Etched Grave Stone
This stone slab was recovered from a Viking-age ship burial in Kiloran Bay, located on the island of Colonsay, one of the Inner Hebrides.1 When the site was excavated in 1882, the archaeologists noted that the ship appeared to have been inverted and placed upon a rectangular enclosure made out of stone, within which a man was buried.2 Two larger slabs of stone marked the eastern and western edges of this enclosure. The burial has been dated to between 875 and 925 CE.
The large slabs marking the burial area’s edges are composed of schist, a medium-grade metamorphic rock. The surface of the stone is etched with a cross, perhaps indicating that the stone serves as a grave marker.3 The cross can also provide some insight on the Christian influence on the Norse living in the Hebrides. Though Scandinavia was not officially Christianized until the late 10th century, this incised cross indicates that some exchange of beliefs was already occurring between the Celts and the Norse.4 Contrary to popular belief, not all Norse were pagan; rather, the Norse were aware of Christian teachings. In the case of Kiloran Bay, perhaps at least one Norseman had already converted to Christianity, decades prior to the commonly-held assumption.
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