A beautiful whalebone plaque from an Orkney Viking boat burial

A beautiful whalebone plaque from an Orkney Viking boat burial - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

One of the most remarkable features of current archaeology is just how much there is still to discover still lying a few feet and sometimes just a few inches underground. The Viking boat burial at Scar on Sanday was found in 1991 after lying there for over 1,000 years. Storms have now swept away the place that it was. This beautiful whalebone plaque was found placed with one of the three occupants of the boat, a woman in her 70s. Some archaeologists think it was a practical object for smoothing linen. I just wish my ironing board was a stylish.

The Scar Plaque is in the Orkney Museum, a place which tells the story of Orkney in wonderful objects.

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