Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard

加洛韦藏品是从维京时代的英国和爱尔兰幸存下来的最丰富、最多样、保存最完好的珍贵和奇异物品的收藏品。它埋葬在公元900年左右，既是苏格兰维京时代最早的银条储备，也是英国和爱尔兰那个时期幸存下来的最大黄金收藏品。除了大多数海盗时代囤积的银和更稀有的黄金之外，还有一系列史无前例的无机材料，如青铜、玻璃和岩石水晶，与罕见的有机材料(木材、皮革、羊毛、亚麻和丝绸)的保存息息相关。例如：一个镶嵌着金色水晶的罐子，很可能来自拜占庭帝国或更远的伊斯兰哈里发国，用几层纺织品包裹着，包括苏格兰最早的丝绸；这种异国情调的布料和水晶罐子都可能穿越数千英里到达苏格兰。大多数囤积的东西通常被解释为埋藏的财富，重点是围绕埋葬时刻的事件。加洛韦的囤积挑战了这种观点，并提供了一个难得的机会，让我们更详细地询问：在维京时代，人们是如何以及为什么聚集和收集囤积的？加洛韦藏品中的四个不同的藏品，与相关的纺织品、皮革包装和一个木盒一起保存得格外完好，让我们超越了通常将藏品视为单一物体的视角。通过一系列的数字成像技术、科学分析和放射性碳测年，我们将从物品的历史(传记)中拼凑出线索，以检查在最终埋葬之前的几年(甚至可能是几个世纪)，这些惊人丰富的收藏品的不同部分的组装过程。这个项目汇集了苏格兰国家博物馆的囤积和囤积方面的专业知识，以及格拉斯哥大学的考古纺织品和皮革。三名博士后研究助理将处理这些储备的不同方面：构成大部分内容的银；金、玻璃、岩石和其他无机材料；以及250个分离的有机材料碎片(主要是纺织品)。后者将在四个储藏室内进行识别、分析和映射，特别是包含复杂捆绑的包裹有盖子的容器。一旦记录和研究，这些有机碎片将构成苏格兰大学环境研究中心(SUERC)精细放射性碳测年计划的基础。将这一点与所有其他项目的发现结合起来，将产生对许多物体的传记以及在最终沉积之前积累这些储藏的难得的洞察。我们将与一系列专业机构合作。从英国延伸到拜占庭帝国，甚至更远的地方，加洛韦囤积的背景背景的广度和深度将吸引国际专家参加五个研讨会：1)包装和文物；2)丝绸和国际联系；3)盎格鲁-撒克逊晚期金属加工；4)维京时代的黄金；5)混合材料、异国情调、古董和传家宝。加洛韦储藏的物品、捆和成分来自遥远的土地，经过多年积累，包含神圣和世俗的物品，目前尚未意识到潜在挑战我们对中世纪早期欧洲和其他地区囤积的理解。加洛韦藏品的意义超越了维京时代，不仅是因为它的国际背景，还因为它的特殊保存。这一重要性将在最后一次研讨会上进行评估，研讨会的重点是收集和收集囤积物的新方法。主要产出将包括讲习班和研讨会的两本书、有针对性的期刊文章、在苏格兰各地四个地点举办的展览以及公共和学校方案、丰富的数字媒体活动以及苏格兰国家博物馆网站上的专门页面。

The Galloway hoard is the richest, most varied and well-preserved collection of precious and exotic objects surviving from Viking-age Britain and Ireland. Buried around AD 900, it is both Scotland's earliest Viking-age silver bullion hoard and the largest collection of gold surviving from that period in Britain and Ireland. Beyond the silver, familiar from most Viking-age hoards, and the much rarer gold, is an unprecedented array of inorganic materials such as bronze, glass, and rock crystal, entangled with the outstandingly rare preservation of organic materials (wood, leather, wool, linen, and silk). For example: a gold-mounted rock-crystal jar, likely to originate from the Byzantine Empire or perhaps beyond in the Islamic caliphate, is wrapped in several layers of textile including Scotland's earliest examples of silk; both this exotic fabric and the crystal jar could have travelled thousands of miles to reach Scotland.Most hoards are usually interpreted as buried wealth, with the focus on events surrounding the moment of burial. The Galloway hoard challenges this view, and presents a rare opportunity to ask in much more detail about: how, and why, people assembled and collected hoards during the Viking Age? Four distinct caches within the Galloway hoard, exceptionally preserved with associated textiles, leather wrappings and a wooden box, take us beyond the usual perspective of hoards as a single mass of objects. Through a range of digital imaging techniques, scientific analysis and radiocarbon dating we will piece together clues from the history (biographies) of objects in order to examine the process of assembling the different parts of this spectacularly rich collection in the years (and perhaps even centuries) before its final burial.This project brings together expertise in hoards and hoarding at National Museums Scotland and archaeological textiles and leather at University of Glasgow. Three Postdoctoral Research Assistants will tackle different aspects of the hoard: the silver which forms the bulk of the contents; the gold, glass, rock crystal and other inorganic materials; and the 250 detached fragments of organic material (mostly textiles). The latter will be identified, analysed and mapped back within the four caches, especially the wrapped lidded vessel containing complex bundles. Once recorded and studied these organic fragments will then form the basis for a fine-grained radiocarbon dating programme by Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC). Integrating this with all the other project findings will produce rare insights into the biographies of the many objects and the accumulation of this hoard before its final deposition. We will be collaborating with a range of specialist institutions. The breadth and depth of the contextual setting of the Galloway hoard stretching from Britain to the Byzantine Empire, and perhaps beyond, will attract international specialists to five workshops:1) Wrapping and Reliquaries; 2)Silk and International Connections; 3) Late Anglo-Saxon Metalwork; 4) Viking-age Gold; 5) Mixed Materials, Exotica, Curios and Heirlooms.Originating from distant lands, accumulated over many years, and containing sacred and secular items, the objects, bundles and composition of the Galloway hoard has currently unrealised potential to challenge our understanding of what constitutes a hoard in Early Medieval Europe and beyond. The significance of the Galloway hoard extends beyond the Viking Age, not just because of its international context, but because of its exceptional preservation. This significance will be assessed in a final symposium focusing on new approaches to assembling and collecting hoards. Key outputs will include two books from the workshops and symposium, targeted journal articles, an exhibition in four venues around Scotland accompanied by public and schools programmes, rich digital media activity and dedicated pages on National Museums Scotland's website.