Curator’s ‘moments of revelation’ in study of Viking treasure hoard
The senior curator charged with unravelling the mysteries of the largest-ever Viking treasure collection found in the UK has spoken of the "moments of revelation” offered up by the stunning hoard that was bought for the nation for £2 million.
The Galloway Hoard of silver and gold was found by a metal detectorist in 2017 and was hailed as “the richest collection o f rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland”.
The collection of more than 100 pieces was bought by National Museums Scotland (NMS) following a public fundraising appeal, with the treasures to go on show next February after the original exhibition was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Now Dr Martin Goldberg, senior curator in early medieval and Viking collections at NMS, has revealed details about a number of objects in the hoard, which he said opened a “unique window into Viking-age Scotland’s relationship with Britain, Ireland and the wider world” .
In a blog for the NMS website, he said: “We always knew that the Galloway Hoard would be important for enhancing our understanding of Scotland’s international connections in the ninth-century AD, but some of the moments of revelation have been quite unexpected and taken us to unusual places.”
Dr Goldberg recalled the “trepidation” of transporting the fragile pieces to Edinburgh in early 2018 and said the collection was the “most intriguing” he could ever hope to work on.
A silver-gilt lidded vessel held a number of objects including a “mysterious” rock crystal jar, several gold jewels and pendants, and “two curious balls of dirt”, he added.
The rock crystal jar decorated in elaborate gold-work was wrapped in a silk-lined, leather pouch with the item raising “many questions”, not least because such items were generally produced in the Islamic Caliphate up to 100 years after the hoard is thought to have been buried, a bout AD 900.
Dr Goldberg’s research led him to the Islamic Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where he found a piece of jewellery similar to a black stone and gold pendant contained in the Galloway Hoard.
“Thus a new question arose – would the black-stone gold pendant in the Galloway Hoard turn out to be another piece of exotic, luxury metalwork, perhaps an import from the east?” he s aid.
At the British Museum, the two dir t balls found nestled within silks in the bottom of the vessel were subjected to 3D X-ray imaging.
He described the results as “probably one of the biggest surprises for everyone” after it was shown the balls were laced with gold flecks.
Dr Goldberg said the balls could hav e been created b y pilgrims collecting dust and mud that formed around Christian shrines.
It was then found the balls – which were formed “like a child would roll Plasticine sausages” – contained two different types of gold, which opened up the possibility that the two objects came from different places.
Dr Goldberg said: “As we always suspected, each startling discovery about the Galloway Hoard sparks new questions about the people who created and collected these objects, and the world in which the Hoard was assembled.”