New research and conservation efforts have unveiled the Iranian origin of a lidded vessel that held many of the unique treasures in the Galloway Hoard. This revelation comes just in time for the vessel’s public debut, marking the 10th anniversary of the hoard’s discovery.
The Galloway Hoard, discovered in 2014 in southwest Scotland, has become renowned for its collection of Viking-Age treasures. When unearthed, the lidded vessel was found wrapped in rare textiles, themselves an extraordinary survival from its burial around AD 900. These textiles have been preserved alongside the vessel, allowing researchers to conduct further analysis while protecting its historical integrity.
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Through painstaking conservation, intricate details of the vessel’s design have been revealed for the first time since it was buried about 1,100 years ago. Previously visible only through x-rays, laser cleaning has exposed new imagery on the vessel’s surface, featuring crowns, fire altars, leopards, and tigers—iconography that hints at connections with Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Sasanian Empire, which existed in modern-day Iran before the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.
“We had suspected from x-ray scanning the vessel that it may have originated somewhere in central or western Asia, but it’s only now that we’ve carefully conserved and analysed it that we can say this is definitively the case,” says Dr Martin Goldberg of National Museums Scotland. “It’s further evidence of the cosmopolitan make-up of the Galloway Hoard.
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“We now know that the Viking-age silver that makes up most of the Hoard was melted down from coins and metalwork from early medieval England. Some objects, like the lidded vessel, stood out from the rest and the scientific analysis now confirms this. It is incredible to imagine how the vessel made its journey halfway round the known world, from Iran to this distant corner of southwest Scotland.”
Dr Jane Kershaw, a Viking-age silver expert from the University of Oxford, added that the silver used in the vessel differs from the other silver found in the hoard. By analysing tiny samples from both the vessel body and its niello inlays, researchers concluded that the vessel originated in the Sasanian Empire, in what is now Iran.
“It was immediately clear that the vessel was unlike any other silver contained in the hoard,” Kershaw said. “Elemental analysis using portable X-ray Fluorescence revealed that the vessel is an alloy of silver and relatively pure copper, which is typical of Sasanian silver, but not contemporary European silver. In addition, the isotopes of the lead contained within the silver metal and niello match ore from Iran. We can even go so far as to say that the niello derives from the famous mine of Nakhlak in central Iran. It’s fantastic to have scientific confirmation for the distant origins of this remarkable object.”
Dr Sue Brunning of the British Museum expressed her excitement about the vessel’s inclusion in the upcoming Silk Roads exhibition, which opens this month. “We’re delighted that visitors to Silk Roads will be the first in the world to see this key object from the Galloway Hoard,” she remarked. “Among its remarkable contents were Scotland’s earliest recorded silk, and so it is a highly appropriate inclusion in the exhibition. For the first time it will be displayed alongside a similar vessel found in northern Britain and also used as a Viking-age treasure container, but the Galloway vessel is the only one confirmed as originating beyond Europe, in lands far to the east. It was, itself, a long-distance traveller on the Silk Roads’ sprawling networks.”
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The Galloway Hoard is the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. The hoard was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2017 and has since been the focus of extensive research and conservation. While the identity of the individuals who buried the hoard remains uncertain, the artefacts, including a Christian pectoral cross, a runic-inscribed silver arm ring, and a rock crystal jar, suggest a rich tapestry of cultural interactions and connections with the broader medieval world.
An online event titled Galloway Hoard: A Decade of Discovery, hosted by Sally Magnusson, will take place on 11 September. This event will feature members of the research team and provide insights into the remarkable discoveries made over the past decade.
The Galloway Hoard will eventually go on long-term display at the National Museum of Scotland, with a portion of the collection also housed at Kirkcudbright Galleries.
New research and conservation efforts have unveiled the Iranian origin of a lidded vessel that held many of the unique treasures in the Galloway Hoard. This revelation comes just in time for the vessel’s public debut, marking the 10th anniversary of the hoard’s discovery.
The Galloway Hoard, discovered in 2014 in southwest Scotland, has become renowned for its collection of Viking-Age treasures. When unearthed, the lidded vessel was found wrapped in rare textiles, themselves an extraordinary survival from its burial around AD 900. These textiles have been preserved alongside the vessel, allowing researchers to conduct further analysis while protecting its historical integrity.
Through painstaking conservation, intricate details of the vessel’s design have been revealed for the first time since it was buried about 1,100 years ago. Previously visible only through x-rays, laser cleaning has exposed new imagery on the vessel’s surface, featuring crowns, fire altars, leopards, and tigers—iconography that hints at connections with Zoroastrianism, the state religion of the Sasanian Empire, which existed in modern-day Iran before the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries.
“We had suspected from x-ray scanning the vessel that it may have originated somewhere in central or western Asia, but it’s only now that we’ve carefully conserved and analysed it that we can say this is definitively the case,” says Dr Martin Goldberg of National Museums Scotland. “It’s further evidence of the cosmopolitan make-up of the Galloway Hoard.
“We now know that the Viking-age silver that makes up most of the Hoard was melted down from coins and metalwork from early medieval England. Some objects, like the lidded vessel, stood out from the rest and the scientific analysis now confirms this. It is incredible to imagine how the vessel made its journey halfway round the known world, from Iran to this distant corner of southwest Scotland.”
Dr Jane Kershaw, a Viking-age silver expert from the University of Oxford, added that the silver used in the vessel differs from the other silver found in the hoard. By analysing tiny samples from both the vessel body and its niello inlays, researchers concluded that the vessel originated in the Sasanian Empire, in what is now Iran.
“It was immediately clear that the vessel was unlike any other silver contained in the hoard,” Kershaw said. “Elemental analysis using portable X-ray Fluorescence revealed that the vessel is an alloy of silver and relatively pure copper, which is typical of Sasanian silver, but not contemporary European silver. In addition, the isotopes of the lead contained within the silver metal and niello match ore from Iran. We can even go so far as to say that the niello derives from the famous mine of Nakhlak in central Iran. It’s fantastic to have scientific confirmation for the distant origins of this remarkable object.”
Dr Sue Brunning of the British Museum expressed her excitement about the vessel’s inclusion in the upcoming Silk Roads exhibition, which opens this month. “We’re delighted that visitors to Silk Roads will be the first in the world to see this key object from the Galloway Hoard,” she remarked. “Among its remarkable contents were Scotland’s earliest recorded silk, and so it is a highly appropriate inclusion in the exhibition. For the first time it will be displayed alongside a similar vessel found in northern Britain and also used as a Viking-age treasure container, but the Galloway vessel is the only one confirmed as originating beyond Europe, in lands far to the east. It was, itself, a long-distance traveller on the Silk Roads’ sprawling networks.”
The Galloway Hoard is the richest collection of Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. The hoard was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2017 and has since been the focus of extensive research and conservation. While the identity of the individuals who buried the hoard remains uncertain, the artefacts, including a Christian pectoral cross, a runic-inscribed silver arm ring, and a rock crystal jar, suggest a rich tapestry of cultural interactions and connections with the broader medieval world.
An online event titled Galloway Hoard: A Decade of Discovery, hosted by Sally Magnusson, will take place on 11 September. This event will feature members of the research team and provide insights into the remarkable discoveries made over the past decade.
The Galloway Hoard will eventually go on long-term display at the National Museum of Scotland, with a portion of the collection also housed at Kirkcudbright Galleries.
Top Image: The lidded vessel from the Galloway Hoard. Image © National Museums Scotland
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