Galloway Hoard
Date:
Buried early tenth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Scotland
Medium:
Gilt-silver,
Gold,
Leather,
Linen,
Niello,
Rock crystal,
Silk,
Silver,
Wood,
Wool
Description:
The Galloway Hoard is the largest Viking-era treasure ever found in the British Isles. It comprised over 100 gold and silver objects from the Viking Age, deliberately buried in Scotland in the early tenth century. Flattened silver armbands and ingots were found in an upper layer, along with a silver and niello pectoral cross that has gilded evangelist symbols at the four termini. The cross has a chain with fine silver wire wrapped around animal gut. Its placement in the upper level of the hoard may indicate that the cross was valued for its silver content rather than its iconography.
Even richer finds were hidden farther down, under a decoy layer of gravel. These included more flattened armbands and a group of intact ones bundled together. Inside the latter, a small wooden box containing gold objects: an ingot, a large ring, and a unique pin topped by a long-necked bird. Other precious pieces were packed inside a textile-wrapped, lidded silver vessel (10 cm tall): Anglo-Saxon disk brooches, quatrefoil brooches incised with expressive human faces, glass beads, an Irish-style penannular brooch, and more. The hoard also contained the earliest silk found in Scotland, wrapped around an ancient Roman rock-crystal flask wrapped in gold mesh. The Byzantine silk was protected by layers of linen and leather. On the base of the tiny flask, probably a reliquary, a gold-wire inscription reads, "Bishop Hyguald ordered [this] to be made."
Five of the silver armbands are inscribed with names in runic letters; one says "Eggbrect," a form of Old English "Ecgbeorht" (Egbert). The runes are not Scandinavian but, rather, Anglian. Nevertheless, it is not clear that the English-speaking people who owned these armbands also buried the objects. The variety of its contents indicates the rich multicultural context of the Galloway Hoard around the year 900.
Even richer finds were hidden farther down, under a decoy layer of gravel. These included more flattened armbands and a group of intact ones bundled together. Inside the latter, a small wooden box containing gold objects: an ingot, a large ring, and a unique pin topped by a long-necked bird. Other precious pieces were packed inside a textile-wrapped, lidded silver vessel (10 cm tall): Anglo-Saxon disk brooches, quatrefoil brooches incised with expressive human faces, glass beads, an Irish-style penannular brooch, and more. The hoard also contained the earliest silk found in Scotland, wrapped around an ancient Roman rock-crystal flask wrapped in gold mesh. The Byzantine silk was protected by layers of linen and leather. On the base of the tiny flask, probably a reliquary, a gold-wire inscription reads, "Bishop Hyguald ordered [this] to be made."
Five of the silver armbands are inscribed with names in runic letters; one says "Eggbrect," a form of Old English "Ecgbeorht" (Egbert). The runes are not Scandinavian but, rather, Anglian. Nevertheless, it is not clear that the English-speaking people who owned these armbands also buried the objects. The variety of its contents indicates the rich multicultural context of the Galloway Hoard around the year 900.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
5
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read about the Hoard and listen to talks by Dr. Martin Goldberg, early medieval curator at the National Museums of Scotland.
• Read about the rock-crystal flask in its precious wrapping here.
Image Credits:
National Museums Scotland
