The smaller grave-mound, a few yards distant, contained the fragments of an iron sword, a whetstone, a plain penannular brooch with knobbed ends, of a slightly flattened form, in bronze or brass, and some beads of amber and jet.
Perhaps the most remarkable cemetery of graves belonging to this intruded Paganism of the Norsemen was that excavated by Mr. William Rendall, of Pierowall, in the island of Westray, in Orkney, in 1849. The graves were situated in the sandy links at the north-west side of the head of the bay of Pierowall. Mr. Rendall’s notes are brief and imperfect. I have twice gone over the ground explored by him, with the view of ascertaining certain points in connection with these interments, and I think there is evidence on the spot that each of them was placed on the original surface of the ground, that they were surrounded by roughly made enclosures of stones, and covered by a mound of greater or less bulk. Mr. Rendall explored two groups of these grave-mounds, the one containing four and the other five interments.
In the first group, grave-mound No. 1 contained a human skeleton laid on its right side, north and south, the skull cleft, apparently before burial, and only one half of it found. Deposited with it there were a number of iron weapons or implements, among which Mr. Rendall recognised an iron axe and what he calls the half of a helmet, which I have no doubt was half of the globular boss of a shield. Grave-mound No. 2 contained the remains of a man, a horse, and a dog. It is not said whether the whole skeleton of the horse was in the grave, but the remark is made that the horse was of small size, and the bridle-bit remained between its jaws. Many pieces of iron were found, among which were a buckle and a spear-head or part of a sword. Grave-mound No. 3 contained the remains of a man and a horse with fragments of iron implements. Grave-mound No. 4 contained a skeleton only.
At a little distance to the north-east of this group of grave-mounds was the second group. In grave-mound No. 1 was the skeleton of a man. At his head lay the cup-shaped boss of his shield; at his left side his sword. A whetstone, a comb, and several glass beads were also found, and many pieces of iron of whose form and purpose there is no suggestion. In grave-mound No. 2 was a skeleton, which Mr. Rendall concluded to be that of a female. Two oval bowl-shaped brooches of brass were found on the breast, and a little below them a circular ornament and a pin of the same metal. There were no traces of iron, or remains of iron implements or weapons. Grave-mound No. 3 contained a small skeleton with two oval bowl-shaped brooches and a small circular-headed pin on the breast, and two long single-edged, round-backed combs of bone (Fig. [47]) lay on either side of the neck. No. 4 had been previously disturbed. In No. 5 were two brooches, two combs, and a pin similar to those in No. 3.
Fig. 47.—Round-backed Comb from a Grave-mound in Westray.
In 1851 Mr. Rendall presented to the National Museum the contents of a grave which is not described in these notes but was found in the same locality. It contained the skeleton of a man, with which there had been deposited an iron axe, a spear-head of iron, and the iron boss of a shield, an oval bowl-shaped brooch (Fig. [48]), and a penannular brooch of Celtic form, ornamented with interlaced work of purely Celtic style.[[37]] In this remarkable cemetery we have the same type of burial and the same typical forms of weapons, implements, and ornaments, as in Islay and in Eigg. Of the whole group of objects found in all these graves there is but one, viz. the Celtic brooch last mentioned, that is of a type native to the soil in which they are found.
Fig. 48.—Oval Bowl-shaped Brooch from a Grave-mound in Westray.
