finds are drawings scratched on slate of dragon-prowed ships and a bronze-gilt harness mounting made in Ireland in the 8th or 9th centuries. Brough of Birsay in Orkney is another important archaeological site, which like Jarlshof has a continuity of settlement spanning the Pictish and Norse periods. There is a remarkable collection of 12th-century runic inscriptions inside Maeshowe. Caithness and Sutherland In early Irish literature Shetland is referred to as Inse Catt—"the Isles of Cats", which may have been the pre-Norse inhabitants' name for these islands. The Cat tribe certainly occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland and their name can be found in Caithness, and in the Gaelic name for Sutherland (Cataibh, meaning "among the Cats"). There is limited evidence that Caithness may have had an intermediate phase of Gaelic-speaking control between the Pictish era and the Norse takeover, but if it existed it is likely to have been short-lived. Sigurd Eysteinsson and Thorstein the Red moved on northern Scotland, conquering large areas variously described in the sagas as constituting all of Caithness and Sutherland and possibly including territory in Ross and even Moray during the last decade of the 9th century. The Orkneyinga Saga relates how the former defeated the Pict Máel Brigte Tusk but died from an unusual post-battle injury. Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson married into the native aristocracy and his son, Skuli Thorfinnsson, is recorded as having sought the support of the King of Scots in the 10th century in pursuing his claim as mormaer of Caithness. Njáls saga relates that Sigurd the Stout was the ruler of "Ross and Moray, Sutherland and the Dales" of Caithness and it is possible that in the late 10th century the Scots kings were in alliance with the Earl of Orkney against the Mormaer of Moray. Thorfinn Sigurdsson expanded his father's realm south beyond Sutherland and by the 11th century the Norwegian crown had come to accept that Caithness was held by the earls of Orkney as a fiefdom from the Kings of Scotland although its Norse character was retained throughout the 13th century. Raghnall mac Gofraidh was granted Caithness after assisting the Scots king in a conflict with Harald Maddadson, an earl of Orkney in the early 13th century. This joint earldom ceased after 1375 and the Pentland Firth became the border between Scotland and Norway. No Norse place names have been found on the northern Scottish mainland south of