4 artefacts you have to check out in Maritime Museum's new Viking Age exhibition

Considering that Vikings were better known for looting rather than praying, it’s easy to wonder how this cross found its way into a Viking hoard. Likely owned by a Christian cleric, with a fine spiral chain suggesting it was regularly worn, this delicate object has been painstakingly cleaned to reveal a rather colourful history. With a ‘Trewhiddle style’ of art that suggests Anglo-Saxon manufacture, this 9th century piece is made from a separate stock of silver from the rest of the objects in the Hoard that originated in the Carolingian Empire.

Viking men and women were not shy about their jewellery and one particular style they often donned were bulky rings on their arms, otherwise known as arm rings. These decorative pieces were often worn to indicate status, wealth or in the case of men, coming of age.

The arm-rings found in the Hoard are elaborately decorated with some even featuring runic inscriptions in Old English that give clues to their former owners being local Northumbrian (early English) individuals. Among the collection, a double arm-ring, twice the size of the others, is decorated with beasts. Tucked inside the cluster of arm-rings, a small wooden box containing three gold objects, including a pin in the shape of a bird, was also found. 

Merovingian tombs 300 years older than the Galloway Hoard were also filled with treasures, including rock crystal pendants. While men were typically buried with their battle equipment, women were laid to rest with an array of personal ornaments. 

This particular pendant is a sphere of brownish translucent cloudy rock crystal encased in a silver framework made from two circular discs connected by silver bands. The silver composition suggests a continental source, possibly from the sixth century.

Inside the Hoard, a collection of Late Anglo-Saxon brooches from Scotland were uncovered. The collection contains seven brooches in total, including three matching pairs, all in different styles. By today's standards, most brooches are disc-shaped, however two in the collection were in the rarer design of quatrefoil (cross-shaped), with iconography depicting the senses of sight and sound, with detailed embellishments of ears and eyes.  

Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard is on until October. Grab your tickets here.