A close-up image of a hand, wearing a white glove, holding a rock crystal jar. This rock crystal jar is one of the treasures of the Galloway Hoard. It is a small, delicate item carved from crystal and decorated with gold.

Investigating the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard workshop and exhibition

What
Museum Staff-led
When
Terms 3 to 4, Monday 1 September to Friday 12 December
Monday to Friday
10am, 11am, 12pm and 1pm
Duration
30 minute workshop + 45 minute exhibition viewing
Curriculum links & Accessibility & Access Fund
Year level
Years 7 to 10
Minmum student numbers
Minimum 15 students
Maximum student numbers
Maximum 30 students
Cost
$18 per student + education service fee
Booking information
Bookings 13 11 02

Gain even deeper insights into the Viking Age and the fascinating treasures of the Galloway Hoard in this history curriculum aligned exhibition and workshop package for secondary schools.

The Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard from National Museums Scotland is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition full of remarkable objects and ground-breaking research into Viking-age Britain.

Buried around AD 900, the Galloway Hoard brings together a stunning variety of materials and treasures from Ireland, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and as far away as Asia. The Hoard transports us back to a critical movement in history: the formation of the political entities we now know as Scotland, England and Ireland, in a time of Viking raids.

Students will discover the fascinating details artefacts reveal about the ambitions, conflicts, relationships, and religious beliefs of people from medieval Britain. The different sources of the objects – from nearby in Ireland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, to those from as far as Scandinavia, Rome and down the Silk Roads to Asia – will allow students to explore a world of connections.

In a pre or post exhibition workshop, students will uncover even more detail through hands-on investigation and analysis of replica Galloway Hoard artefacts.

In the workshop, students will learn how to analyse historical sources, how evidence from these objects is still being discovered, and what is means for our understanding of the Viking-age.

Through engaging with the treasures of the Galloway Hoard, students will experience firsthand how primary sources can shift perspectives and understandings of the past.

Students will experience

  • A hands-on experience with rare artefacts.
  • Deeper insight into a society at a time of transformation across the British Isles.
  • Critical and creative thinking.

Students will learn

  • About the methods and work of archaeologists, museum curators and conservators.
  • How objects have stories and what they can reveal about the past.
  • How medieval Europe was connected to the wider known world.
  • About the contested nature of history.
  • To interpret and analyse material evidence.  

Students will be provided

  • Exhibition trail / activity booklet to complete within the exhibition and back at school!

Students will need

A pencil for making notes in booklets.

Other key information

  • Please note, the workshop and exhibition package can accommodate 30 students per session with up to 4 sessions available per day.

Victorian Curriculum links

History: level 7 to 8

Investigation: Europe and the Mediterranean world (c. 600–1750 CE)

  • significant social, cultural, economic, environmental and political continuity and change in the way of life and the roles and relationships of different groups
    VC2HH8K19
  • causes and consequences of a significant event, development or turning point that contributed to continuity and change
    VC2HH8K20
  • experiences and perspectives of rulers and ruled, and the interaction between power and/or authority
    VC2HH8K21
  • historical interpretations of an event, individual, group or institution and its legacies
    VC2HH8K23

Historical Concepts and Skills

  • develop and use historical questions to inform historical investigations
    VC2HH8S01
  • explain the features, content and context of historical sources
    VC2HH8S03
  • analyse the value of sources for use as evidence to explain historical significance, continuity and change, and causes and consequences
    VC2HH8S04
  • explain the perspectives, beliefs, values and attitudes of people and groups based on evidence from a range of sources
    VC2HH8S05
  • analyse historical interpretations and debates
    VC2HH8S06

Historical Significance

  • analyse the significance of individuals, events, sites, developments and/or cultural achievements
    VC2HH8S09

 

 

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