EAA 2022: Abstract

The Galloway Hoard was buried around 900 CE in south-west Scotland. As it typical for hoards of the mid 8th to 10th centuries CE, it contained substantial quantities of silver in the form of arm rings, hack silver and ingots. Less typically, it contained a lidded silver gilt vessel filled with exotic and unusual objects. The closed environment of the silver-gilt vessel and its chemical composition, containing copper alloy, has led to the mineral and organic preservation of numerous textiles. The textiles include the homespun, wool and plant fibre, and the exotic, silk. The position of the textiles within the deposit and vessel provides evidence of the way the textiles wrapped individual objects, and formed bundles creating distinct assemblages of textile and objects. This presentation will focus on the silk textiles discovered in the hoard. We will present the fibre and technical analysis of the textiles. The survival of these textiles in a hoard, rather than a human burial or ecclesiastical setting, provide the opportunity to analyse the role of silk textiles in the practice of hoarding in the early medieval British Isles. From these results we will question the role of silk textiles within the hoard alongside objects from diverse areas of the known world.

textiles, silk, early medieval, Viking, Anglo-Saxon, hoard

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Alexandra Makin²

Caroline Cartwright¹
Susanna Harris²