Exhibition text

Introduction

A new view of the Viking Age

The Galloway Hoard is the richest and most unusual group of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. Its discovery in southwest Scotland in 2014 has transformed our understanding of the Viking Age.

This extraordinary collection includes the remnants of ancient empires, the wealth of warlords and the most treasured heirlooms of powerful families, all left buried for over 1000 years.

Years of painstaking conservation and research have unlocked some of its secrets. Look closely and you can see the objects still have more stories to tell.

Silver and the Silk Roads

The Viking Age (800–1050 CE) is well known for silver hoards. They can represent more than just treasure and provide snapshots of ancient lives, sometimes in unexpected ways. Wealth buried as coins and bullion—silver valued mainly for its weight and purity—was gained by a variety of means, fair and foul, through raiding and trading.

Some silver coins in Viking-age hoards are from faraway cities on the ancient Silk Roads of Central Asia.

Quote

Every object in a hoard has a story to tell: when the objects were part of lives, used by people, treasured, traded, and in some cases carried great distances to reach these shores.

— Dr Martin Goldberg, Curator

A rich site

The Hoard was discovered by metal detectorists in the shadow of Balmaghie parish church, which probably stands on the site of an earlier, medieval church. After the Hoard was found, the site was investigated by archaeologists before being legally protected.

This work revealed that the Hoard was buried within a double row of post-holes that appear to be the wall of a hall-like building.

Scientific dating shows that this building was contemporary with the Hoard, suggesting a prestigious place where silver and gold were exchanged.

More careful archaeological excavation is needed to fully understand the site.

Caption: A map of the excavated site where the Hoard was found. The surrounding archaeological features suggest the Hoard was buried in a building

A fresh influx of silver

In the 9th century CE, Scandinavian connections across the North Sea brought warfare, trade and settlement to Britain and Ireland. Scandinavian dynasties and their war-bands began to control territories from centres in Dublin and York, disrupting existing kingdoms and politics.

A fresh influx of silver is one of the best archaeological indicators of these new influences. Silver arm-rings, like those in the Galloway Hoard, are mostly found in Ireland and in hoards of silver bullion discovered around the Irish Sea, in north Wales and northern England.

Galloway was in an ambiguous position, located at the western limit of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, but also connected to this Irish Sea zone. The Galloway Hoard is Scotland’s earliest Viking-age hoard, buried near the village of Balmaghie sometime before 900 CE.

Triangle: Single finds of broad-band arm-rings or fragments in hoards

Square: Hoards containing intact broad-band silver arm-rings

Credit: Base map © maproom.net

With thanks to Dr Jane Kershaw and John Sheehan

Layer upon layer, a rich deposit

Decoy layer

The Hoard was buried in two distinct layers. At the top was a decoy layer of silver bullion with an Anglo-Saxon cross.

Lower layer

Hidden beneath the top layer was a bigger and much richer deposit containing:

• more than twice as much silver bullion than in the decoy layer, wrapped in leather 
• a cluster of four elaborately decorated silver ribbon arm-rings bound together around a small wooden box that contained three gold objects 
• a silver vessel wrapped in layers of textiles and packed full of unusual and unique objects.

Section One

Unexpected treasures

Silver bullion made up of arm-rings and ingots formed the bulk of the upper layer of the Galloway Hoard. Unusually there was also a pendant cross—recently worn before burial, but damaged. Anglo-Saxon metalwork and Christian objects are very unusual in Viking-age hoards.

Was the cross also bullion, destined to be melted down into the silver ingots with which it was found?

We can easily imagine this cross being stolen from a Christian cleric during a raid on a church—a classic stereotype of the Viking Age. Yet this hoard was buried near a church, as were many in Ireland. These were places where sanctuary could be claimed for possessions and people alike.

Desecrated or devotional?

The fine spiral chain wrapped around the cross suggests that it had been recently worn before the Hoard was buried. It is rare to find a chain still connected to a pendant cross.

The four Gospel writers are represented symbolically in the arms of the cross. A central circular feature, perhaps a boss or gemstone likely to be symbolic of Christ, has been removed.

