Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial
Encyclopedia
The Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial is a Viking
ship burial
site in Ardnamurchan
, Scotland
, the most westerly point on the island of Great Britain
. Dated to the 10th century, the burial consists of a Viking boat about 5 metres (16.4 ft) long by 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wide in which a man was laid to rest with his shield, sword and spear as well as other grave goods.
In 1924 nails, rivets and other finds were discovered by T.C. Lethbridge at Cul na Croise (Gorten Bay) in Ardnamurchan, which were characterised at the time as having come from a ship burial; the exact location of this site is lost and so the nature of the finds cannot be determined with certainty. A similar case was the mainland burial site at Huna
, in Caithness
, discovered in 1935, although this was better documented and is accepted as a ship burial. Nine other Viking ship burials, or possible burials, have been found on Scottish islands, including six in the Hebrides
and another three in the Northern Isles
.
and Leicester
, CFA Archaeology and Archaeology Scotland on 18 October 2011. Students and academics have for several years investigated archaeological sites on the Ardnamurchan peninsula and have previously made a number of discoveries, including an Iron Age
fort, and a Neolithic
chambered cairn
. The project aims to examine social change on the peninsula from 6,000 years ago to the 18th- and 19th-century Highland Clearances
. Its work has been supported by the Ardnamurchan Estate, which owns the peninsula.
The site is located on the north coast of Ardnamurchan at Port an Eilean Mhòir between Achateny
and Ockle
. The archaeologists had initially thought that the site of the burial was merely a mound of rocks cleared from fields in recent times. On further investigation it was realised that it was a boat burial.
Within the boundary of the ship, archaeologists discovered the fragmentary remains of a man, including pieces of an arm bone and teeth. He had been buried with a number of grave goods including a shield, placed over his chest, and a sword
and a spear lying by his side, besides an axe, a knife, a bronze ring-pin
from Ireland
, items of pottery, a whetstone
from Norway
and apparently a drinking horn
, of which only a bronze fitting survives. Dozens of other iron fragments were discovered but have not yet been identified.
It is not yet known where the man came from, but archaeologists hope to be able to identify his home region by analysing radioactive isotopes extracted from his bones and teeth. The fragments of wood found with the remains of the ship should reveal what type of wood the vessel was made from and possibly where it was built.
After the finds have been examined and conserved, it is expected that they will be claimed by the Crown
as treasure trove
which will enable museums to apply to keep and display them. The local Member of the Scottish Parliament
, Dave Thompson
, has called for the finds to be put on display at Ardnamurchan, and local tourism chief John Peel has suggested that a permanent historical exhibition could be established on the peninsula to boost tourism.
in Suffolk
, they had either been deposited centuries earlier or had not been successfully excavated due to deficiencies in archaeological methods.
The site's location, near existing Neolithic and Bronze Age cairns, gives it added significance. Dr Cobb has commented: "We don't think the association with the older monuments can be a coincidence — this was a place which was very important to people over an extraordinarily long period of time." No Viking settlements have been found in the area, but the Vikings had a significant presence in Scotland. They first began raiding Scotland in the eighth century and settled in Orkney
and Shetland
in the ninth century. There are previously known Viking ship burials on Scottish islands at Carn nan Bharraich and Lochan Kill Mhor and one other site on Oronsay
, two more on Colonsay
and one on North Uist
in the Hebrides, at Scar
on Sanday
in Orkney, one on Fetlar
, and another at Ling Ness on Mainland Shetland.
Port an Eilean Mhòir is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south east of Loch na h-Airde
on Skye
where evidence of a Norse-era maritime centre has been found, although it is not known if it was in existence as early as the 10th century. Dr Oliver Harris of the University of Leicester, one of the ATP co-directors who worked on the site, believes that the occupant of the burial was "someone of high status, who was wealthy and powerful and very interested in being seen as a warrior." He commented:
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
ship burial
Ship burial
A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave...
site in Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan
Ardnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the most westerly point on the island of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Dated to the 10th century, the burial consists of a Viking boat about 5 metres (16.4 ft) long by 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wide in which a man was laid to rest with his shield, sword and spear as well as other grave goods.
In 1924 nails, rivets and other finds were discovered by T.C. Lethbridge at Cul na Croise (Gorten Bay) in Ardnamurchan, which were characterised at the time as having come from a ship burial; the exact location of this site is lost and so the nature of the finds cannot be determined with certainty. A similar case was the mainland burial site at Huna
Huna, Caithness
Huna is a small remote crofting township, located 2 miles northeast of Canisbay and 3 miles west of John o' Groats in Caithness, in Scotland. It is currently part of the Highland Council area. Huna is located 0.5 miles from John o' Groats....
, in Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
, discovered in 1935, although this was better documented and is accepted as a ship burial. Nine other Viking ship burials, or possible burials, have been found on Scottish islands, including six in the Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
and another three in the Northern Isles
Northern Isles
The Northern Isles is a chain of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are two main island groups: Shetland and Orkney...
.
Discovery and excavation
The discovery was announced by archaeologists from the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project, directed by the Universities of ManchesterUniversity of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
and Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
, CFA Archaeology and Archaeology Scotland on 18 October 2011. Students and academics have for several years investigated archaeological sites on the Ardnamurchan peninsula and have previously made a number of discoveries, including an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
fort, and a Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
chambered cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
. The project aims to examine social change on the peninsula from 6,000 years ago to the 18th- and 19th-century Highland Clearances
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
. Its work has been supported by the Ardnamurchan Estate, which owns the peninsula.
