Pin
Pins in the Viking Age were typically used for cloak fastening. Those classed as dress pins could also be used for securing hair or as stylus. Pins from Scandinavia were only used for strap dresses or to fasten cloaks. But once vikings started to enter England and English society, they began to wear pins as ornamental pieces, for fashion as well as utility.[2] Pins ranged from simple, made from bone, to elaborate gold decorations. Norse pins specifically, like all of their jewelry, were highly decorated.
Because it’s been determined that this pin most likely originated from Ireland, the owner was an experienced raider. What probably happened was that the husband of this pin’s owner had gone a-viking in Ireland before coming to England. There was some sort of trading action, by force or otherwise, that led this pin to North Yorkshire. This flat-head pin like these have heads that have been determined to be small enough to pass through cloth and were unlikely to have been used to fasten hair.