This one object poses many questions.

Had the cross been desecrated and become loot, or was the central boss carefully removed? As a token of the whole, could the boss have been kept for devotional reasons? Even incomplete, could the cross offer pine protection for the buried treasure?

Caption: Silver pendant cross with central boss of glass in a gold setting found in the Gravesend Hoard (Kent, England), dating to 872 CE

© Trustees of the British Museum

Silver cross, worn on the chest suspended from a fine spiral silver chain

This pectoral cross is truly unique. Its arms feature symbols of the four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels of the New Testament.

At the bottom we see Saint Matthew, haloed and holding his gospel book, and at the top appears Saint John’s symbol of an eagle. On the left cross arm, Saint Luke is represented by a bull, and on the right is Saint Mark’s lion.

The animals and plant decoration on this cross are in a distinct Late Anglo-Saxon style that sets it apart from the largely abstract Viking-age motifs of the silver arm-rings found with it.

Revealing the Galloway Hoard

Patient and painstaking cleaning of this cross has revealed its decoration for the first time in a thousand years. Gold inlays emphasise important features, but not precisely, as they were positioned before the design was carved. Niello, a black silver sulphide paste, was inlaid into the carved design later to provide contrast against the bright silver, but in some places it also cuts across the gold.

These materials and the distinctive human, animal and floral imagery is typical of Late Anglo-Saxon art styles.

Caption: The details of this cross could barely be seen before conservation began.

A winged bull carved into the arm of the silver cross and inlaid with gold and niello.

A layer of silver bullion

The most numerous objects in the Hoard are broad-band arm-rings, typically found around the Irish Sea. Although they cannot be dated directly, other hoards with similar arm-rings contain coins dating to 880–930 CE. This suggests that the Galloway Hoard is Scotland’s earliest Viking-age hoard.

Arm-rings were made by hammering out portions of portable silver bars called ingots, creating flat bands that could be easily decorated and bent to shape.

Many were made to standardised weights. Silver arm-rings were gifted by successful warlords to their warriors and could be worn or used in trade. Most of these arm-rings have been hacked up and were only valued for their bullion weight, like the ingots with which they were found.

The plough-soil surrounding the Hoard was also excavated, revealing further pieces of hacked arm-rings and ingots. This strongly indicates that silver was being processed, repurposed and recycled, at the site.

1. Arm-rings, hacked and complete

Most of the arm-rings have been hacked, but the complete examples had been made from standardised weights of silver. The arm-ring on the bottom left weighs 53.2g, which corresponds to two Viking-age ounces, and another at bottom right weighs three ounces.

2. Ingots

Many of the ingots are a similar bar-shaped type. Three examples each weigh six ounces, or half a pound of silver. One (bottom right) had a small piece of charcoal trapped in it when the molten silver was poured into the ingot mould. This charcoal has been radiocarbon dated to 681–869 CE.

3. The site finds

Silver was also recovered from the surrounding area. Though some was similar to the Hoard’s silver, other site finds were very different. They include a type of slim rod ingot, some of which had been hacked up. There are no hacked ingots in the Hoard and none of this form, indicating that silver was being processed at the site.

4. Inscribed arm-ring fragment

This small piece of hacksilver has a name written on it in Anglo-Saxon runes:

EGGBREHT — Egbert

This was a relatively common Old English name, but very unexpected on this type of object. It is also surprising to find Anglo-Saxon runes, rather than the Scandinavian runic alphabet, on Viking-age objects.

Different but similar

Many of the arm-rings were decorated with patterns created using a single punch tool, hammered into the surface. There is no repetition in the designs or tools used—each arm-ring is unique.

Despite these visual differences, many arm-rings are made from standard weights of silver, often multiples of a 26.6g unit that is equivalent to a Viking-age ounce. The best evidence for this weight system comes from Dublin, a trade centre founded by Scandinavian settlers, where many lead weights have been found.