The site is located on the north coast of Ardnamurchan at Port an Eilean Mhòir between Achateny
Achateny
Achateny is a hamlet in Argyll on Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands. It is in the Scottish council area of the Highland, near Branault, along a country lane off the B8007 road several hundred metres from the coast. To the east lies the village of Kilmory.Trees in the area include typical...
and Ockle
Ockle
Ockle is a remote hamlet, situated on the northcoast of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.Ockle lies 6 miles northeast of Kilchoan on the sourthern coast of the peninsula...
. The archaeologists had initially thought that the site of the burial was merely a mound of rocks cleared from fields in recent times. On further investigation it was realised that it was a boat burial.
Finds
The vessel itself had almost entirely rotted away, but its outline and around 200 rivets still remained in place, some still connected to small pieces of wood. The ship had almost entirely been filled with stones in what may have been a ritual practice.Within the boundary of the ship, archaeologists discovered the fragmentary remains of a man, including pieces of an arm bone and teeth. He had been buried with a number of grave goods including a shield, placed over his chest, and a sword
Viking sword
The Viking sword is a form of spatha, evolving out of the Migration Period sword in the 8th century, and evolving into the classical knightly sword in the 11th century with the emergence of larger crossguards...
and a spear lying by his side, besides an axe, a knife, a bronze ring-pin
Celtic brooch
The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large...
from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, items of pottery, a whetstone
Whetstone
Whetstone may refer to:* Whetstone, a sharpening stone used for knives and other cutting tools* Whetstone , a benchmark for measuring computing power* Operation Whetstone, a nuclear test program in the 1960s- Places :United Kingdom...
from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and apparently a drinking horn
Drinking horn
A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity especially in Thrace and the Balkans, and remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period in some parts of Europe, notably in Germanic...
, of which only a bronze fitting survives. Dozens of other iron fragments were discovered but have not yet been identified.
It is not yet known where the man came from, but archaeologists hope to be able to identify his home region by analysing radioactive isotopes extracted from his bones and teeth. The fragments of wood found with the remains of the ship should reveal what type of wood the vessel was made from and possibly where it was built.
After the finds have been examined and conserved, it is expected that they will be claimed by the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
as treasure trove
Treasure trove
A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs undiscoverable...
which will enable museums to apply to keep and display them. The local Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
, Dave Thompson
David Thompson (Scottish politician)
Dave Thompson is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party , he was elected to the Scottish Parliament to represent Highlands and Islands at the 2007 election...
, has called for the finds to be put on display at Ardnamurchan, and local tourism chief John Peel has suggested that a permanent historical exhibition could be established on the peninsula to boost tourism.
Significance and context
According to Dr Hannah Cobb, a co-director of the project from the University of Manchester, the boat burial is "one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain." It is the first time a confirmable Viking boat burial has been found fully intact on the UK mainland. Although other boat burials have been found, most famously that at Sutton HooSutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, they had either been deposited centuries earlier or had not been successfully excavated due to deficiencies in archaeological methods.
The site's location, near existing Neolithic and Bronze Age cairns, gives it added significance. Dr Cobb has commented: "We don't think the association with the older monuments can be a coincidence — this was a place which was very important to people over an extraordinarily long period of time." No Viking settlements have been found in the area, but the Vikings had a significant presence in Scotland. They first began raiding Scotland in the eighth century and settled in Orkney
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
and Shetland
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
in the ninth century. There are previously known Viking ship burials on Scottish islands at Carn nan Bharraich and Lochan Kill Mhor and one other site on Oronsay
Oronsay
This is a list of islands called Oronsay , which provides an index for islands in Scotland with this and similar names. It is one of the more common names for Scottish islands. The names come from Örfirisey which translates from Old Norse as "tidal" or "ebb island"...
, two more on Colonsay
Colonsay
Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...
and one on North Uist
North Uist
North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.-Geography:North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of , slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula...
in the Hebrides, at Scar
Scar boat burial
The Scar boat burial is a Viking boat burial near the village of Scar, on Sanday, in Orkney, Scotland. The burial, which dates to between 875 and 950 AD, contained the remains of a man, an elderly woman, and a child, along with numerous grave goods...
on Sanday
Sanday, Orkney
Sanday is one of the inhabited islands in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. With an area of , it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands. The main centres of population are Lady Village and Kettletoft. Sanday can be reached by Orkney Ferries or plane from Kirkwall on the...
in Orkney, one on Fetlar
Fetlar
Fetlar is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a population of 86 at the time of the 2001 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre...
, and another at Ling Ness on Mainland Shetland.
Port an Eilean Mhòir is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south east of Loch na h-Airde
Rubha an Dùnain
Rubha an Dùnain or Rubh' an Dùnain is an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin hills on the island of Skye in Scotland. This headland rises to over above sea level. Loch na h-Airde is a body of freshwater that is situated to the east of the peninsula close to the sea shore...
on Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
where evidence of a Norse-era maritime centre has been found, although it is not known if it was in existence as early as the 10th century. Dr Oliver Harris of the University of Leicester, one of the ATP co-directors who worked on the site, believes that the occupant of the burial was "someone of high status, who was wealthy and powerful and very interested in being seen as a warrior." He commented:
See also
- Norse funeral
- Norse–Gaels
- Norse Scotland
- Scar boat burialScar boat burialThe Scar boat burial is a Viking boat burial near the village of Scar, on Sanday, in Orkney, Scotland. The burial, which dates to between 875 and 950 AD, contained the remains of a man, an elderly woman, and a child, along with numerous grave goods...
- Uí ÍmairUí ÍmairThe Uí Ímair , or Dynasty of Ivar, were an enormous royal and imperial Norse dynasty who ruled Northern England, the Irish Sea region and Kingdom of Dublin, and the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides, from the mid 9th century, losing control of the first in the mid 10th, but the rest...
External links
- Viking burial site unearthed, Press Association video, 19 October 2011
- First fully intact Viking boat burial site uncovered, BBC News video, 19 October 2011