Object description
Dating to between the 10th and 11th century AD, this silver neck-ring displays a high level of skill in metalworking.
Twisted from pairs of silver rods, it features solid, dome-shaped terminals. Elaborate neck-rings such as this are thought to have been status objects.
However, ones with a simpler design were perhaps used as a means of storing silver for trading purposes. During economic transactions, they would have been weighed to assess their value and sometimes cut into pieces for convenience.
Neck-rings are one of the most common finds from the Viking Age. Several hundred neck-rings dating to the same period as this one have been discovered. They are often found as part of hoards, which have been buried on purpose with the intention of retrieving them at a later date.
Neck-ring/Metal,silver/10th to 11th century AD/The Hunt Collection/PD
Neck-ring/Metal,silver/10th to 11th century AD/The Hunt Collection/PD
Neck-ring/Metal,silver/10th to 11th century AD/The Hunt Collection/PD
Viking hoards
Over 100 Viking Age hoards have been discovered in Ireland, the majority of which consist of silver objects including neck-rings, arm rings and coins.
Many hoards also contain what is known as hacksilver, meaning cut up pieces of ingots and ornaments. The Vikings did not see ornaments such as neck rings only as precious objects, They would readily cut them into pieces to make payments if necessary. Archaeologists can tell when ornaments were used in trade by small nicks on the metal- these were created from testing the quality of the metal.
Remarkably, Ireland has one of the highest concentrations of wealth in Viking Age hoards- only the island of Gotland in the Baltic is richer in hoards. The source of the silver came from Arabic coins which were being used in the trade of slaves. The Scandinavians obtained these coins from merchants travelling through Russia. Interestingly, towards the end of the 10th century AD, coins began to be retained rather than melted down and reused to produce ornaments.
As to why such large quantities of ornaments were hoarded and buried, archaeologists are not certain. The most popular and probably credible theory is that they were buried during times of unrest- it was a means of safekeeping. Hoarding is something which began centuries before the Vikings. For instance, thousands of coin hoards have been found from ancient Roman times. Without these hoards, we would not have nearly as much information about past civilisations.
Sources
Sheehan, John. “Silver and Gold Hoards: Status, Wealth and Trade in the Viking Age.” Archaeology Ireland, vol. 9, no. 3, 1995, pp. 19–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20558678. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
The Hunt Museum Essential Guide. Scala Publishers. 2002.