Caption: Each arm-ring is decorated with a different punch tool, making them unique and inpidual. On the left is a hacked ribbon arm-ring with much more complex decoration

Complex punched decoration has been deeply hammered into a silver band, which is then carefully curved and shaped to form a ribbon arm-ring. This one has been hacked in half

Quote

There is more to the Galloway Hoard than meets the eye ... there is something unusual about this hoard at every turn.

— Dr Mary Davis, conservator

Section Two

What lies beneath?

The Galloway Hoard was much bigger and more complex than the initial discovery indicated. Beneath the upper ‘decoy’ layer, hidden under a layer of natural-looking gravel, was a much richer deposit. This contained more than double the amount of silver bullion in the upper layer, bound together with leather.

Amongst the bullion were four arm-rings with unusual Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions. Four elaborately decorated ribbon arm-rings were bound together as a separate cluster. Nestled within was a small wooden box containing three gold objects. Gold was much rarer than silver in the Viking Age—this unexpected flash of gold hints at more to come.

Who owned the silver?

Amongst the silver bullion are clues to who owned it. Four arm-rings feature inscriptions using Anglo-Saxon runes that name owners of the bullion. Each has been folded in a distinctive way or left flat. Other arm-rings have also been folded to match, grouping them into four batches that link back to one of the inscriptions.

The four groups are uneven in weight and number. The largest runic arm-ring is more than twice as heavy as the others. It also features the longest inscription that suggests a portion of the Hoard belonged to a Christian community. The Hoard was not one person’s wealth.

Four arm-ring groups, each with a runic inscription naming the owner

These arm-rings were never shaped to be worn around the arm. Instead, they have been left flat or folded in distinctive ways to mark them out as four different batches.

One from each group bears a runic inscription:

1. TIL (meaning ‘good’) is flat and unfolded.

2. BER (meaning ‘bear, beer or bright’) is flat but has both ends folded back.

3. ED (meaning ‘riches’) is flat with one end folded.

4. The largest and heaviest arm-ring in the Hoard has been folded more loosely, and has the longest runic inscription carved inside the bend. It reads: DIS IS ЇIGNA ˑF. This may translate as ‘this is the community’s wealth’, with the final F-rune an abbreviation of feoh (wealth). The Old English word higna (misspelled) suggests that this fourth owner could have been a religious community.

5. Hacksilver and other arm-rings. There is a much smaller proportion of hacksilver in the lower deposit than the top layer. The hacksilver may have been used to make up the weight of groups within the silver. Other bent arm-rings could have held together groups of bullion. Small nicks around the edges reveal some were tested for silver purity.

6. Ingots. These ingots are different from the bar ingots in the layer above. They seem to have been made as a batch of similar size and form but not to a standard or precise weight.

7. Annular arm-ring. This looped and knotted arm-ring is a completely different form to the rest. It is made with an angular tapering rod, more typical of arm-rings used in Scandinavia at this time. Scientific analysis showed it was made from recycled Islamic silver coinage.

Anglo-Saxon runes and ‘Viking’ silver

Old English words that may be abbreviated personal names have been carved onto three of the Hoard’s complete silver arm-rings, and the full name ‘Egbert’ was found on a hacked arm-ring from the surrounding site.

These silver arm-rings would normally be considered ‘Viking’ artefacts, but unexpectedly the inscriptions use Anglo-Saxon rather than Scandinavian runes.

The Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet had been used in Britain for over 400 years by the time the Hoard was buried, during which time it developed some different letter forms from Scandinavian runes. The inscriptions in the Hoard may have been written by local people in Galloway.

Caption: A fragment of hacksilver from the plough-soil surrounding the Hoard has a full Old English name inscribed on it: EGGBREHT

The four runic inscriptions from the lower layer of silver bullion

The life cycle of silver objects

Recycled silver was melted down, refined, poured into a mould and stored as an ingot. There are two different types of ingots in the Hoard: large bar-shaped ingots in the top layer and finger-shaped ingots in the lower. Arm-rings were made by hammering out carefully weighed portions of ingots.

