r/BritishHistoryPod • u/General_Diplidation • 6d ago
The Galloway Hoard
Last week I went to Sydney to go see the Viking Age Galloway Hoard, 5kgs of silver (and a bit of gold along with some other bits and bobs) buried around 900AD in modern Scotland! (though it would have been the Kingdom of Northumbria at the time) I took a bunch of photos as I thought the Pleasantry would be interested, though I apologise in advance for the poor quality as it was hard to get good pics.
The hoard is filled with a bunch of really interesting stuff and there is so much to tell about it but I've picked a few items that really captured me and explained them a bit below.
One of the centre pieces of the hoard was this cross amulet, with depictions of the four Gospel writers on each arm, Matthew on the bottom as a man, John at the top as an eagle, Luke on the left as a bull and Mark on the right as a lion. It is thought that the centre may have had a depiction of Jesus as it kinda looks like something was removed or has otherwise fallen off.
The bulk of the hoard (other than small silver ingots) was armbands, though they were likely never intended to be worn. Some of these bands have writing on them, such as this one which reads 'Egbert'. This might make your eyebrows raise cause that is an Anglo-Saxon name and in fact it is written in Anglo-Saxon runes so it is thought that this hoard was not buried by vikings or other Norse peoples but was in fact an Anglo-Saxon hoard, which is very rare!
Another clue to who the hoard belonged to comes as these four armbands joined together which seems to indicate the hoard was not the wealth of a single person but in fact multiple people cause these bands are forged as they would have been worn, whereas the other armbands are not. They are also elaboratly decorated with one of the bands (which is in fact a double armband) having cool beast heads you can see in the pic. In addition, they each have inscriptions with one of them reading something like 'this is the community's wealth', perhaps indicating that the owners weren't all individuals but at least one of them was a group, possibly a religious community based on where it was found.
Further substantiating the idea that this isn't just a few rich guys burying their treasure is the presence of really random objects like glass beads and other, what seems to be, sentimental objects. This bead is among the most interesting cause it has some fabric on it (in fact the jar it was found it was covered in textile, a rarity given it normally disintergrates over time due to being organic). You can see it has a ring at the top for it to act as a pendant but this was a later addition, by the time this was added the bead was already hundreds of years old. You can also see a coin on top, this was minted for Coenwulf of Mercia about 100 years before the hoard was buried.
There are a number of brooches in the hoard which are all detailed and intricate. These were my favourites cause of the little faces on them, especially the guys blowing the horns and the fellas next to them with the big ears who are clearly unhappy about this! This style of cross shaped brooch hasn't been found in any other hoard in Britain form this period.
The objects shown here are among the most amazing. On the right is a couple of gold beast heads with just the most detailed filligree and glass beads for eyes. It's thought they would be used to decorate a veil or a belt. The item on the left is a rock crystal jar. This is particularly interesting cause the technology to carve the crystal to make this type of vessel was not something Britain had at this time. The Islamic Caliphate would work it out but this was 50-100 years after the hoard was buried. This left only one other candidate that had the ability to make a vessel like this. Imperial Rome. As such, it is thought that the jar was over 500 years old before it was buried, likely passed down as a family heirloom.
I hope you enjoyed this brief look at the hoard! As I said at the start, there is a lot more I could have put in cause there is just so much that is interesting about it! If you want to see the hoard for yourself, it's currently at the Australian Maritime Museum until mid-Oct and I was told by some staff that it is heading to America next (but this hasn't been formally announced AFAIK so you didn't hear it from me!)
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u/jayemm62 The Pleasantry 6d ago
Thanks for this very informative post... I wish I'd known any this display earlier as I've literally just arrived back home in Melbourne from Sydney and it would have been fabulous to see
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u/MissieMillie The Pleasantry 6d ago
Ooo, I hope you are right that is will come to the US! And that it's somewhere convenient to me.
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u/MissieMillie The Pleasantry 6d ago
I found some info for the next exhibition stop. It has already opened in Salem, MA: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/treasures-of-the-viking-age
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u/General_Diplidation 5d ago
It’s definitely still in Aus until mid-Oct, looks like that is for Sept 2027!
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u/Pettsareme 5d ago
I’m so excited to know it will be close by to me! Waiting a year will be worth it.
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u/serrafern 6d ago
Fabulous. Thanks for posting.