Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard: Object Biographies in the Galloway Hoard

Abstract

• The stereotype of Viking-age hoards in Britain is that they are products of an international context of mobility, migration and raiding, buried at times of stress or under duress. Initially heralded as a ‘Viking’ hoard par excellence, the ongoing conservation and research on the Galloway Hoard from southwest Scotland continues to surprise and disrupt expected narratives. An unusual variety of materials and artefact types beyond the silver bullion so often found in Viking-age hoards provides the basis: there are Anglo-Saxon runes with Old English name elements on the Hiberno-Scandinavian silver bullion; there are ecclesiastical items; feminine artefacts; relics and heirlooms; and the rare preservation of organic materials. The unusual structure of parcels within the deposit, bundled and wrapped with those organic materials, allows narratives to be created for distinct elements as well as inter-relationships between the different groups of materials. Through an object-biographical approach the 3-year project at the National Museum of Scotland, in partnership with the University of Glasgow, entitled ‘Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard’ will weave together narratives about this complex assemblage and the new stories it allows us to tell about Viking-age Britain and Ireland, and beyond