Many of the arm-rings in the Hoard have been decorated but remain flat, never having been shaped to be worn. The intention may have been to finish them later, but they were also useful as bullion. Some unfinished arm-rings have been hacked into portions, already used as bullion and ready to be recycled again.

Caption: The Hoard contains almost all the stages of recycling silver used at this time, from ingot to hacksilver, but is missing an example of a complete broad-band arm-ring that had been shaped to be worn. Although decorated, this arm-ring has no signs of being shaped, suggesting it was never worn

Quote

We may never know exactly who buried the Hoard, but we can ask what type of person or people might have collected these objects.

— Dr Mary Davis, conservator

Ribbon arm-rings

These four elaborately decorated ribbon arm-rings look similar, but they have had different lives.

One is very worn, and another is warped but with little wear. The third is pristine and barely worn, with fine detail in the punched decoration. The fourth and largest is a double arm-ring, twice the size of the others.

This double-ring is decorated with pairs of beasts that face each other. The beasts have pointed ears and tongues that become the knot binding the two bands together.

Caption: These arm-rings look similar but each is slightly different, with its own distinctive knot tying the tapering silver band together

Four ribbon arm-rings with punched decoration deeply hammered into a thin silver band

A binding contract

A group of arm-rings in the lower layer are different from the rest of the bullion. These are four elaborately decorated silver ribbon arm-rings that are complete, unhacked, and as they would have been worn. Again, four arm-rings suggest four owners. All four are bound together tightly by a smaller arm-ring, as if four inpiduals had come together in an oath or contract.

This unusual cluster of arm-rings surrounded a small wooden box containing three gold objects—a ring, an ingot and a pin in the shape of a bird. Gold is much rarer than silver in Viking-age hoards.

1. Large ribbon arm-rings

These ribbon arm-rings are elaborately decorated with multiple punches across the whole surface. They are wider, curved and not as thick as the other arm-rings in the Hoard. Their circular shape tapers to thin wire ends that are knotted together.

These four arm-rings are bound together tightly by a smaller band arm-ring, similar to the rest of the silver bullion. The largest of the ribbon arm-rings in this cluster is a double arm-ring, with four beasts whose tongues become the closing knot.

2. Gold ring

This ring is oval and of a size perhaps suited for a female finger. It has the highest purity of any gold object in the Hoard.

3. Gold bird-pin

The long neck, down-turned beak and pin shaft mimicking a single leg are reminiscent of a flamingo, a bird that the makers of this pin would never have seen. This gold pin is not a completely realistic depiction of a flamingo or any other bird— it is a creature of the imagination. In the ancient world, flamingos were thought to be related to the mythical phoenix because of their ability to live in hot, inhospitable environments. The phoenix was important in Christian iconography because it was reborn from fire, symbolising Christ’s resurrection.

4. Gold ingot

The colour of this ingot indicates that it is high-quality gold. Gold objects were often rubbed on dark ‘touchstones’ to judge the colour and purity of the metal. A touchstone encased in gold was also found in the Hoard, amongst the precious contents of the silver vessel.

Section Three

The heart of the Hoard

A silver vessel, central to the lower layer, is only the third to ever be found in a Viking-age hoard in Britain. The other two vessels are similar in shape and size, and feature Christian iconography from the Carolingian Empire, in western Europe. There are some key differences that make the Galloway Hoard vessel distinct.

The other vessels contained silver bullion. At Galloway, the bullion was instead buried outside the vessel, and its contents are unlike any other Viking-age hoard, combining old, unusual and unique objects. This is also the only vessel with a surviving lid.

Most importantly, this vessel was carefully wrapped in two layers of textiles, which have now been analysed and preserved. Three-dimensional X-ray scanning has allowed us to see beneath the textiles to the vessel’s surface. Its decoration suggests it is from West Asia in modern-day Iran, thousands of miles to the east of Britain.

From east to west

The Galloway Hoard vessel is the only one of its kind ever found in western Europe and would have travelled thousands of miles to reach Britain.

