{"id":3998,"date":"2026-03-08T19:15:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/?p=3998"},"modified":"2026-03-08T19:43:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:43:32","slug":"vikings-were-captivated-by-silver-our-new-analysis-of-their-precious-loot-reveals-how-far-they-travelled-to-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/vikings-were-captivated-by-silver-our-new-analysis-of-their-precious-loot-reveals-how-far-they-travelled-to-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings were captivated by silver \u2013 our new analysis of their precious loot reveals how far they travelled to get it"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jane Kershaw, Gad Rausing Associate Professor of Viking Age Archaeology, University of Oxford<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

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In the archaeology galleries of the Yorkshire Museum<\/a>, an incredible Viking silver neck-ring takes centre stage. The ring is made of four ropes of twisted rods hammer-welded together at each end, its terminals tapering into scrolled S-shaped hooks for fastening behind the neck. Weighing over half a kilo, it makes a less-than-subtle statement about the wealth and status of its Viking owner some 1,100 years ago.<\/p>\n

The neck-ring was part of a large silver and gold hoard found in 2012 by metal detectorists Stuart Campbell and Steve Caswell<\/a> near Bedale in North Yorkshire. As the first precious object out of the ground, it was initially mistaken by Campbell for a discarded power cable.<\/p>\n

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\"Large<\/div>\n

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\n Large silver neck-ring found in the Bedale hoard.<\/span>
\n York Museums Trust<\/a><\/span>
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Six years later, I got the chance to analyse the Bedale hoard<\/a>, as it is now known, for its isotopes and trace elements. Alongside the neck-ring and a gold Anglo-Saxon sword pommel (probably acquired in England by these Viking raiders), the hoard contained a spectrum of cast-silver artefacts<\/a> spanning the Viking age: Irish-Scandinavian artefacts from Dublin, rings from southern Scandinavia, and many cigar-shaped bars or ingots that could have been cast anywhere.<\/p>\n

As an archaeologist<\/a> investigating the historical secrets held by jewellery such as this, picking up these heavy objects and turning them over in my hands was a visceral experience. I felt connected with the desires, ambition and sheer force of these invaders from the north who had wreaked havoc on communities in northern England around AD900.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the entire Viking age (circa 750-1050) is often described as an \u201cage of silver\u201d. This form of wealth was so desired that its acquisition was a primary driver of the expansion out of Scandinavia that the Vikings are most famed for. To acquire it, they were prepared to risk their own lives \u2013 and take those of many others.<\/p>\n

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