Unwrapping the Galloway Hoard

加洛韦窖藏是维京时代不列颠和爱尔兰保存最丰富、种类最多、保存最完好的珍贵珍奇物品收藏。它埋藏于公元900年左右，既是苏格兰最早的维京时代银锭储藏地，也是英国和爱尔兰那个时期幸存下来的最大的黄金收藏地。除了维京时代常见的白银和更为稀有的黄金之外，还有一系列前所未有的无机材料，如青铜、玻璃和水晶，以及极其罕见的有机材料（木材、皮革、羊毛、亚麻和丝绸）。例如：一个镶金的水晶罐，可能来自拜占庭帝国，也可能来自伊斯兰哈里发，包裹在几层纺织品中，包括苏格兰最早的丝绸；这种奇异的织物和水晶罐都可能经过数千英里的旅行才到达苏格兰。大多数囤积通常被解释为埋藏的财富，重点是围绕埋葬时刻的事件。加洛韦宝藏挑战了这一观点，并提供了一个难得的机会，让我们更详细地了解：在维京时代，人们是如何以及为什么聚集和收集宝藏的？加洛韦窖藏中有四个不同的窖藏，它们与相关的纺织品、皮革包装和一个木箱一起保存得非常完好，让我们超越了通常将窖藏视为一大堆物品的观点。通过一系列数字成像技术、科学分析和放射性碳定年法，我们将从文物的历史（传记）中拼凑出线索，以便研究在最后埋葬前几年（甚至几个世纪），这些惊人丰富的藏品的不同部分是如何被组装起来的。这个项目汇集了苏格兰国家博物馆和格拉斯哥大学考古纺织品和皮革方面的专业知识。三位博士后研究助理将处理宝藏的不同方面：构成大部分内容物的银；黄金、玻璃、水晶等无机材料；以及250个分离的有机材料碎片（主要是纺织品）。后者将被识别，分析和映射回四个缓存，特别是包裹有盖的容器包含复杂的束。一旦记录和研究这些有机碎片，苏格兰大学环境研究中心（SUERC）将为精细的放射性碳测年计划奠定基础。将此与所有其他项目发现相结合，将对许多物品的传记和最终沉积前的积累产生罕见的见解。我们将与一系列专业机构合作。加洛韦窖藏的背景背景从英国延伸到拜占庭帝国，甚至更远，其广度和深度将吸引国际专家参加五个研讨会：1)包装和圣物；2)丝绸与国际联系；3)晚期盎格鲁-撒克逊金属制品；4)维京时代的黄金；5)混合材料，异国情调，古玩和传家宝。加洛韦窖藏起源于遥远的土地，经过多年的积累，包含了神圣和世俗的物品，这些物品、包裹和组成目前尚未实现的潜力，挑战了我们对中世纪早期欧洲及以后窖藏的理解。加洛韦窖藏的重要性超越了维京时代，不仅因为它的国际背景，还因为它的特殊保存。这一意义将在最后一次专题讨论会中加以评估，该专题讨论会的重点是收集和收集储藏物的新方法。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、在苏格兰四个地点举办的展览、公共和学校项目、丰富的数字媒体活动和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.