X-rays revealed the vessel’s decoration hidden beneath the layers of textiles that wrap the vessel. The vessel is pided into four quarters by the golden outline of a pomegranate. At the bottom of each pomegranate is a triple-pointed golden crown topped with a pair of stylised wings. At the top, another triple-pointed crown emerges from the flames of a fire-altar. On either side, leopards and tigers are tangled in plant scrolls.
This iconography of winged crowns, fire-altars, leopards and tigers is typical of the Sasanian Empire of ancient Persia (modern-day Iran). Scientific analysis has confirmed that the vessel was made using metal from the silver mine of Nakhlak in Iran.

Replica of the vessel unwrapped

This life-sized copy of the vessel shows how the original looked before it was wrapped and buried. The textile wrappings that remain on the original vessel make it too fragile to travel any great distance. They also obscure the decorated surface.

A digital model of the vessel was constructed using hundreds of X-rays and 3D printed to create this exact copy. These techniques have also revealed the iconography of the vessel for the first time in a thousand years.

Treasured textiles

Two layers of textiles wrapped around the silver vessel required detailed study and further investigation to answer questions about how they were made, and whether they were coloured or embellished. The textiles also provide important clues about the burial of the Hoard through radiocarbon dating.
Lying underneath the outer wool wrapping was a better-preserved layer of linen. Were these garments, or whatever was close at hand, hastily grabbed to keep the vessel safe? Or were they specially made covers for a precious vessel that was only ever meant to be revealed to particular people at special moments?

Captions: The darker, outer layer of wool is very fragile, but a light-coloured linen has survived better because it is closest to the metal, mineralised by copper corroding out of the silver lid

The lid preserves some of the best evidence for the layers of textiles that once wrapped the vessel

Packed full of treasure

The vessel was tightly packed and contained a range of unusual materials. As well as precious gold and silver, there are curios and heirloom objects made of glass, rock crystal and other less valuable stones. Many objects were wrapped in silk, linen and leather, or connected by silk braids. A large collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork was not wrapped.
The lid sealing the vessel created an unusual micro-environment inside that allowed leather and the textiles to be preserved. These organic materials are of huge value to archaeologists because they rarely survive and, unlike gold or silver, they can be radiocarbon dated.

Caption: The silver vessel that contained all of these objects is only 10cm high and 10cm in diameter. The range of materials in the vessel is unparalleled for a Viking-age treasure

Section Four

Unpacking the vessel

Everything within this vessel was clearly of great value, but for different reasons, including where it came from, how old it was and who had owned it previously. This unique collection would have been priceless to the people who brought it all together.

The contents of the vessel are unlike any other Viking-age hoard and include the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork from the 9th century ever discovered. There are also objects not normally considered to be valuable,

such as glass or stone, and even dirt—yet they have been carefully wrapped and hoarded with the largest collection of Viking-age gold known from Britain and Ireland.

Charms, heirlooms and amulets

A collection of beads, curios and heirloom objects were bundled and strung together at the top of the vessel, resting as a group on a silver brooch.

Old and well worn, these objects were seemingly valued for their age or past ownership.

An unusual ‘relic’ pendant is made from a broken glass bead encased in silver and capped with a pierced coin.

The bead was already several centuries old when the coin was minted. The coin dates the making of this pendant to several generations before the Hoard was buried. This is the clearest clue that this unusual collection of curios, charms and amulets were handed down, perhaps as family heirlooms.

Everything at the top of the vessel was wrapped, but the textiles have only partly survived, through contact with metal.

1. Glass beads

The decorated barrel-shaped bead is an Irish type, but the others are probably from continental Europe and were several centuries old by the time the Hoard was buried. The larger beads are heavily worn and are of the type usually found buried in graves from the 6th and 7th centuries. Some may have been strung together.

2. Rattlestone

This geological curiosity is a rounded stone of flint formed around a softer stone core. The small hole on the surface allowed some erosion of the central stone that means it rattles when shaken. These naturally occurring stones appeal to our curiosity because the sound indicates something hidden inside.

Widespread traditions suggest that stones like these were given to expectant mothers as a charm to aid childbirth.

