Around AD 900, a stunning array of objects from Ireland, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and as far away as Asia was buried in south-west Scotland. There it would remain undisturbed for over 1,100 years, until its contents were discovered by a metal-detectorist in 2014 (see CA 297). Today, this assemblage is known as the Galloway Hoard, and it remains the richest collection of rare and unique Viking Age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. It was saved for the nation by National Museums Scotland in 2017, following a major fundraising campaign supported by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, and many individual donors. Since then, curators and conservators have been working to clean, preserve, and understand the hoard’s eclectic contents, with illuminating results. The ongoing process of discovery is presented in a new exhibition, Galloway Hoard: Viking-age Treasure, currently running at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh (see ‘Further information’ box on p.27), sponsored by Baillie Gifford. It will then tour to Kirkcudbright Galleries and Aberdeen Art Gallery thanks to support from the Scottish Government. The exhibition offers the first opportunity to see ornate details that have been hidden for more than a millennium, using a variety of modern tools and techniques. As well as adding to our understanding of the period in which they were made, the exhibition explains the process behind the ongoing conservation and research programme. So, what has our work revealed so far?
A decoy deposit?
The Galloway Hoard was not a single deposit: it had been buried in different layers comprising four separate parcels. Unpicking these has given us a rare insight into how the collection was originally brought together. Intriguingly, the uppermost layer could be interpreted as a sacrificial decoy to fool thieves, because a much richer deposit was hidden just 10cm below, under a layer of clean natural-looking gravel.
This top layer contained silver bullion, mainly Hiberno-Scandinavian broad-band arm-rings, as well as ingots and hacksilver. Such arm-rings are mostly found in Ireland, but are also known from bullion hoards in North Wales and northern England. The silver bands were made by hammering out carefully measured portions of ingots. While many in the Galloway Hoard are intricately decorated, though, they were never shaped to be worn. Instead, most are flat and folded, suggesting that they had been treated as bullion and valued for their weight like ingots.
