a local inhabitant who witnessed the discovery. The objects were said to have been found in a "square 'box' of stone" which was covered by a large boulder. Nothing further is known, but the account suggests that the material was associated with a cist burial. The balance consists of part of the folding beam with its index, two scale-pans and two decorative suspension-pieces in the form of birds; it is preserved in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, together with three lead balance-weights and a lead spindle-whorl, which were also found in the cist. The assemblage has been dated to the 10th century AD (Curle, Olsen and Shetelig 1954) and is closely comparable with material discovered in Viking graves in Norway.
It was found during excavations in 1849 and was donated to the Museum by Captain MacNeil, Ardlusa (Grieg 1940).
T H Bryce 1913; R S G Anderson 1939; S Grieg 1940; A O Curle, M Olsen and H Shetelig 1954; RCAHMS 1971.
