Bronze Age finds returning to island home

• A collection of Bronze Age finds are returning on loan to the island where they were found

• A sword, rare beads and axe heads were discovered in the Ness area of Lewis in the 19th and 20th centuries

• Local museum Comunn Eachdraidh Nis is to display the objects in an exhibition starting on 18 April

A sword, axe heads and rare decorative beads made of amber and gold are among Bronze Age objects returning to the Western Isles on loan.

The items were uncovered during peat digging in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Ness area of Lewis.

The sword’s blade is still reasonably sharp even after 3,000 years buried in the ground.

The objects are in held in the care of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, but are being released on loan to Ness museum Comunn Eachdraidh Nis for a new exhibition opening on 18 April.

Several of the finds, including axe and spear heads, razors, fragments of a decorated container and the beads, are from a Late Bronze Age hoard found near Adabrock in 1910.

Archaeologists have described it as one of the most diverse hoards to be discovered in Britain.

The sword is one of two found on separate occasions at Aird Dell in 1891 and 1892.

Dr Matthew Knight, a senior curator at National Museums Scotland, said: “These Bronze Age objects represent the rich spectrum of life in the Western Isles 3,000 years ago.”