British Musuem: Viking Gold

A gold Viking pendant in the form of 'Thor's hammer'. The pendant is in the form of a double-headed hammer with an elongated pentagonal head. The head is rectangular in cross-section. From the centre of the head extends an integral tapering rectangular-sectioned shaft. The terminal of the shaftis narrowed to form a suspension loop. Both faces of the axe are decorated with punched motifs resembling quatrefoils or perhaps miniature axes.

A gold finger-ring dating to the Viking period. The ring is composed of three tapering, square-sectioned rods twisted together, which are thicker at the front, while at the back the ends are hammered flat together into a plain, narrow band. Gold rings of twisted type from the British Isles and Scandinavia are dated from the late Saxon/Viking periods into the early Middle Ages, from the late 9th century into the 12th century.

An Early Medieval (Viking) gold finger ring dating from the late 9th-10th century. It is made from a strip of gold which tapers to wire terminals which are wound around each other at the back of the hoop. The bezel of the ring is the widest part of the strip, and is an elongated lozenge.

A Viking gold ring ring which consists of a double-banded hoop made from a slightly concavo-convex strip with the ends drawn into wires at the back of the hoop, which are then tightly wound round a constricted section of the strip.

Viking treasure dating over 1,000 years discovered in Scotland

Amongst the objects is a solid silver cross thought to date from the 9th or 10th century, a silver pot of west European origin, which is likely to have already been 100 years old when it was buried and several gold objects.

A large Carolingian Lidded Vessel is part of a hoard of Viking gold and silver artefacts dating back over 1,000 years.

A hoard of Viking gold and silver artifacts dating back over 1,000 years has been discovered by a treasure hunter with a metal detector in Scotland, in a find hailed by experts as one of the country's most significant.

Derek McLennan, a retired businessman, uncovered the 100 items in a field in Dumfriesshire, southwest Scotland, in September.

Amongst the objects is a solid silver cross thought to date from the 9th or 10th century, a silver pot of west European origin, which is likely to have already been 100 years old when it was buried and several gold objects.

An early Christian cross is seen in this photograph received in London on October 14, 2014.

"Experts have begun to examine the finds, but it is already clear that this is one of the most significant Viking hoards ever discovered in Scotland," Scotland's Treasure Trove unit said in a statement.

The Viking hoard is McLennan's second significant contribution to Scotland's understanding of its past. Last year, he and a friend unearthed around 300 medieval coins in the same area of Scotland.

"The Vikings were well known for having raided these shores in the past, but today we can appreciate what they have left behind," said Scotland's secretary for cultural and external affairs, Fiona Hyslop.

The Vikings, of Scandinavian origin, made successive raids on Britain from the 8th to the 11th centuries, burying their valuables for safe-keeping, which have gradually been discovered by generations of treasure seekers.
A golden pin is one of the Viking gold and silver artifacts discovered by a treasure hunter with a metal detector in Scotland. STRINGER/Reuters A golden pin is one of the Viking gold and silver artifacts discovered by a treasure hunter with a metal detector in Scotland.

A 10th-century Viking hoard was found in 2007 in northern England, while in 1840 over 8,600 items were found in northwest England.

The latest find, also containing a rare silver cup engraved with animals which dates from the Holy Roman Empire, and a gold bird pin, is the largest to be found in Scotland since 1891 and could be worth a six-figure sum, the BBC said.

A golden pin is one of the Viking gold and silver artifacts discovered by a treasure hunter with a metal detector in Scotland.

 

 

Viking Gold Finger Rings

Viking Gold Scutiform Ring - 9th-11th century AD. A substantial gold finger ring with lozengiform bezel developing from the hoop, formed from a single cast bar; the narrow ends of the bar twisted over each other; the hoop decorated with sub-triangular and pellet-in-triangle punchmarks; the bezel formed with a central boss surrounded by subtriangular and chevron punchmarks.

Viking Gold Plaited Finger Ring- 9th-11th century AD. A ring formed from four rods plaited, joined at the reverse and the ends wound about each other. 

Viking Gold Cross-Stamped Finger Ring- 9th-11th century AD. A penannular flat-section finger ring with coiled ends, three bands of cross punchmarks to the hoop, in vertical and diagonal alignment.

Viking Gold Twisted Finger Ring- 9th-11th century AD. A round-section hoop formed as continuous twisted rods, thicker at the bezel.

Viking Gold Neck Rings

Golden neck rings from Ålleberg, Sweden. Dates to the Migration period. On display at The Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

Harrogate Hoard: Viking Gold

A reminder of our Viking past was recently discovered lurking beneath a Yorkshire field; what is now being called the ‘Harrogate Hoard’ is an archaeological find of global significance. Said by experts to be the most important Viking find in Britain in 150 years, the finders, metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan, called the discovery a ‘thing of dreams’.

The hoard was found by father and son David and Andrew Whelan while metal detecting near Harrogate in 2007. David described the find as a "ball covered with mud". Picture: British Museum Trustees.

Some 100 of the 617 coins in the hoard have now been cleaned. Conservators are delighted with their condition. Picture: British Museum Trustees.

 
The hoard consists of 617 silver coins and 65 other items, including ornaments, ingots and precious metal, which were hidden in a gilt silver vessel lined with gold (variously identified as a cup, bowl, or pot) made in France or Germany around 900 and decorated with "vines, leaves and six hunting scenes showing lions, stags, and a horse". The lions were lionesses, with no mane. The vessel is thought to have been used to hold communion bread for a wealthy church or monastery in northern France and to have been acquired either in a Viking raid or as tribute.

Viking Gold

Viking gold brooch from Hedeby, Germany

Neck-ring (10th century, Kalmergården, Tissø, Zealand, Denmark). Gold© The National Museum of Denmark

Hiddensee Treasure: Viking Gold

One of the most stunning but lesser known archaeological finds in Germany is the 'Gold Jewellery of Hiddensee', which was discovered by chance in the 19th century on the tiny island in the Baltic. Since their discovery, the sixteen items in the hoard dating from the Viking Age have been presided over by the Kulturhistorisches Museum of the Hanseatic town of Stralsund.

All items of jewellery, including a brooch (fibula), a neck ring and 14 pendants are of pure gold and weigh some 600 g altogether. It is likely the jewellery originally belonged to the family of the Danish King, Harald Gormsson (died ca. 980), better known by his nickname, 'Bluetooth'.

Cross Motif

Undisputed is the connection with the „Viking" animal symbolism. The animal head in the centre could be the head of an eagle or an owl. However, some scientists speak of Greek-Byzantine influences; others see an astonishing similarity to the hammer form of the God Thor (from the northern mythology).  


Fibula Motif

 

The cross in the centre can be evaluated as a Christian symbol. The Viking goldsmith art shows us finest intertwined gold wires, tender rosettes and tiny up-strewn balls of the gold granule. With some imagination one can see snakes with artfully entwined bodies. It could also be four dragon heads facing each other, whose bodies end in two-toed claws.




Neuendorf/Hiddensee, Rügen, Germany. Gold © Jutta Grudziecki, Kulturhistorisches Museum der Hansestadt Stralsund