A Maritime Compass Petroglyph in Shetland

This article examines a carving of a compass rose, initials and other marks on a rock outcrop at a coastal site in West Shetland. During the late medieval and early modern periods Shetland lay at the crossroads of an extensive north Atlantic maritime trade network. From the mid sixteenth century until the Acts of Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707 the islands relied upon German and Scottish seafarers sailing annually from the Hanseatic ports of Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig to supply manufactured goods, materials and money predominantly in exchange for dried and salted fish and agricultural produce. This marine navigation depended heavily upon magnetic compasses but the significance of these instruments extended beyond purely shipboard use. Examples of compasses carved in rock exist throughout coastal locations in Scandinavia associated with this trade network. Using historic geomagnetic declination data, a new field survey and comparative and contextual evidence, a late sixteenth to early seventeenth century date is proposed for a Shetland example which links it to this trade network during a period of socio-political and economic upheaval in the Shetland islands and the eventual redirection of this trade to mainland Scotland.