3. Rock-crystal ball

More of a smoky quartz than clear crystal, this spherical object is well worn and damaged. The pendant fitting is missing,

as is one of the four silver straps. Analysis of the silver indicates that this is an import from continental Europe, where they are usually found buried in 6th to 7th-century graves.

4. ‘Relic’ bead pendant

This is the only British-made bead in the Hoard. It was already several centuries old and broken when it was transformed into a pendant and capped with a pierced silver coin. The coin was minted for Coenwulf, king of Anglo-Saxon Mercia who died in 821 CE, several generations before the Hoard was buried. The chemicals released by the corroding silver have helped preserve the textiles that wrapped this group of beads and curios.

5. Silver brooch-hoop

This brooch is an Irish type and is the only piece of Viking-age silver from within the vessel. Traces of the textiles that wrapped the group of heirlooms have been preserved by the brooch’s corroding silver.

Delicate survival

As metals in the Hoard corroded, copper leaching out created an environment that preserved the textiles.

Glass does not corrode in the same way and so the beads have not preserved their textile wrappings. But everywhere where there was contact with metal at the top of the vessel, there are microscopic remnants of the textile wrappings that bundled this group of beads, pendants and curios together.

Captions: Where the wrapped beads touched this brooch-hoop the silver corroded, but in the process it preserved minute fragments of the textile that wrapped it

Photo: Martin McSweeney

Glass beads, pendants, rock crystal and rattlestone

More than just a Viking hoard

Lower down in the packed silver vessel was an unprecedented group of seven Late Anglo-Saxon brooches, more than have been found in any other hoard in Britain. This is surprising because five are disc brooches that are usually found in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern and eastern Britain.    Two cross-shaped brooches are unique to the Galloway Hoard and feature iconography depicting two of the five senses—sight and hearing.

First signalled by the cross in the top layer, the large collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork in the Galloway Hoard is unusual. However, Galloway was part of the early medieval kingdom of Northumbria during the 9th century and referred to as ‘the Saxon coast’ in Ireland. Like the Anglo-Saxon runes on the silver arm-rings, this metalwork complicates the stereotype of a ‘Viking’ hoard.

Caption: The back of a cross slab from Invergowrie in central Scotland showing clerics wearing disc brooches

Anglo-Saxon brooches

All these brooches have five raised bosses forming a cross. They feature different designs on the front plate and a variety of pin mechanisms on the back, made of bronze or silver. Some are new, others are broken or repaired. Only four could still be worn.

1. Quatrefoil brooches 

These quatrefoil (cross-shaped) brooches have a design unique to the Galloway Hoard but were worn in a similar way to the more common disc brooches. The iconography depicts the senses of sight and hearing. On one, the emphasis is on the eyes, and on the other the ears are exaggerated, ringing because blast horns are being blown.

2. Gilded disc brooches

These two brooches are the same design but made at different scales. The openwork silver is contrasted against niello inlay and a gold-covered (gilded) bronze backing disc.

3. Openwork disc brooches

This pair of smaller disc brooches appear identical at first glance, but they have been made in slightly different ways. The niello inlay survives less well on one, and the carving and openwork design has been executed more evenly on the other.

4. Disc brooch

This brooch has been heavily repaired so that it could still be worn. Unusually, it has no pair. It combines the decorative techniques of the others—openwork interlaced beasts and niello inlay details plus inlaid designs of smaller fantastical beasts.

Hidden relationships

Brooches of this type were typically worn by women. The relationships between these objects are reminiscent of family or genealogical connections—perhaps these brooches were worn, repaired, gifted and treasured by several generations of related women.

Though similar at first glance, none of the three pairs of Anglo-Saxon brooches in the Hoard are identical. The pins on the pair of cross-shaped (quatrefoil) brooches are both broken, but one was made from silver and the other from bronze. Both of the brooches with gilded backplates were wearable, but one is a scale version of the other. One of the small openwork pair is far less skilfully made than the other.

Only four of the seven brooches in the Hoard could still be worn at the time they were buried.

