Broch of Burrian

Iron Age broch on the southern tip of North Ronaldsay, Orkney, defended by four concentric ramparts on its landward side. Excavated by William Traill in 1870-71, the broch yielded a remarkable assemblage spanning centuries of occupation, including Pictish symbol-inscribed bones, an ogham cross-slab, and a Celtic ecclesiastical iron bell dating to the 5th-9th centuries. A radiocarbon-dated ox phalange bearing a crescent-and-V-rod symbol places Pictish activity at cal AD 570-655. The finds are now held in the National Museum of Scotland.