Finds show Iona not abandoned after Vikings
● Monastery life continued and metalwork centre was established
A series of discoveries on Iona show the sacred isle was not abandoned following the brutal Viking raids of the early ninthcentury,withmonastery life instead continuing and a centre for metalwork established.
The history of the island, where St Columba arrived in the late sixth century to spread Christianity throughout the land, is now being rewritten given the finds of mainly copper and gold.
A number of copper alloy pins of Hiberno-norse origin, made by those of mixed Scandinavian and Irish ancestry, have been retrieved, with the items likely used to fasten clothing, such as tunics and cloaks.
The pins date from the tenth and 11th centuries, with at least two found close to Martyr’s Bay, on the east coast of the island.
It was on this beach the bodies of 68 monks were left after the Viking raids of 806AD, with it traditionally believed the island was then abandoned for hundreds of years until the Benedictine abbey was constructed in the 12th century.
Now following the discoveries, it is believed that monastery life continued following the massacre, with a centre for metal work then established by the community. Dr Ewan Campbell, senior lecturer in early medieval archaeology at Glasgow University, said: “The nicest pin is a copy of one that was made in Viking Dublin, but it looks to me that it was made on Iona given the differences in manufacturing.
“This adds to a lot of evidence that the monastery continued after the Viking raids. The traditional story is that the island was abandoned, but it would seem to be the case that if it was abandoned , it was only temporary.” Dr Campbell said a number of gravestones and at least one large cross on Iona is also now known to date from the tenth and 11th century.
He said : “There was a living community there around that time.”
It is also known that a former Norse King of Dublin, Amlaıb Cuaran (Olaf Sihtricsson), who promoted the Columban cult, retired to the monastery on Iona as a penitent, and was buried there in 980.
Dr Campbell said: “Iona was important as one of the places where the Norse were coming into contact with Christianity and converted to Christianity.”
Further artefacts of the period recovered over recent years include a late tenth-century hoard of coins and bullion from the abbey as well as gold and silver artefacts, including a Hiberno-norse coin and a gold ring, from St Ronan’s Church. Two of the Hibernonorse pins were recently discovered by archaeologists and volunteers from National Trust for Scotland.