Caption: An Anglo-Saxon disc brooch with an openwork design of interlacing beasts and plants, and five bosses forming a cross, backed by a gilded plate

A gilded copper-alloy disc shining through a silver openwork design. Finer detail is brought out using niello, an inlaid black paste of silver sulphide

Section Five

Revealing the treasures

Lower down within the carefully packed vessel, the objects and materials become even more unusual.

New types of objects, never seen before, challenge our understanding of luxury and value. Heirlooms were elaborately protected, lavished with gold, wrapped in linen and connected by silk braid. Two unusual balls of dirt seem mundane at first glance, but they must have also been of great significance to their owners to be included within this rich collection.

The conditions for textile preservation at the bottom of the sealed vessel were exceptionally good. Two complex bundles contain Scotland’s earliest examples of silk, originating thousands of miles away in Asia. These rare survivals offer many more clues than are available from most hoards.

Precious bundles

The last objects to be revealed came from two bundles at the bottom of the vessel.

Through the wrappings were glimpses of gold, and X-rays revealed amazing new objects inside. Leather, linen and silk had been preserved, wrapped around and connecting golden jewels.

The relationships between these rare survivals and the precious materials they contained have opened many new questions about elite society in early medieval Scotland and international connections during the Viking Age.

Careful conservation and analysis were needed. Precious metals like gold cannot be scientifically dated, but radiocarbon dating of associated organic materials in the bundles helps us reconstruct how this collection came together over several centuries. The bundles have provided exciting opportunities for research collaborations between different fields of study.

Crystal clear

The technology needed to carve rock crystal was relatively rare in the ancient world. Imperial Rome had the knowledge, but after the fall of the Roman Empire there was a lull until the later 10th century when the centres of production were in the Islamic Caliphate, in modern-day Iraq and Egypt.

The Galloway Hoard was buried 50–100 years before the Islamic boom in rock crystal production. This tells us the rock crystal was another heirloom object, a relic of Imperial Rome, and over 500 hundred years old when buried. It was originally the top of a miniature Corinthian column, inverted for use as a jar, covered in gold and protected by a purpose-made pouch.

Captions: The rock crystal was wrapped in leather, linen and Scotland’s oldest known examples of silk

The rock crystal has an elaborately carved surface wrapped in golden mesh, with a golden spout at the top accessing its hollow drilled centre
Replica of the rock crystal jar.

This is a 3D-printed exact copy of the rock crystal jar found wrapped in a silk-lined leather pouch.

The crystal was originally carved hundreds of years earlier in the Roman Empire and had been transformed into a jar and covered with elaborate goldwork in the 9th century. The hollow centre would have contained a precious substance—holy oil or water, or perhaps a relic.

On the base, golden letters spell out +HYGVALDˑEP~FAC~IVSS meaning ‘Bishop Hyguald had this made’.

Expect the unexpected

Lower down within the vessel were the most unusual items. Gold is very rare in hoards of this time, and the Galloway Hoard is the largest collection of gold surviving from Viking-age Britain and Ireland. All the gold objects are unusual and distinct from one another, perhaps coming from distant places and different manufacturing traditions.

Two hinged straps are unique objects, but are decorated in a Late Anglo-Saxon style similar to the Christian cross from the top layer. Perhaps the most unexpected objects were two fragile balls of dirt, which only survived because of the exceptional preservation conditions within the vessel.

Now that they have been removed from those conditions, they must be kept in a controlled environment to prevent them from crumbling into dust. They are too fragile to be displayed with the rest of the Hoard.

Caption: These unassuming balls of dirt actually contain microscopic flecks of gold. Could this hint at why they were treasured enough to be included with this precious collection?

1. Twisted rod
Two hooks connect the ends of this gold arm-ring, which has been twisted and doubled over. Gold arm-rings are much rarer and higher in status than silver examples. A 9th-century king of York is described as having a bracelet placed on his arm instead of being crowned.

2. Gold ingot
This hammered gold ingot is paler than the high-purity gold ingot found with the bird-pin because it has been alloyed with a large amount of silver.

