The Gunnister Man is a body of a man which was found by two Shetlanders in a peat bog not far from the junction of A970 road in Gunnister, Shetland. It was found on the 12 May 1951. The body is now believed to date from the early 18th century. Some knitted items found with the body are believed to be the earliest examples of knitting in Shetland. The man was well and warm dessed. He was in a jacket and a long cloak or "justaucorps", and with long knitted gloves, so it is believed that he died in winter, but it's still an unsolved mystery what happened to him, and if he was a Shetlander, or he was a visitor who came from someplace else. He had a purse with 3 coins. 2 were from the Netherlands.
The items found included 2 caps, piece of skull with hair, wooden pail, bones, purse, pail hoop, belt fragment, quill and horn, two hoop fragments. spoon, a wooden stick, pieces of peat moor, 3 coins, two pieces of string, knife handle and three unidentified items.
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Several knitted items were found, the originals are held by National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The purse, although dull brown when found, was probably originally a natural mixed grey colour, with a red and white pattern on it. Dutch and Swedish coins were found in the man's purse, but as these were common in Shetland at that time because of the trade and sales, it gives no clear indication of his origin. It is difficult to know if the man's garments were knitted in Shetland or elsewhere, but even if they weren't, it proves that stranded knitting, know known as the Fair Isle knitting, had been at least seen in Shetland by the end of the 18th century.
The gloves are well knitted with sophisticated techniques. They are mainly knitted in a stocking stitch, with patterning on the cuffs of the gloves, and decorative arrows on the back of the hands. Because the man was wearing gloves and other warm clothing, it suggests he may have died in the winter-time.
A small piece of open-work knitting was found with the man's findings, with a pattern of three concentric diamonds but no worked edge. There is no explanation for this piece of knitting and it is not known if it was joined on to another fabric which might have rotted away underground.