The range of these burials, distinguished (among other features peculiar to themselves), by the presence of this peculiar type of sword and this remarkable type of brooch,[[34]] has thus been traced through the western and northern isles from Islay to Unst, in Shetland, touching the mainland only in the counties of Sutherland and Caithness. This area, established on archæological evidence, coincides exactly with the area established by historical record as that which was colonised and possessed by the Norwegians in the time of their heathenism.
I now proceed to notice other instances in which burials with grave-goods of a similar character, though differing more or less in certain special features, have been observed. It is but recently that they have attracted attention, and the interest and significance of their peculiar phenomena is only beginning to be understood.
Fig. 36.—Sword-hilt of the Viking time, from a Grave-mound in the island of Eigg (7¼ inches in length).
Fig. 37.—Side view of Pommel of Sword-hilt.
About fifty years ago, a grave-mound situated between the chapel of St. Donan and the shore in the island of Eigg, was levelled by the tenant of the land. No observations of the phenomena of the burial were made, but the objects found were fortunately preserved.[[35]] The principal object found in this grave-mound was a sword-hilt of bronze (Fig. [36]), 7½ inches in length. In its form it resembles the hilt of the Islay sword, but is greatly superior to it in the beauty of its ornamentation and the skill of its workmanship. Indeed, I know no finer or more elaborate piece of art workmanship of the kind, either in this country or in Norway. It is constructed in four pieces—the triangular pommel, the cross-piece under it, the grip, and the guard. Each of these has been cast and worked separately, and they are all united by
Fig. 37.—Side view of Pommel of Sword-hilt. the tang of the blade which passes up through them. The decoration is difficult to describe, but it is not difficult to perceive the harmony, elegance, and fitness of the general design. Each of the four parts is treated with reference to its decoration as a separate whole, but they also combine to give to the entire object a completely harmonious design. The triangular pommel is placed upon a cross-piece answering in character to the cross-piece below the grip, and the grip answers in character to both. The ends of the pommel are formed as heads of animals, the zoomorphism more suggested than expressed, and more distinct in the front view of the whole hilt (Fig. [36]) than in the side view of the pommel alone as here represented (Fig. [37]). The grip and the cross-piece below it are all decorated in the same style, with a beautiful pattern formed of a series of arcaded spaces with quadrate ornaments between. The patterns chased in the arcaded spaces are apparently zoomorphic in character, and the quadrate ornaments between them are plates of silver pinned on to the bronze, a circle being incised round every pin head, and each pair of circles connected by a line drawn from the right side of the one to the left side of the other, so as to resemble an S-shaped scroll. The edges of the grip (Fig. [38]) are ornamented with three sunk panels of interlaced work alternating with four plain panels. The upper side of the guard (Fig. [39]) has two ornaments of similar character, each consisting of four loops round a pellet, the bands composing the loops crossing each other in the centre of the figure. There is nothing that is distinctively Celtic in the style of this interlaced work. Indeed, there is so little of it, that it would be difficult, from this specimen alone, to form any opinion as to the relations of interlaced ornament to the system of decoration characteristic of the Viking period. I have already stated that the mere presence of interlaced work is not a feature which can be relied on as a certain indication either of the Celtic or the Scandinavian character of the ornament of which it forms a part. In consequence of the close intercourse which subsisted between the areas of the two distinctive schools of art during the Viking time, the influence of the one upon the other is traceable in such transitional styles as that of the Manx crosses and the decorations of the Skaill brooches to be hereafter described. And the Celtic manner, with a Scandinavian spirit, is distinctly discernible in the decoration of a sword-hilt (Fig. [40]) found in a grave-mound of the Viking time at Ultuna, in Sweden.[[36]]