3. Gold mounts 
These gold mounts in the form of fantastical beasts’ heads with blue glass eyes are elaborately decorated with filigree wire and granulation. They were connected by a long, coiled silk braid threaded through the four-socketed mount, crossing over and pinned into the animal-head terminals. They could either have been worn as a head-covering (veil) or as a girdle (belt)—the finest of contemporary female dress. 
 
4. Gold ‘touchstone’ pendant 
This large pendant was strung on a silk braid like the gold mounts it was bundled together with. The gold filigree framework contains a carefully shaped black metamorphic stone—a golden jewel, but not one containing a traditional gemstone. The black stone has been enshrined like a relic, or an heirloom passed down through the generations. Gold streaks on the black stone indicate that it had been used as a touchstone to assess the quality of precious metals.
 
5. Straps
Nothing quite like this pair of hinged straps has ever been found before. Detached silver hooks found at the bottom of the vessel suggest they were attached to fabric or leather. Were they worn as bracelets or as some other decorative feature of dress? These silver straps are inlaid with gold and black niello—the same materials as the Anglo-Saxon cross. They are decorated in the same style, with tiny beasts and plant motifs. Like the brooch pairs, these straps are almost identical, but with minor differences.

Pointing us in the right direction

The Galloway Hoard is changing our understanding of other well-known early medieval treasures.

Previously these gold socketed mounts were thought to be jewelled manuscript pointers, known as ‘aestels’. But this is the first time a group has been found together, in a bundle with silk braid. The tubular sockets match the diameter of the braids, which suggests this could have been a single object—perhaps an elaborately woven silk girdle (belt) or head-covering, decorated with gold filigree mounts. Silk and gold are the finest materials available for this newly recognised type of female dress items.

Captions: This bundle of silk cord and fabric had three socketed gold mounts in the shape of fantastical beasts’ heads inside, as well as gold-woven silk X-ray of the bundle. These beast-headed mounts are covered in delicate filigree decoration made from intricate golden ribbon or twisted wire and tiny gold balls

Gold in an age of silver

Gold-working was highly specialised, with closely guarded skills passed from master to apprentice down through gen­erations. The range of complexity we see in the Galloway Hoard is helping to identify previously unknown workshop traditions in early medieval Northumbria and beyond.

Many of the gold objects in the Galloway Hoard use a range of intricate decorative techniques, such as filigree, granulation and gilding. These minute details, some only visible through a microscope, provide clues about how the objects were made and perhaps even where they came from. It shows, once again, that this incredible collection of objects was gathered from far and wide and over a long period of time.
The more closely the Galloway Hoard is examined, the more secrets it reveals

Captions: The variety of gold-working techniques on the top of the rock crystal jar and the beast-headed mounts
Filigree decoration on the touchstone pendant

Acknowledgements

National Museums Scotland and Museums Victoria would like to thank the following contributors to the exhibition:

Dr Barry Ager, British Museum
Dr Sue Brunning, British Museum 
Prof James Graham-Campbell,
University College London 
Dr Susanna Harris, University of Glasgow 
Dr Jane Kershaw, University of Oxford 
Dr Alexandra Makin, Manchester Metropolitan University 
Prof Rory Naismith, University of Cambridge 
Dr David Parsons, University of Aberystwyth 
Dr John Reid and Borders General Hospital 
Penelope Walton Rogers, Anglo-Saxon Laboratory 
Prof Leslie Webster, University College London 
Prof Alex Woolf, University of St Andrews 
AOC Archaeology 
The British Museum, Department of Scientific Research 
Dumfries and Galloway Council 
The Glasgow School of Art, School of Simulation and Visualisation 
Historic Environment Scotland 
Treasure Trove Unit 
University of Glasgow, Scottish Universities Environment Research Centre 
 
Supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation), Scottish Government, National Museums Scotland Charitable Trust, the Pilgrim Trust, KT Wiedemann Foundation, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the individuals and organisations who made possible the acquisition, conservation and research.  

A National Museums Scotland touring exhibition #GallowayHoard