Assembling places and persons: a tenth-century Viking boat burial from Swordle Bay on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, western Scotland

Harris, Oliver J.T.; Cobb, Hannah; Batey, Colleen E.; Montgomery, Janet; Beaumont, Julia; Gray, Héléna; Murtagh, Paul; Richardson, Phil

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.222

Assembling places and persons: a tenth-century Viking boat burial from Swordle Bay on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, western Scotland

Harris, Oliver J.T.; Cobb, Hannah; Batey, Colleen E.; Montgomery, Janet; Beaumont, Julia; Gray, Héléna; Murtagh, Paul; Richardson, Phil

Authors

Oliver J.T. Harris

Hannah Cobb

Colleen E. Batey

Professor Janet Montgomery janet.montgomery@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Julia Beaumont

Héléna Gray

Paul Murtagh

Phil Richardson

Abstract

A rare, intact Viking boat burial in western Scotland contained a rich assemblage of grave goods, providing clues to the identity and origins of both the interred individual and the people who gathered to create the site. The burial evokes the mundane and the exotic, past and present, as well as local, national and international identities. Isotopic analysis of the teeth hints at a possible Scandinavian origin for the deceased, while Scottish, Irish and Scandinavian connections are attested by the grave goods. Weapons indicate a warrior of high status; other objects imply connections to daily life, cooking and work, farming and food production. The burial site is itself rich in symbolic associations, being close to a Neolithic burial cairn, the stones of which may have been incorporated into the grave.

Citation

Harris, O. J., Cobb, H., Batey, C. E., Montgomery, J., Beaumont, J., Gray, H., …Richardson, P. (2017). Assembling places and persons: a tenth-century Viking boat burial from Swordle Bay on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, western Scotland. Antiquity, 91(355), 191-206. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.222

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Apr 21, 2016
Online Publication Date	Jan 20, 2016
Publication Date	Feb 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Jun 16, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Jun 16, 2016
Journal	Antiquity
Print ISSN	0003-598X
Electronic ISSN	1745-1744
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	91
Issue	355
Pages	191-206
DOI	https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.222

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Copyright Statement
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017. This paper has been published in a revised form, subsequent to editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in 'Antiquity' (91: 355 (2017) 191-206) http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=AQY